Handling Invitations

[Class n Sass]

How did you handle your invitations? Did you create and Excel spreadsheet with the name of each guest? I am just trying to be as organized as possible with this. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Pandora II]

My invitations are being sent out by my parents so I have made them a spreadsheet with:

Name and Address.

I am an obsessive follower of Correct Forum, so I have added separate columns that tell my mother what she should write on the envelope and what she should write on the invitation in terms of names - I have a couple of guests coming with very fancy titles and strings of gongs after their names, so my poor mother would have been lost!

I also made it obvious who needed a single invitation and who was a joint invitation.

I have a separate one for myself with email addresses, phone no''s, hotel reservations etc etc

 

[Haven]

We''re using a system similar to Pandora''s. We have an Excel spreadsheet with the following columns:

Last name
First names (we''re giving one line per invite that we will be sending out)
Street address
City
State
Zip
Names for outer envelopes
Names for inner envelopes

The last two columns are for my mother who is also our calligrapher, as she''ll be addressing the envelopes.

 

[ladyciel]

I, too, have been using an excel sheet. However, I just found http://www.weddingwire.com, and they have a GREAT set of tools for tracking your budget, guest list, making your seating chart, tracking invitation responses and meals, etc. You can import your info from an excel sheet, or you can enter it as you go through their web interface. Then, as you need it, you can pick and choose which information you want and export it back out into excel or a printer friendly format. Best of all, it''s FREE!! Also, you can add other users to the account, so FI, mom, etc can access the same information from anywhere. There are a couple of silly annoyances with the interface (pop-up notices that could probably be done without), but overall it''s pretty slick and easy to figure out.

 

[aeroo]

I made an Excel workbook with all the details of our wedding. For the 'Guests' tab, I have the following columns:

Name

Address

# of Invitations - For example, Uncle Joe and Aunt Sue only need one invitation between the two of them. So next to Uncle Joe, I put a '1' and nothing for Aunt Sue. This way, I can quickly add up all the 1's (using the sum calculation) and quickly know how many invitations I need to buy.

Yes/No - as I receive the RSVPs back, I put a 1 for yes or a 0(zero) for no. Just like above, I can quickly add up all the 1's (using the sum calculation) and quickly know the number of guests. If it is left blank, then that means we haven't received their RSVP yet and I will call them if we do not receive any response after our deadline.

Gift received - I added this column in since we were starting to receive gifts from the people who couldn't make it.

Thank You Card Sent - I send the thank you cards as we receive the gifts and mark the cell 'yes' once I have sent them off. Good way to keep on top of it all.

Does this make sense? Hope this helps! Let me know if you have any questions. I am an Excel nut and have perfected my 'Master Wedding Spreadsheet' lol. It is simple and keeps me on top of things. Being organized is key - there are so many details and it helps to have everything in one place.

I also email myself the spreadsheet every night before bed, so that I have a backup. I would be lost if that file got deleted somehow!

 

[zoebartlett]

We made a table in Word that has four different columns (it''s a checklist):

1) Names and addresses: written as they''ll appear on the envelopes (my FI will print the envelopes on our printer)
2) Save the dates: We put an X in this column for each guest, couple or family we sent a save the date to. Most people got save the dates but not everyone.
3) Invitations: We put an X in this column, also for each guest, couple or family that we''re going to send an invitation to.
4) RSVP: We''ll put an X in this column for everyone who RSVPs -- yes or no