Wedding Etiquette Forum

Invitation Wording..

Okay, I have no idea where else to put this, so I'm putting it here :)I've been working on the wording for our invitations and I think I've finally settled on something... but I want to make sure that nothing needs to be tweaked, so if you would be so kind, please let me know what you think and if anything needs to be fixed.I know the format will look kind of strange here, but on the invitation itself, our names, the dates and times, and the locations will be in a bigger font so they stand out a little.***************************n the spirit of Christian Joy,Emily [middle and last name]andKeith [middle and last name]will join their lives together onSaturday, January 2nd, 2010You are invited to join with them in asking God's blessing upon this holy union atFive o'clock in the evening[Name of Church]600 [Street][Town], PennsylvaniaReception Following atSix-thirty in the evening[Name of Reception Hall]219 [Street][Town], PennsylvaniaWe humbly ask that only Adults attend the Ceremony and Reception**************************I feel like the wording "we humbly ask" isn't exactly what I'm searching for at the end.  Anyone else have any suggestions as to what word should be there rather than "humbly"?? Or does that *actually* sound okay?  ...Because right now I feel like thats a gross misuse of that word, haha.Any other suggestions are greatly appreciated... just keep in mind a couple things.  1.  We *are* having a Christian ceremony so making the invitation completely secular, is out of the question.  2. we ARE putting a notice of "no kids allowed" on the invitation... I don't care *how* tacky some of you think that is... but with that being said, if any of you have any suggestions for better *wording* for that little notice... I'm open to them.Thanks ladies :)

Re: Invitation Wording..

  • I'm not sure I should even answer since I'm pretty sure you're just here to rile everyone up again but.... Usually addressing the invite to the adults only gets the message across that it is an adults only event. If you insist on having the message on the invite you could just put 'Adults only' or 'Adult Reception to Follow at [reception hall]'
    Lilypie Third Birthday tickers
  • much to your disappointment (or relief, you pick), I'm actually being serious.  :)I actually would *prefer* to write that, but I've heard so many people gripe about writing that at the bottom that I thought I'd attempt something different....maybe I *will* change it back to that then...
  • ah well good : ) Also maybe 'Adult Only Celebration'
    Lilypie Third Birthday tickers
  • I like that too!  I'll keep that in mind :)
  • Sorry, I just had an after thought...I like "Adult Only Celebration" or maybe even writing "Adult reception to follow at..."But one of the big things is that we *also* don't want kids at the ceremony, for the sheer fact that we don't want anyone's little bundle of joy to start screaming in the middle of our happy moment......Do you think only putting "Adult Only Celebration" or something like it would *also* keep the little tykes from showing up at our ceremony?  Or is there something that we could write for that too?
  • It should - address your invites to the adults in the household only, put your note on your invite and you could put on your RSVP card 'We have reserved X number of seats for you'Even doing all that it's still possible people are going to RSVP for their kids and when you start getting those cards in you'll just have to call them and explain that their children aren't invited
    Lilypie Third Birthday tickers
  • got it.cool, thank you :)
  • Your invitation wording is beautiful, but putting that phrase at the bottom is really distracting. I understand that you want to get their attention, but that just looks [i]wrong[/i] and kind of - dare I say it - unchristian... If you insist on putting the adult only part on the invite, why not do a reception card? A truly formal invite wouldn't list the party to follow anyway. That part goes on an enclosed reception card. I can't imagine that someone would get little Johnny all dressed up and take him to the ceremony but then drive him back home before the reception, so I wouldn't worry about parents bringing their kids to the church...
  • when you say reception card, do you mean something *other* than the RSVP card?  ...apparently this is something I've missed in my planning adventures, haha.
  • Yes, you can get a coordinating reception card that's enclosed in the invites. It doesn't need its own envelope, though. I'll see if I can find some examples...
  • awesome, thank you :)
  • Also, this way you don't have to put two addresses on the actual invite. Too much info for one page :)
  • Very cool :)That's definitely something to keep in mind.  I didn't realize that it could be done that way.  I almost like it better :)
  • HAHA!  *Very* true... it *was* definitely starting to look cluttered.  :)
  • Reception cards have the information on location and time of the reception if you are having a gap - otherwise it just says reception immediately following the ceremony at [reception hall].
    Lilypie Third Birthday tickers
  • Well, I'm DIYing our invites, but those are definitely giving me some ideas!!
  • I agree expat - our invites were pretty easy though. We picked them up at Target and printed them out ourselves
    Lilypie Third Birthday tickers
  • Sapphire - Couples getting married in a house of worship usually hold the reception at a different location - unless it's a cake and punch reception - regardless of whether there's a gap. So their invites could use a reception card. We're Catholic, so we had to get married in the church - not that we minded ;) But we didn't have a gap between the ceremony and the reception; cocktails started as soon as they got there.
  • Sapphire - If we had gotten married and had the reception at the same place, we could have done the same :)
  • Sapphire- That's how we're doing our invites too :)Expat- We are having the reception at a different location... and the more and more I think about it, the better and better the Idea of having a reception card included sounds.
  • Expat - Yeah I've noticed that's kind of the norm with all the weddings I've been too - I can only remember 1 wedding where they held the reception at the church.
    Lilypie Third Birthday tickers
  • I'll echo PPs.While the wording at the top is pretty, it's also VERY wordy and a bit unnecessary.  A simple, "The honour of your presence is requested at the ceremony uniting X and Y".  THAT actually indicates that your ceremony will not be secular.  There's no need to get so wordy that your names get lost. I also assume that your parents are not hosting as the invitation mentions nothing of who is.Writing anything on the invitation regarding who you aren't inviting isn't appropriate and it takes away the beauty of the invitation that you're working so hard to create.Address the invitation to the adults you're inviting.  If you must go a step further, write out the response cards for each adult so that the guest just checks 'accepts' or 'declines' after his/her name with no ability for write ins.Then on a wedding website, indicate that you are happy to give the names of a few baby sitters for guests who will need childcare arrangements for the reception (your ceremony is open to anyone.).
  • As mentioned before, saying:The honor of your presence is requestedat the marriage ofBrideandGroomindicates a church wedding. The honoring bit is not about honoring the bride and groom, it's about honoring God. I would think that most people would understand that if you say that and you're being married in a church, it's a Christian ceremony.Regarding the Adults only bit -- no matter what you think, it's tacky. Things like this are best left to the suggestions already mentioned: address the invitations to the adults, fill out their response cards for them, and/or include this information on your Web site or what is ultimately traditional -- word of mouth. The best etiquette guides out there all preach against "Adults only" on the invitation. However, if you absolutely MUST and aren't worried about offending people, just put the words "Adults only" in one of the bottom corners in a smaller size than the rest of the body text (not the emphasized text, but everything you're not enlarging). Receptions held in a separate location should have a separate card. One reply card for the whole ensemble though. :)And finally, it's technically five o'clock in the afternoon, not evening. Evening starts at six. :)Good luck with your invitations :)
    9.17.2010
    planning

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  • We didn't want children at our ceremony or reception except for the 4 children that were in the wedding. I addressed all of my invites to just the adults, and 5 people RSVP back with them and their children.  It really sucked that I had to call people and explain that we are not having children.  I was upset that none of these people understood that I didn't address it to the whole family. 
  • Thanks guys :)Jano - I'll change it to "in the afternoon".  I sat there staring at it for about 5 minutes after I wrote it debating whether it was considered afternoon or evening... I think I settled on evening because I'm *pretty* sure by that time in January it's starting to get dark haha.
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