At Home Cards

Family and friends can be made aware of your new address when at-home cards are included with your invitations and announcements. At-home cards are small enclosure cards whose card stock, lettering style, and ink color match the invitations with which they are sent. They alert people of the address at which you will be residing and the date after which you will be there. Although not done very often in the past, many couples now have their phone numbers engraved on their at-home cards.

The wording for at-home cards sent with announcements is different from the wording for at-home cards sent with the invitations. At-home cards sent with announcements show your names together as "Mr. and Mrs." since you are already married when they are sent. When sent with invitations your names are not used since you are not yet married and cannot use "Mr. and Mrs."

While the principal purpose of at-home cards is to let people know your new address, when sent with announcements they can also let people know that you have chosen to continue using your maiden name. Your name appears on the first line followed by your husband's name on line two. The remainder of the card reads as it normally would. Since you could have presented yourself as "Mrs." but did not, it will be assumed that you are still using your maiden name.

I would like to send at-home cards with my wedding announcements but I don't want anybody to think that I'm asking for gifts.

At-home cards are like the change-of-address cards you might send when you move. They simply announce your new address and are a great convenience for anybody that wants to keep in touch with you. They are not gift-request cards and should never be interpreted as such.

What date should we use on our at-home cards?

Most couples use the date on which they return from their honeymoon.