Wedding Invitation Formality

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Caveat: I’m in the UK and expectations here may be a little different (I think we have greater expectations on some things and lesser ones on others). That being said I would expect to see something nicely printed on heavy weight card. I wouldn’t necessarily expect Letterpress or Engraving - to me, flat printing would be fine, but not thermography. I’d expect formal wording and a classic (and classy) layout.

Hope that helps

As a guest, I would expect the invites to be printed on heavyweight cardstock, but not necessarily letterpress.

As long as you keep the wording formal and well as the design, I think you'll be fine without letterpress!

Flat printing is fine as long at the layout is elegant and the paper is high rag content.


I would also have some info on your website. While everyone should understand what black tie means, there can be differences in how it’s interpreted based on background. Floor length gowns vs cocktail length, etc., dark suit vs dinner jacket, that sort of thing. A good amount of people don’t have those and may think “black tie” is the same as “black tie optional.”

Hi! We’re having black tie invited as opposed to black tie (having all the aspects of a black tie wedding except for a band, all of our guests just prefer a DJ) and we’re not doing letterpress, but we are doing a very formal invitation. We had a duogram made which we’re using on the invitations, and they give off a general “formal” vibe. I just personally felt like letterpress is SOOOOO beautiful but gets throw out immediately so it was hard to justify the cost 🙈 I think if your invitation is overall formal though, you can do without the letterpress! Minted has some great super formal options!

View Quoted Comment It definitely does help! Thank you so much. We were planning on using the thick card, but I am glad you feel that letterpress isn’t necessary.

View Quoted Comment I feel the same! It is so expensive to do letterpress printing, I felt that it might be a good cost saver to just have flat printing done.

View Quoted Comment I agree about making sure that the black tie meaning is explained well on the website. My fiancé and I are working on it now!


What would you consider a high rag content? I was looking at Crane Lettra 100#. Is that quality enough?

View Quoted Comment Thank you, Shelly! I just want to ensure my guest’s experience is top notch from beginning to end of the event.

View Quoted Comment Yes! One idea that we’re considering possibly doing is getting just like 5 or 10 letterpress invitations for our families and ourselves since we know that we’ll keep them, and that way we can have them in the pictures also! Definitely keeps costs down but that way you can have them for the people that you know will keep them!

View Quoted Comment I LOVE that idea. It seems like it is a good way to compromise with getting the expensive invitations for people who care and getting the slightly less expensive ones for those who don’t.

View Quoted Comment Oh that is a good choice! Anything Crane will be lovely.
I’m debating if I want to be extravagant and go with Crane engraving. Ours is an afternoon wedding and not as formal, but I love love Crane paper and engraving. It’s my weakness.

I think you'd be fine doing a nice thick cardstock with a double or triple layer backing. For a black tie wedding, I'd expect the invitation to be something elegant and clean cut (no floral prints/patterns, etc). Letterpress is beautiful, but I certainly don't think you'd NEED it for a black tie wedding. I definitely think there are other options without going the letterpress route. I've been to about 35 black tie weddings and I've definitely received a few invitations that were not letterpress and didn't think anything of it. I'm one of those rare people that keeps all the wedding invitations I receive

For black tie (Oscars equivalent) I would expect to see the fanciest invites available, even though they will go straight in the trash. Not everyone will read or pay attention to the website either unless they are very common in your social circle but they will spread info via word of mouth.

View Quoted Comment Michelle, you make a good point. I am going for a very high level of formality.

View Quoted Comment Hanna, the invitation is very plain, but also extremely classic. Script font with a serif and no decorations other than a thin border.

I'm having a black tie wedding and our invitations are letterpress. However, I do think you can get away without doing letterpress invitations as long as they're classy and elegant. As you probably know, the more important components of a black tie wedding are a multi-course plated meal, full open bar with top shelf liquor, live band, and complimentary valet parking. I wouldn't think it was a big deal to not have or not to have letterpress invitations for a black tie wedding. Although it might help if you posted a pic here of what you're thinking so people can better guide you.

View Quoted Comment Sara, unfortunately at the moment, I don’t have an example of my invitations. They are still being designed. Think of a very classic wedding invitation though, and that is what mine probably look like! There are no florals, no designs, just font and a border.


And yes! I am having all of those at the wedding. There is going to be a live salsa/jazz band, top shelf liquor, a 4-5 course meal (still discussing with fiancé), and I am paying for all of the guest’s valet for the night. I am very etiquette conscious and am trying my best to make this match black tie expectations.
What all are you doing for your wedding? There don’t seem to be many black tie brides out there and I am struggling to know if I am missing anything!

View Quoted Comment

Oh that's ok! I was just wondering if you had an example. IMO I really wouldn't worry about having letterpress vs not letterpress. Sounds like your invitation will be classy and ideal as is.

I agree I haven't seen too many other black tie brides on the forum! We're having 12 passed hor d'oeuvres, a 4 course plated meal, full open bar with top shelf liquor, 10-person band, and we're paying for the valet service. Our wedding is at a fancy hotel and we're having two hotel blocks (one at our hotel and one at a less expensive hotel a mile away) and we're providing shuttles from the other hotel block so honestly I'm only expecting the local guests to need the valet parking. We went a bit overboard on the appetizers because we're going to have a full hour of dancing in between cocktail hour and the entree being served. Sounds like your wedding is going to be fantastic. A salsa/jazz band will be awesome

View Quoted Comment That sounds amazing!! Wow! I love how many hors d’oeuvres you are having. It is going to be the best dancing cocktail hour ever.


I wish there were some more black tie brides around here. It would make planning easier I think!