"Honor" vs. "Honour" -- ordering invitations today!

erries

I thought I had this all settled, but now I'm second guessing myself, and I'd really appreciate some feedback from you guys. I like the look of the formal, traditional "honour of your presence", with the British spelling. But SEVERAL of the friends I've shown my invitation draft to have picked that one phrase out as something they'd change, back to the American "honor" spelling. They say it looks weird, awkward...  one friend even used the word "pretentious". Am I crazy, or do most wedding invitations use the British spelling of "honour" (and "favour")? From Googling I don't gather that there's really any hard and fast rule anymore, so ultimately it's up to my preference, but I don't want to go with something that multiple guests are going to stumble over and specifically notice and think is "pretentious". Opinions?

As the title indicates, I'm placing my order this evening. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Erica

banana468

Either are fine. We used honour on our invitations.

EllenG27

We are using 'request the pleasure of your company' - Would that be better and you wouldn't have to worry about the 'honor' vs 'honour' debate?

SirJuliusVonHaast

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_invites-paper_honor-vs-honour-ordering-invitations-today?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:cd062f89-8272-496a-b0ab-225e1f87acecDiscussion:59c06d48-b6c0-4f91-b692-9dee655b5b41Post:8f2807e2-cf7e-4f83-bfd7-51370f2fceed">Re: "Honor" vs. "Honour" -- ordering invitations today!</a>:
[QUOTE]We are using 'request the pleasure of your company' - Would that be better and you wouldn't have to worry about the 'honor' vs 'honour' debate?
Posted by EllenG27[/QUOTE]

<div>Pleasure of your company refers to a civil or outdoor ceremony, while honor/honour of your presence refers to a ceremony in a house of worship. </div>

tenofcups4me

I usually see "honour" with the U on wedding invitations. In the abstract, I think it's silly -- why do we Americans think the British spelling is more formal? And only appropriate for wedding invitations when we wouldn't spell it that way in other scenarios? But having said that, I'd still include the "u" if I were using that prhasing simply because that's the way it's usually done.

I honestly don't think it matters much one way or the other though. Choose whichever you like and don't worry about it!

cac7777

I've read that honour is more formal and, as such, indicates a more formal church affair (like a formal catholic ceremony). If that's what you're having, then I'd say you're probably on the right track. It's not pretentious to use the formal spelling you're having a more formal wedding ceremony. I do agree with PP that "pleasure of your company" is more for non-church weddings. If I were you, though, I'd probably think about my guests and about what they're expecting. I mean, ultimately, the invitations are for your guests, right? If it were me, and if my wedding weren't going to be particularly formal, and if my guests felt that the formality of the "u" sounded pretentious, I guess I might consider changing it.  

erries

It's a formal, traditional Protestant ceremony in a church, so "hono(u)r of your presence" is more appropriate than "pleasure of your company". I guess I was just surprised that so many people commented on the "u", almost as if they thought I had misspelled it or something. I think it looks nice, but I don't want my guests to think it's stupid or incorrect. Thanks for the feedback.

Erica

KALAGHANDDAN

That was the great debate over our invitations too! FI is a writer so he analyzes the spelling and wording of EVERYTHING! In the end we went with "honor" because in his opinion it looked better lol

specialk84

Even though we're having a formal church ceremony, we dropped the "u" because FI thought his family would think it was snobby.  It wasn't worth arguing over, so we dropped it.