[joshm]

Hope you enjoyed the recent Independence Holiday!

Traditionally, who pays for the postage costs associated with wedding invitations?

The twist to this seemingly basic question lies in the details, which are as follows:
[ul] [li]The Bride is from Illinois [li]The Groom is from California [li]The wedding ceremony will be in a Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS or Mormon) in San Diego [li]The Groom's family is covering the costs of a celebration in our honor in California [li]The Bride's family is covering the costs of a celebration in our honor in Illinois about a week later [li]The invitation, in reality, is more of an announcement (only about 50 can attend the actual ceremony in the temple and they receive a special invitation card included with the invitation) inviting guests to attend one of the celebrations (i.e. the addresses and times of both celebrations/receptions are on the invitation) [li]There will be roughly 530 invitations sent out by mail at $0.49 an invitation (they're square). [/li][/ul]Knowing this information, who should cover the postage costs? The Bride's mother is convinced that she should cover the postage (she is already covering the costs of the invitations) only for those guests she is inviting, and that the Groom's family should pay for the postage for their guests.

[Etiquette Now]

Dear Postage,

Traditionally, the bride and her mother would be responsible for the all correspondence costs. Today all costs are shared or the couple covers all costs.

I'm not sure about your invitations. You only send invitations to those who are actually invited. But, like I said, I don't understand exactly what you meant.

Best wishes,