Hello everyone. I have run into a situation when it comes to wording the invitations and could really use some assistance on what the etiquette for this so I don't make any blunders or offend anyone. Some background: I got married back in January. Everyone knows that we are married. When he proposed we planned our wedding, put down deposits, booked a venue etc. In October my mom was diagnosed with a brain tumor and she went downhill quickly. We got married in January the hospice room on less than a days notice, because my mom wanted to see it before she died or got so bad that she didn't recognize us. She passed away a week later.
Now we are NOT have a big redo wedding ceremony with all the trimmings because we are already married and everybody knows. But since we have already booked and paid for things like a venue and catering and it's too late to cancel and get a full refund, we want to have a fundraising event for the hospice that took care of my mom. It was my mother-in-law and sister-in-law's idea and my family is on board. But I'm not sure how to word the invitations or even if I invite people the same way I would if it was a wedding. We need a rough head count for the caterer, but I also don't want people to feel pressured or obligated to come. Everyone we were going to invite to our wedding knows we are married and the situation with my mom. I just didn't want to waste the venue and the caterer and everything else we booked because we are already married, and I am so grateful to the hospice for all they did for my mom and our family. Any assistance or advice would be greatly appreciated. Do I word the invitations similar to a wedding one or completely differently? How do I ask people to RSVP without being tackey? Thank-you for reading this.