Expert Advice from wedding guru, Sharon Naylor

Answer:

Great question! Since your first step is going to be placing your Wedding Mapper link on your personal wedding website for your guests to use -- and also sending everyone the link so that they know it's there [I'd send the link early on, and then a week or two before the wedding, for your guests' optimal use!], the next step is thinking about how to include your directions in your invitations packet.

A *separate* insert card is always a great idea, and I love your idea of printing driving directions on the front and back of the card for the ceremony and reception! I think you might have just started a new design trend!

Just cut and paste the driving directions found on this site into your direction card design, and that gives guests a handy card to bring with them on the wedding weekend. It's quite easy to make these using your home computer and printer, using pretty card stock found at the craft store or office supply store. If you're using invitation-making software such as that at www.mountaincow.com, you'll find color-coordinated papers there that patch your invitation cards and envelopes for a coordinated look.

I also suggest that you bring a bunch of extra directions cards to the wedding itself so that guests can pick them up at the ceremony exit to help them get to the reception site.

Guests say they prefer step-by-step driving directions rather than a super-tiny map printout, and they also like it when you provide the sites' full addresses so that they can use their GPS systems as backup.

If your sites provide free directions cards, sometimes those are just printouts on regular paper, which can look a bit 'off' when inserted into invitations, so it's a great idea to work from this site, create your own cards and make your guests very happy!

Have fun creating your cards!