Invitation Revamp

[FrekeChild]

J star, I put exactly what you wrote up there. And put "they will be married in a private ceremony in 2010" at the very bottom.

Everyone who has seen it thus far has liked it.

And then for the uninvited guests the following letter handwritten will be enclosed from me:
"Dear _____

We have been rethinking our plans for the wedding. We feel that in the current financial climate a big wedding is out of our reach and selfish to ask of our guests. We have decided to scale everything back to a bare essentials elopement. We would love to invite you to celebrate our marriage at our party in August. I wanted to let you know promptly so you can adjust your calendar and not miss out on other plans. Thank you for your understanding.

Love,
Liz and FI"

ETA: We're getting married January 9th, 2010 if you were interested. And I'm terrible at keeping track of those sorts of things...

 

[katamari]

Freke, I just wanted to let you know that I feel your pain. There needs to be some new wedding jargon created for these types of situations! We just used "upcoming marriage" on our invitation wording. I know that some people might think it is the wedding, or that they will be invited to the wedding, but ultimately they won''t be, so what can you do?

If anyone misunderstands your invite, that is due to their assumptions, and not due to anything you are doing by using the best wording possibilities. The important people will be happy to celebrate your relationship and happiness regardless of the format of that celebration.

 

[ice-queen]

I like the first suggestion most (from Hudson Hawk):

"Liz and FI are eloping!
Please join us to celebrate and send them off in style!"

I think it''s cute and fun....and definitely sends the "YOU ARE NOT INVITED TO THE WEDDING" message in a nice way.

Some of the other wording suggestions seem misleading to me...either making it sound like (a) you may have already eloped or (b) this is a pre-wedding celebration and will be invited to the wedding as well.

 

[honey22]

Freke, I think the note is great. It makes a point, while doing it nicely. It''s a difficult situation to be in, I don''t envy you at all, but it will all work out.