Guides
One guide
per occasion.
Not a generic checklist with the occasion swapped. Each of these carries the timeline, the piece list and the etiquette that genuinely belong to that event and to no other.
01
What each guide contains.
- The timeline — working backwards from the date, with the two steps people forget: collecting addresses, and ordering as distinct from sending.
- The pieces — what the occasion genuinely needs, what most people add, and what you can skip without anyone noticing.
- The etiquette — the conventions specific to that occasion, stated as conventions rather than rules.
- The guest question — who is invited, how they reply, and what tends to go wrong.
02
The guides.
The engagement party guest list
One rule decides most of it: anyone at the engagement party must also be invited to the wedding.
The rehearsal dinner guest list
A small list that sprawls if you let it — who is owed a place, and how to tell a wedding guest they are not at the dinner.
The vow renewal guest list
No wedding party, children present, and often the people who missed the first one. The least-documented list of the three.
The wedding guest list
The politics before the admin — allocations, the B-list, reciprocity, and the timeline from first draft to final count.
Most readEngagement party
Short lead time, one strict guest-list rule, and no gift expectation.
Rehearsal dinner
A smaller event inside a bigger one — and the guest list is the hard part.
Bridal shower
The one occasion where a registry belongs, and the invitation rule with no exceptions.
Baby shower
Timing around a due date that may move, and wording that fits the real situation.
Christening & baptism
Booked around a parish calendar, and two events in one day.
First communion
A shared parish Mass changes almost everything about the stationery.
Bar & bat mitzvah
A date set years ahead, two guest lists, and the longest lead time of any occasion here.
Quinceañera
The most people to name — parents, padrinos, a court of fourteen — often in two languages.
Sweet sixteen
Written for a sixteen-year-old, read by their parents, and it has to work for both.
Kids' birthday
Four questions every parent has, and a card that is judged on answering them.
Milestone birthday
Including the version where it is a surprise, and the version that never prints the number.
Anniversary
Hosted by the children as often as the couple, which changes the whole invitation.
Not seeing your occasion? The wording library covers more occasions than this does, the tools work for any event, and what to send covers the piece list across everything the house designs for. If you want a guide that is not here yet, say so.