E-mail is the great equalizer.  Business people and busy housewives alike love the ease with which they can send our communications, large and small, with the click of a button.  No longer tied to the tedious observation of business hours, anyone can now get in touch with a business, pay a bill, purchase a shirt, or research the life of Abraham Lincoln – in the middle of the night, at five in the morning, when the baby is finally asleep, the first grader is finally in school, dinner plates are finally washed, or any other moment that allows someone caught up in the hectic hustle and bustle of life to catch a breath.  It is no wonder that greetings cards have gone by the wayside a bit and made room for the e-card.  As a matter of fact, if it were not for such electronic cards, many would probably not get any Easter of Christmas cards, or perhaps some would not send any!  Thus, it is not surprising that the next new wave in electronic greetings is the electronic invitation.

Of course, some purists purse their lips at the idea of sending invitations through cyberspace, and in some cases many would agree.  For example is it appropriate to send a birthday party invitation via the Internet?  What about a Super Bowl party invitation?  Many agree that these occasions are somewhat informal and therefore an electronic invitation truly is all that is required.  Yet what about the more formal occasion of a bridal shower?  Should bridal shower invites be emailed or sent via snail mail?

Anyone who routinely marks down to eschew procrastination on the annual New Years resolution list will most likely applaud the notion of sending the invites via email.  After all, if the party is the day after tomorrow, it is indeed a bit too late to still send out anything via the post office.  On the other hand, if the party is still a week away or perhaps even further on the horizon, would the formality of the occasion not warrant a handwritten card? Traditionalists have long since felt that bridal shower invitations quite often become keepsakes for the bride and groom, and perhaps also for the guests, and so it is much more appropriate to have the tangible form of invitation rather than simply the electronic message.  At the same time, some bridal shower organizers go through great lengths to hand make beautifully crafted cards, envelopes, and return envelopes, and with the help of rubber stamps, glue, some simple craft supplies, and a lot of time and patience send out these small masterpieces to friends and family who love to receive them. 

Obviously there is no good answer.  By way of suggestion, here are some times that it appears to be best to send out e-mailed invitations:

If you have procrastinated with your paper invitations and the party is only a few short days away, don’t wait any longer but send out an e-mail blitz to get as many friends and family members informed as possible.

If the bride and groom are not much concerned with tradition, but do not really care about the niceties of mailed versus e-mailed invitations, go ahead and e-mail them.

If the bride is a cyber junkie, go ahead and e-mail them.  This would be right up her ally!

If one or more of the guest to be have specifically requested to receive an e-mailed invitation, please be sure to honor that request.  They might not be looking for a piece of snail mail, and so your beautifully crafted invite may get stuck between a few pieces of junk mail.

If the bride and groom shy away from the traditional trappings of a wedding ceremony, and are instead modernizing the whole experience, then it might also be appropriate to modernize the bridal shower experience.

Obviously, for the majority of brides and grooms as well as their friends and families, handwritten and mailed invitations are still the best way to go.  Many will hold on to those little written gems and put them in scrap books and photo albums, where they will be treasured for years and quite possibly decades to come.

 

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