Unfortunately, for many brides- and grooms-to-be, it is also a burdensome expense. Sending custom cards to hundreds of potential attendees, as well as to those you full well know will not attend but would be mad if you didn’t invite them, can cost no small sum. This started me thinking about alternatives. Not that I would use these myself (honest!), but perhaps someone will find a lifesaver here.

Aside from the obvious but in-law displeasing option of not sending cards, the clearest choice seems to be making use of the internet. One could send an HTML-formatted email, with links to a custom website designed with all kinds of glitter and glow, for nothing. For those lacking time and talent, a plain old text message could suffice. Black on white is popular for printed cards, after all.

But if we’re wanting to use the latest technology, why not skip email and websites altogether, and go straight to the summit: Cell phones. That’s right, you can send text messages instantly to all your kin. Many cell phones support multiple recipients and groups, so you could hit all your family and friends in one wireless whack. Of course, many service providers charge for this service. You can skirt that issue by using any of the various free software or website applications that let you send text messages for free. But even if you have to pay for it, a few cents a message is a lot less than the cost of postage, especially with the postage rate hikes expected this very next month.

Of course, choosing the mode of communication is only half the battle. You also have to decide what to say. With a cell phone you can’t be long winded and wordy. No one is going to have patience with your text message, “The families of Jon Dough and Jayne Smith wish the pleasure of your presence….” It’s already off the screen, and no one likes to scroll.

The trend with cell phone text messages is to be short and concise. They just need the facts: who, what, when, where. And it helps to know the lingo. Use letters to stand in for words when possible: “RU” for “Are you.” Drop vowels and unimportant letters in common words. Don’t spell out the obvious. Everyone knows JD is Jon Dough. So how could you do it? Behold the wedding invitation of the future:

JD+JS 6/24@TVILLE CH. UR CMNG? Y/N

One of the podcasts that I subscribe to on iTunes is “Quirks and Quarks,” a science talk show. I don’t listen to every episode, but mainly the ones that especially interest me. This one titled, “Reading Minds,” grabbed my attention. And it was definitely worth listening to. You can find a link to this particular program here. Prepare to be surprised and amazed, if not somewhat concerned. If you’re the fun-loving type, pay particular attention to the small segment on “false memories,” and to the word list that is given, and to the questions that immediately follow. I fell for this mental trick, and the explanation of why it works is quite revealing.

(If you aren’t familiar with podcasts and would like to try this one, just download the free iTunes program and install it, run it, and configure it to your liking. Then once you have it running, click on the Music Store section in the left pane, and then in the “Search Music Store” field at the very top-right side of the window, type “quirks and quarks.” The search may turn up related items for sale, but the podcasts are free, so look for the word “free” or “subscribe.” When I last checked, the “Quirks and Quarks” podcast was at the bottom of the list. Of course there are thousands of other podcasts to choose from, virtually all of them free. You can browse them from inside the iTunes Music Store. If you are using iTunes for the first time, just be aware that the application’s built-in advertising is mainly geared towards music albums and audiobooks that are available for purchase.)