Saturday, January 30, 2010

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!

8 comments:

  1. I love it! I also didn’t want to use completely traditional wording, but still wanted to reflect the formality of our wedding. In the end, I went with something a bit similar to what you did, honoring our friends and families for their roles in our lives.

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  2. That wording is great! I love how it is more personal than the standard invite wording...which we're going with. That was one battle I decided to give in with my parents. :)

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  3. I think it is perfect! I love unique invitation wording. It makes the invite seem so personal and special. I have to start working on mine in a few weeks!

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  4. Love the wording and the picture actually. Was trying to imagine Windows on the River for the wedding

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  5. I love it and may be stealing part of it...very nice! Thanks :)

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  6. Wow...GREAT wording! I really didn't put any thought whatsoever into mine....shame shame shame on me for just using the first thing that I saw and filling in the blanks. We didn't even tell them the attire to wear...d'oh! I can't wait to see your invites!

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  7. I love it! It sounds great and seems very reflective of the two of you. Hooray!! :)

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  8. I think it's perfect, and your venue is gorgeous!

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