We received a paper invitation to the last wedding we attended (in October). I have no issue with digital, but older family might not be able to access it. It does save unnecessary paper, so I applaud that.
I recently had to walk an older family member through a digital invitation. They didnāt understand that was how you needed to RSVP and didnāt realize there were different tabs with more information.
Until this thread I had never even heard of an electronic wedding invitation and we have only received paper ones. I think our kids have received only paper ones, too.
We went to three weddings in 2022. Two had paper invites and one was completely digital. The two paper ones has the option of replying online or mailing a response card.
We went to three weddings this year. All three had paper invites, and all three had online responses. I loved the online responses because anything you were invited to was included (e.g. we were actually invited to a rehearsal dinner).
We are invited to a destination wedding in April. Paper invite, online response. A bit of a snafu responding. We are not attending so declined all the events. We were then asked about which accommodations we wanted. Couldnāt get past that screen without making a choice (which we didnāt need). Called the parent of he groom and they contacted the groomā¦who did something to fix that. And quickly.
I have no problem with online invitesā¦but in the 2022 wedding where they were used, a LOT of people didnāt get the invites the first time they were sent out.
For her 2024 wedding D1 and her husband send paper postcards for Save The Date and then a simple paper invite -single item inside an envelope and digital response for the wedding/extra events.
Their wedding was on the small size - 80ish invited, 75 attended. With this small a crowd they easily knew who if anyone would need some assistance with digital RSVP- Iām not sure anyone fell in that category.
I am 
ok with not getting an invite with multiple pieces of stationary
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This also happened for my daughterās responses - those declining had to select their meal preference.
Itās a coding problem; it was coded so that meal selection to be checked in order to submit the response. It needed to be coded that a declination would allow submission and acceptance required the meal selection.
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Our son/DIL mailed a cute refrigerator magnet with Save the Date. For invitation, they sent a lovely photo card with very basic info and a QR code to get to the wedding website with more details, RSVP function etc. Shout out to son for designing a great website, not using any of the online services.
For the grandparents, I printed the entire website (not easy since designed for viewing online) including some wondeful photos. I mailed the printouts, and handled their RSVP / meal choice.
Oh boy! I can just envision some of those sticky situations. Iām sure we all have a cast of characters on various branches of our family trees.
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I like the idea of digital only save the dates and invitations to the majority of guests and paper for those guests that are technologically challenged. For me itās an environmental thing. There are some truly lovely digital invites. I think most couples would generally know which of their guests would need/want a paper invite.
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We ended up calling all of Hās guests for Sās wedding. There werenāt many as the wedding was only 80+ total attendees. I know electronic is better for the environment but paper invitations are lovely and can be saved. (Yes, I know digital can also be saved, but they are definitely different.)
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I will always prefer the paper invites but Iāve gotten used to a digital reply (and it saves money on return postage).
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Every wedding weāve been invited to in last year used digital returns. Except my daughters. She wanted old fashioned return cards. She did have a website with info. Her invite was gorgeous. It was wrapped in Vellum with a painting of the venue in watercolor done by an Etsy artist.
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I love that! My daughter did something similar with an Etsy watercolor artist. This is why I love the paper invites!
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Paper invites can surely be beautiful. And unique.
Maybe Iām out of the ordinary but unless itās my child or a very close family member (even doubtful then) Iām not saving an invite past the wedding date, it will be hitting the garbage/recycle can. Everyone should spend their money where they want or if they can but for me I will get as much of a happy āah-haā moment from a simple invite postcard or digital invite/rsvp.
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My daughter definitely did it for herself. The thank you notes for the shower used the same picture. Her wedding thank yous used a photo from her wedding day that looked like a picture.
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I happen to love a beautiful printed invitation (as well as a handwritten thank you note)ā¦but as with most things,.as long as the appropriate information is conveyed, every couple should do as they like.
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Postage is so expensive ā our couple are doing digital save the dates, some digital invites and all digital RSVPs . Digital or not, they figure they would end up calling the missing rsvps anyway
Recent wedding we got Thank You note card with a wedding group photo right when groom kissed the bride; above in script was Thank You, the coupleās first name on the cover, and blank interior for them to write their thank you. I cut the photo part off the card to save on my big peg board with photos.
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I liked that son had something in the mail (photo card with date/locationā¦ QR code to website). But the website allowed sharing of so much info about hotel options, schedule and shuttle info, dress code including example suggestions, their āstoryā, photos etc. And easy peasy RSVP. Glad they did that
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My daughter sent every guest pictures of themselves at the wedding taken by her photographer. She included these in the thank yous . She had purchased full right to the photos so printing them out through Amazon cost very little
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