Announcement and AHR invite in one?

I am struggling with how and when to send an announcement/ahr invite without having to send them seperately.  Here's the deal:

We are getting married in Playa del Carmen on July 11, 2012.

We need to have our AHR by August 4 at the latest.

This doesn't really give us time to send an announcement/ahr invite after the wedding (we want everyone to have ample time to plan to come to the party).

Some people (like weird family members and people my parents work with) will ONLY get the announcement, not a party invite.

In my mind I have a postcard style thing with an announcement on the front and an AHR invite on the back.  For those who aren't invited to the AHR they will only get the front.  Trying to keep it fairly cheap since we are on quite a small budget.

I just don't know how to word it if we have to send it out before we get married.  Do you think July 11 is too late to send out an AHR invite for July 28 or August 4?  Most of the people who would be attending are local.  PLEASE HELP!  Thanks!

Originally Posted by briannettu 

 

I am struggling with how and when to send an announcement/ahr invite without having to send them seperately.  Here's the deal:

 

We are getting married in Playa del Carmen on July 11, 2012.

 

We need to have our AHR by August 4 at the latest.

 

This doesn't really give us time to send an announcement/ahr invite after the wedding (we want everyone to have ample time to plan to come to the party).

 

Some people (like weird family members and people my parents work with) will ONLY get the announcement, not a party invite.

 

In my mind I have a postcard style thing with an announcement on the front and an AHR invite on the back.  For those who aren't invited to the AHR they will only get the front.  Trying to keep it fairly cheap since we are on quite a small budget.

 

I just don't know how to word it if we have to send it out before we get married.  Do you think July 11 is too late to send out an AHR invite for July 28 or August 4?  Most of the people who would be attending are local.  PLEASE HELP!  Thanks!

If you plan on not inviting some people to your reception at home, I would just wait and send their announcement until after you're back. That way you can still use normal post-wedding announcement wording.  Then for those who are invited to the reception, you could mail them earlier and say something like "So and so will be married July 11, 2012 in Playa del Carmen. To help us celebrate when we return, please join us for dinner and dancing on August 4th" .. or something like that, only worded a little better.

I think I am going to do one postcard that on the front says something like:

A sunny future begins on the beach on 7-11-12.

Names

Place

website

Then on the back there will be party info.  Some peole will get one with a blank back though if they're not invited to the party.

I've gotten a lot of cute ideas from zazzle.com and purpletrail.com is neat also.  I like how you can customize them and look at them and save them to decide later instead of paying upfront for a design and not knowing what you're getting.

When are you getting back from your wedding, because if the wedding isn't until the 11th, it may be over a week before you get back, mail them (assuming they're ready to go before you leave), and for people to receive them? What exactly is the announcement for? That you two are actually married? 

We are leaving on the 8th, getting married on the 11th, and returning on the 13th.  The AHR is on the 28th.  I was told people need a month's advance notice to plan so that would mean we would mail them out toward the end of June.  I guess I could word the AHR invite as "they will be married" and just change the wording to "were married" and reprint for the others and not send those until we get back.  Since you can edit and such for free on those sites I mentioned.

I am getting married at the Moon Palace on June 25th, 2012. Our AHR is July 28th 6pm-12am at a Holiday Inn in MA. I invited all 180 guests to both. I knew I wanted a destination wedding, but I also knew how hard it is for people to fly and stay in Mexico.

I ordered my invitations through www.zazzle.com. I had a Boarding pass invitation to the wedding in Mexico, a luggage tag "Save The Date" for the at home reception. I put "no flight required" on one side with the reception info. I also added a post card "response card" to stay within the theme. I didn't have any formal response to Mexico, just a book by date. I also didn't have the response cards due back until June 14th (before we leave for MX). I sent them out right after Thanksgiving. I wanted everyone to have ample time to decide, and I wanted to let them know the AHR details so they can mark their calender and it gave them something to respond to if they couldn't swing MX. Ive been receiving the responses all along, and most people wrote, cant make Mexico, but will celebrate in the US.

My invitations were 200 dollars for everything! (I used a 50% off promo code for the invites.)

The one thing I have heard, which all along was my hope, was that no one felt pressure to attend or not attend the destination part. I think because of the AHR invite. Tim and I along with our parents will be there.....anyone else is a bonus.

Best part is....my invitations were done in November, and I haven't had to worry about a thing!

The 30 guests that are coming are amazing!!! I cant wait, and I cant wait to live it all over again at the AHR. AND wear my dress twice Money well spent!

You invited all of the guests to both? I was wondering if I should do that to. I am so confused on that matter... :-(

Yes, One of my friends 5 years ago did not and it wasnt a big deal. I wanst able to choose? Someone once told me they were "miffed" because they thought "Im not good enough to be invited to the ceremony, but they want me to come to the after party and bring a gift?" She was talking about someone else, but it always stuck in my head. My FI would have preferred just the wedding in Mexico, but I knew so many people would want to see me get married (Ive been in like 12 weddings with a large group of friends and Im the last one to have anything) I knew so many friends and family wouldnt be able to make it and would want to do something. This way I still get a shower and a full reception  

This way I never stressed about guests coming away. Everyone who can makes me super excited. OUt of 180 invited, we have 30 coming

I have already had some snarky remarks on even having a destination wedding...those people have been uninvited to any event. LOL But I do see the point in thinking they are not good enough for the ceremony and such. I definitley do not want people to feel that way. My families are throwing me a shower and I am still having a ladi back AHR. Thanks for the advice!

 

Originally Posted by Smoylan 

Yes, One of my friends 5 years ago did not and it wasnt a big deal. I wanst able to choose? Someone once told me they were "miffed" because they thought "Im not good enough to be invited to the ceremony, but they want me to come to the after party and bring a gift?" She was talking about someone else, but it always stuck in my head. My FI would have preferred just the wedding in Mexico, but I knew so many people would want to see me get married (Ive been in like 12 weddings with a large group of friends and Im the last one to have anything) I knew so many friends and family wouldnt be able to make it and would want to do something. This way I still get a shower and a full reception  

This way I never stressed about guests coming away. Everyone who can makes me super excited. OUt of 180 invited, we have 30 coming

In my opinion, depends on which event you would like most guests to attend.

If you would prefer as many people as possible attend the destination, then we usually recommend our brides send out the AHR invite afterwards. If you would prefer the destination part to be more intimate, then send out the AHR with the save-the-date!