Invitations: Words...lot's of them

Apparently I really care about invitation wording. Initially I didn't think I would have much of an opinion about it. I figured our wording would look something like this:

With joyful hearts

Bride's Dad and Bride's Mom

together with

Groom's Parents

invite you to the marriage ceremony uniting

Bride

and

Groom

Saturday, May twenty-second, two thousand ten

at half past 4 in the afternoon

Cocktails, dinner and dancing to follow

It's nice, and please feel free to steal it if you love it, but I was looking for something with a bit more...*something.* Something with a bit of literary interest but still fairly formal. I don't want any guests showing up in jeans!

So I did what any psycho, type-A bride with too much time on her hands would do. I spent a conservative ridiculous amount of time Googling and Weddingbee-ing to find the "perfect" invitation wording. My journey brought me to the Kvetch section of Indie Bride and this epic thread. If you click the link and scroll to the bottom you'll notice there are 16 (sixteen!) pages. I'd love to tell you that I found exactly what I was looking for by page 2, but unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) I cannot. It was not until page 12 (twelve!?) that I finally found wording that made me sit up in my seat and put butterflies in my tummy.

Wanna see? Here is the original wording* (with some modification to suit our needs):

In the city of San Fracisco

where the ocean meets the bay

Bride and Groom

will pledge their commitment to each other

before the people who have filled their lives

with happiness, love, and laughter

Bride's Dad and Bride's Mom
together with
Groom's parents
invite you to witness this ceremony
in the City View Room of Windows on the River
at half past four, the twenty-second of May

A celebration with dinner, drinks, and dancing
will follow immediately!

Now, I know it's nothing earth-shattering, but  I really really love it. When I first read it I immediately knew I had to modify it to our wedding and use it. However, there is a bit of a problem. We're not getting married in San Francisco. We're getting married in Cleveland, Ohio. We can't use the fancy "ocean meets the bay" wording because uh...we have neither an ocean nor a bay within a few hundred miles. BUT! We do have a river. A once-burning river, in fact. The river that gave this blog it's name, actually. And our ceremony/reception site is on the banks of this river. Take a look:

(Source. Awesome Paint job done by me.)

I know you can't really tell from that picture, but believe me, it's there. So I tried and tried and hemmed and hawed and agonized over how to make this wording fit our event. And I just couldn't do it. I couldn't think of anything I liked. *Humph*

BUT! I knew I could, nay, WOULD somehow make it work. And I did. So it is with a happy heart that I present to you our invitation wording!

In the city of Cleveland

before the people who have filled their loves

with happiness, love and laughter

Emily MyLastName

and

Joshua HisLastName

will pledge their commitment to each other.

MyMom and MyDad

together with

HisParents

invite you to witness this ceremony

in the City View Room of Windows on the River

Saturday, May 22, 2010

at 4:30 in the afternoon

A celebration with dinner, drinks and dancing will follow immediately

Evening attire requested.

Weeeee!!! I love it. I love it SO MUCH. I basically just rearranged the first few lines (a stroke of pure genius, in my opinion). My mom thought I should put something about the attire and I didn't really want to battle her on it. We're not asking for Black Tie, but we also don't want anyone to think this is a casual affair. I think this is a nice was of suggesting people dress up.

So what do you think? Actually, if you hate it please don't tell me. Did you give yourself an ulcer trying to figure out what to write on your invitations?

*This is the part where I try to give credit to the original author. I know nothing about her, but her user-name on Indie Bride is ladyluck. So, ladyluck, if you ever happen to come across this blog post, thank you SO much for sharing your lovely wording with the Internet. I hope you don't mind that I'm completely stealing it. You rock!