A wedding with one guest list can use one card. A South Asian wedding in the US usually cannot. Mehndi might be close family and friends. Sangeet might add the college group. The ceremony might be the religious service. The reception might be the largest room of the weekend, or it might be the only event some coworkers are invited to. Each of those is a list, and the paper should match the list.
The ceremony and reception cards are in the invitation catalog. Smaller event cards and details cards are with RSVP cards and inserts.
Start with the lists, not the design
Write four names at the top of a page: mehndi, sangeet, ceremony, reception. Put each household under every event they are actually invited to. A household can appear on one line or on all four.
Then look at the paper.
- If two events share the exact same households, those two events can share a card or ride in the same envelope.
- If an event has extra people, that event needs its own card, mailed only to the people invited.
- If an event has fewer people, do not print it on the card that goes to the larger list. Guests read an event on a card as an invitation.
That last point causes most of the hurt feelings. A sangeet line on a ceremony card tells every ceremony guest to come dance. If that is not true, take the line off.
How to count the resulting stacks is in how many invitations to order. Sample host lines for the ceremony itself are in invitation wording.
What each card should say
Keep each card to one event, or to a run of events that share the guest list.
A mehndi or haldi card needs the hosts or the couple, the name of the event, the date, the start time, and the place. Say if it is a smaller gathering. "Mehndi with the bride's family and friends" is clearer than a floral border and no clue about who the room is for.
A sangeet or garba card can be a little more direct about the evening: dinner, music, dancing, and the time you actually want people in the room. If the performance starts at seven and dinner is at nine, print the time you want guests to arrive, and put the rest of the schedule on a details insert.
The ceremony card is the formal one. It should not also try to be the hotel letter.
The reception card should say reception, dinner and dancing, or walima, whichever word your families use, plus the date, time, and place. "Reception to follow" on the ceremony card is only honest when it is the same guests and the same visit. A reception on Sunday, or a reception that adds fifty coworkers, gets its own card.
One envelope when the household is invited to more than one event
If Priya's aunt is invited to mehndi, the ceremony, and the reception, she can receive three cards in one outer envelope. She does not need three stamps and three mailings. The outer envelope is addressed once. The cards inside tell her which days are hers.
If a coworker is invited only to the reception, that coworker receives only the reception card. Do not tuck a ceremony card in "just in case" and hope they know not to come.
Addressing that outer envelope is covered in how to address wedding envelopes.
Details that are not invitations
Hotels, parking, a note about covering your head at the gurdwara, and the weekend at a glance can be one details card inside the envelopes that need them. You do not need a separate designed invitation for parking.
Menus, programs, place cards, and seating charts are for people who are already in the room. Order them from menus and programs and seating and table cards on the print schedule in the stationery timeline. They do not invite anyone who was left off the mailing list.
Replies for more than one event
Paper reply cards get clumsy when a guest can say yes to mehndi and no to the reception. An online list can ask each event on its own. ShaadiPrints Basic and Premium RSVP both collect a separate reply for every event. The plans, including the $39 and $79 prices and the free Basic offer on print orders over $250, are explained in RSVP and guest management.