please proof my invite! (and a couple of questions)

Turtle&Star

Hi everybody,

Here's the wording for our invitations as it looks now. Could you let me know if anything looks wrong? (On the actual invite everything except our names is in small caps; our names are in cursive, capitalized regularly; and all this is centered.)

together with their families
Jane Ann Turtle
and
John Allen Star

request the pleasure of your company
at their wedding

saturday, the sixteenth of june
two thousand and twelve
five o'clock in the afternoon

venue name
venue street address
city, state

reception immediately following

I'm also wondering about a couple of other things:
Is it correct that the phrase "reception immediately following" (rather than "reception to follow") indicates that the reception will be held at the same location as the ceremony? Can you say this even though there will be a cocktail hour in between the ceremony and the reception?

Is it correct that I don't need to include "RSVP" on the invite itself if I have an RSVP card included? And on that card, how do you indicate the date you need to have the card back by - I've seen "please respond by [date]" printed somewhere on the card.

Oh, and one other thing - I am probably overthinking this, but we're getting married in a former church that is now maintained by a neighborhood historical association and rented out for weddings etc. but is not an active church. So I'm assuming "the pleasure of your company" is still correct, rather than "the honour of your presence." Thoughts on this?

Thank you!

siriuslypotter

You don't have any errors. Well done! 

If you have an RSVP card you don't need an RSVP on your invite. There is no need to double information. The cocktail hour is part of your reception. As long as you are having everything in the same place it is fine to say immediatelly following. If you don't like that wording you can always try, reception promptly following or reception forthwith (I like this one because it fits in with the formal tone of your invite).

As for the wording of pleasure of your company...I've never heard that you have to base the wording on the venue. If you are supposed to well...it sounds like an old tradition to me then and not something people will care about. Choose which ever you like better.

Turtle&Star

Thanks very much to both of you!

Kind of a followup question - I have been playing around with alternate wording for the RSVP cards, rather than "accepts" or "declines," mostly because the part of me that cares too much about grammar hates the idea that the verbs might not agree if there's more than one guest (that is: if it's Mr. and Mrs. Jones, then it ought to be "accept," not "accepts" - they'll have to cross off an s! The horror!). I was thinking of making it instead something like "will be there!" / "can't make it." But would that be too informal, given the relatively formal language of the invite itself?

JacklovesSarah

I think that would be too informal. I too am a stickler for grammar; I'm an English/Spanish tutor.

You could write:

Number attending ______
Unable to attend _______

Or maybe
 
____ will attend.
____ will not attend.

Turtle&Star

Thanks, JacklovesSarah - I like the "will attend / will not attend" option a lot. Straightforward and formal enough without being overdone.