On this day, I wanted to give everyone another gift. It is my responsibility to share from my own mistakes and gift others with nuggets of "Doh" moments, so that I might save someone else from the head slapping I had to inflict on myself.
Everyday, I write. Everyday, people are sending me things to edit. I cringe just reading the newspaper or a book when I stumble upon a grammatical error. And still, I overlooked mistakes on not just my wedding invitations, but I also missed the fact my very own name was spelled wrong on my bridal shower invitations!
After many, many conversations and calculations, I thought I would share a few tips on how to avoid the mistakes I made:
1. Proofread EVERYTHING. Look at the dates, the names, the locations, the abbreviations, etc. Read them several times slowly, out loud…walk away, go do something and come back and read it again! Once you have read it, have someone else read it! The rule generally is have two or three sets of eyes read everything!
2. DO NOT PROOF ON YOUR SMART PHONE! I am the queen of multi-tasking and I proofed everything from my phone. Print out everything that needs proofing.
3. Order at least 10 to 15 more invitations than you need. I found myself asking to have a few invitations made for people that my fiance and I forgot…thankfully my invitations were hand made by my Aunt, so it wasn’t that big of a deal (thanks Bob). But this could have been a costly oversight!
4. Pay attention to the Post Office! Make sure you have your invitations weighed individually by the Post Office to make sure you’re not skimping on the postage…they will come back! Luckily, this wasn't the case for me. However, the estimate I made in my head was TOTALLY off.
5. Right before you approve the big send-off, send one last e-mail to your friends and family asking if anyone has moved. Trust me, someone will say, “Oh, thanks for asking! My new address is….” **side eye**
Happy Holidays!
Did you overlook something and it cost you big time?
