Wedding Invitation Wording and Style

I've written two wedding invitations, and neither one was my own. First, my young friend Rebecca came to me because she didn't want a standard wedding invitation.

Wedding Invitation: Unique with Pictures

Rebecca wanted pictures. She wanted something that expressed faith in God. She wanted something that showed where she and her fiance met, which was in Nicaragua on a missions trip. We found a beautiful picture of a rough hewn rock in the lake in Nicaragua, with nothing on it but a white cross. That was an inspiring find.

Wedding Invitation #1 The Process and Wording

First, I scanned in casual spontaneous pictures of the bride and groom, and feathered the edges of the photos to give a soft look. I wanted the wedding invitation to fold over, but reveal the picture of the rock on the inside - however, when I did that I discovered that the cross was not going to be visible, because it was in the center of the rock. So I moved the cross over in Photoshop, and it looked like it had always been there. Now the front of the wedding invitation would show the happy couple centered on the front, and the cross on the back page would be visible.

The wedding invitation text was to be printed on the left of the picture inside. On the real invitation we used separate pictures of bride and groom on the front, and a couple shot inside.

In the celebration of love

Mr. and Mrs. Donald Romance

and Mr. and Mrs. Steven Ecstatic

invite you to share in the joy

of the marriage

uniting their children

Rebecca Romance

and

Edward Ecstatic

on Friday, the eleventh of July

at one o'clock in the afternoon

Two thousand and ten

at Holy Life Church

3434 Willow Park

Cumberland, Maryland

(Obviously I changed their names for privacy reasons.) When the wedding invitation wording was just right, I took the layout, and pictures to a printer, and selected the paper and the envelopes. This custom designed invitation cost about the same as if we had ordered one of the fancy embossed wedding invitations from the printer's book, with gold foil and parchment insert.

Wedding Invitation for a Second Marriage

The other invitation I wrote recently was for a friend in her late 40's who was getting remarried. She and her fiance were having a small wedding with her kids, his kids, her parents, and a few close friends. So we needed an invitation for that small crowd, although most of them knew all about the arrangements. But then my friend also wanted to send 200 or so really nice announcements to all their many friends, contacts and colleagues from church and work. They had a lot of important relationships with people from all phases of their lives - way too many for a small wedding. So our challenge was to find something perfect for both the wedding invitation and the wedding announcement.

Wedding Invitation #2: The Process and Wording

From the big book of wedding invitation samples at the Hallmark store, we chose a beautiful embossed blank card with matching lined envelope. Here's how we worded the invitation:

A New Beginning

WITH THE BLESSING OF THEIR FAMILIES

Rosemary Romance

and

Edward Ecstatic

INVITE YOU TO CELEBRATE

THE JOY OF THEIR MARRIAGE

FRIDAY THE EIGHTH OF AUGUST

TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT

AT 4 O'CLOCK IN THE AFTERNOON

AT NEW LIFE CHURCH

8080 CARMEL DRIVE

CARMEL, INDIANA

I set up the type on my computer, and sent it to Rosemary as a file. She was able to copy and paste it into a document and print it out on her own printer using 25 of the embossed cards from Hallmark. She hand addressed the 25 matching envelopes. She was having a small wedding dinner after the ceremony, so those details were printed on translucent paper, and slipped inside some of the invitations.

Wedding Announcement: The Wording

Those same beautiful embossed cards and lined envelopes were just right for the announcements. For these, Rosemary and I changed the wedding invitation wording to make it an announcement. Then we had Hallmark have the announcements printed. Here is what they said:

A New Beginning

TOGETHER WITH THEIR FAMILIES

Rosemary Romance

AND

Edward Ecstatic

JOYFULLY ANNOUNCE

THEIR MARRIAGE

FRIDAY THE EIGHTH OF AUGUST

TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT

CARMEL, INDIANA

Wedding Invitations and Announcements That Invite Others to Share the Joy

Both of these couples wanted to invite people to share in their joy, and join in their celebration, rather than "requesting the honor of someone's presence."

Neither of these were traditional invitations but they were very different from each other. Traditional invitations, with their formal language, thick, creamy paper, double envelopes and little embossed reception cards, RSVP cards and little matching envelopes, are very impressive, and very expensive. But I think it is refreshing and interesting to do a one of a kind custom invitation that it is just as tasteful, but unique.

Why not choose a wedding invitation with only the wording, style and visuals that are deeply meaningful to you? . Whether or not Emily Post would like it. See the pictures I've included of the layouts for the wedding invitation with pictures, and the wording for the other wedding invitation. Also, you'll see my candle gift idea where I used part of the ceremony (a scripture), lacquered it to a candle, and dried the bridal bouquet as a wreath.

Source
Personal Experience