Time was when wedding invitations were simply printed cards inviting people to a wedding. These days however, they have become far more sophisticated. Aside from the fancy designs available and the various styles of printing, modern invitations also make provision for the inclusion of many other bits of information which may be useful to the recipient.

Wedding etiquette states that nothing should be included with your wedding invitations, not even an RSVP card. Adding these extras to your invitations is seen as very bad form and in certain lights even rude. But many brides do put them in.

The way I see it is this - weddings these days are far more elaborate than ever before, they take months, perhaps even longer than a year to plan and cost many thousands to bring to fruition. Much of the wedding etiquette we know and love harks back to an era when weddings were far more low key, with more of an emphasis on tradition and formality.

Unless you are having a very formal and traditional wedding with a religious ceremony and are perhaps a member of high society, then having inclusions with your invitations is acceptable. In fact most guests will welcome the extra information. Adding extras such as maps, accommodation details and even the reception menu will not only help your guests but will also free up your time for more important aspects of your wedding planning.

Imagine having to field a hundred or more phone calls or emails about the same thing - where can we stay? Can you send us some travel details? What do you want as a present? Suddenly sending out all this information with your wedding invitations seems not only practical, but essential!

So what sort of information could you include?

RSVP cards with envelopes or postcard style with your address on the back is one of the best ways to ensure speedy replies from your guests.

Add in information about local places to stay - hotels, guesthouses, inns etc. Make sure you include addresses, telephone numbers, email and website addresses if available. It is also a good idea to include a broad range of places with different standards of accommodation and different tariff’s to suit everyone’s budget.

Include a map to your ceremony venue and to your reception venue if they are in different places. Don’t forget to add a map if you’re sending out invitations for the evening party only. You could also include some travel details such as buses, trains, taxis and airports.

The addition of the gift list with the invitation is generally frowned upon, certainly within wedding etiquette. Adding a gift list implies that you expect your guests to buy you a present and that that present has to come from a list of items pre-selected by yourselves. However, adding gift lists to the invitations has been a wedding tradition for many, many years and most guests will expect to receive one. We didn’t have one for our wedding and ended up fielding endless calls from confused guests who wanted know why there wasn’t a gift list and more importantly what we wanted!

It is entirely up to you whether or not you include it with your invitations. If you set up a gift registry then you will be supplied with printed lists to send out to your guests. If you didn’t feel comfortable sending it with your invites then send it out separately or when it is requested. If you don’t want formal gifts but would rather have money or vouchers instead don’t be tempted to put this on your invitations. Many of your guests will want to give you a present and may not feel comfortable giving money etc. Get around this by drawing up a gift list for those who want it and placing money or vouchers on that so your guests have a choice.

Of course adding all this extra information to your invitations does add extra cost. If your budget won’t stretch or you are not comfortable including all this with your invitations then the best solution is to publish a wedding website onto which you can add all this information and much more.