May 13, 2007 4 min read

Dear Joy, I wanted to share an invitation disaster story with you and your readers. About a month ago, my daughter and I decided that we would create her wedding invitations on the computer.

We shopped around for the perfect computer paper, and found invitation kits at the local office supply store. The kit contained invitation paper, perforated paper cardstock for the response card, and small and large envelopes. The selection of kits was quite extensive and we had a hard time choosing our favorite invitation design.

We decided on a kit and took it home to create her invitation. Now, my daughter and I are quite computer savvy, so we were not in the least bit intimidated by the process. However, when we opened the kit, we found that there were no directions within the box. The only thing we found in the box to aid in the process was a sheet of sample wording and a test sheet to run through the printer.

We discovered instructions on the back of the box that give dimensions of the paper size and directed us to Page Setup in our word processing program. We were able to print the invitation without a problem, and all seemed well.

Unfortunately, we hit a major roadblock when we attempted to print the envelopes.

Attempt after attempt was rejected by our printer and computer. Apparently, the small envelope for the response card was outside the perimeters of Microsoft Word’s standard envelope printing capabilities.

Even when we tried to plug in a custom size, it was rejected. The large outside envelope rejected our attempts for a printed return address, too.

We tried the process on two different computers, to no avail.

So, we were forced to handwrite the return address on the outside envelope, and the primary address on the response envelope – in addition to hand addressing each and every envelope. It was a lot of work and didn’t look as nice as a professionally printed job.

The problem didn’t end there. Yesterday, I took the invitations to the post office to be mailed. The outside large envelope took the regular 39 cent postage stamp. However, the small response envelope caused another problem. Because the postage stamp is rising from 39 cents to 41 cents on the 14th of May, I had to purchase a more expensive stamp for the small envelope. Okay, I could deal with that.

It didn’t end there, though. The postal clerk proceeded to measure the small envelope and discovered that it was too small for the postal machine and would require an additional 17 cents (after the 14th) to hand process! So, for a small envelope, I needed to place 58 cents worth of postage on each and every response envelope.

I asked if they could put the small envelopes through their meter to avoid using so many stamps. “No,” I was told that it wouldn’t work because it would be dated prior to the impending postage increase.

So, I stood there and placed one stamp on the outside, and four ugly stamps (a pitcher, a clock, a flag, and a necklace) on the inside envelope. I mailed the envelopes. They looked ugly, and I’m quite disappointed.

Never, would I recommend utilizing an invitation kit. Go to a reputable invitation printer and have them professionally made. It would have saved cramped fingers and additional postage, if the envelopes in that kit were the proper size. Sign me, Really Irritated.

Dear Really Irritated,

Thank you for sharing your story. I believe your story reinforces the idea to use a professional invitation vendor and avoid invitation kits. But, I must add that I have never heard of this problem before. So, I am curious if this is common? Readers?

K. Joy Schaeffer is a bridal consultant. You can e-mail her your bridal questions at bridejoy@yahoo.com.