Wedding Invitations

Let’s have a show of hands. I’m sure I’m not the only one who remembers looking at the framed wedding invitation on my mother’s dressing table quite a lot when growing up.  The Little Girl version of me thought it was just beautiful to look at the formal Olde English text and my parents’ names, but my favorite part was the passage on the invitation that read “request the honour of your presence.”  Something about that spelling, “honour,” just struck me.  For years, whenever I’d dream of the day my prince would come, I’d just think about that beautiful wedding invitation on my mother’s dressing table and smile.

Luckily, I didn’t have to spend too many years smiling and waiting for my prince to come. When my husband and I got engaged, and we began the serious and very important business of planning our wedding, I started poring over wedding invitation catalogs almost right away.  I had a picture in my head of precisely the invitation I wanted:  cream card stock, formal font, engraving, and of course that word “honour.”

After a great many wedding invitation websites and catalogs, many consultations of wedding etiquette books, and quite an impressive number of printers’ proofs, the UPS man brought me a box of wedding invitations from the printer.  Opening that box made me very happy–although of course not anywhere near as happy as the wedding day itself!   There they were, at long last: the cream card stock, engraved and formal text, and my favorite “honour,” with my name right next to my prince’s name.  Not only did I manage to hit all the right notes etiquette-wise, but I was able to meet my own high expections.

It shouldn’t surprise anyone that I’ve framed our wedding invitation and it sits on my dressing table to this very day, where I look at it and smile each day all over again, even as my prince and I approach our tenth anniversary.

Growing up, I remember looking at the framed wedding invitation on my mother’s dressing table quite a lot as a little girl. The nine-year-old me thought it was just beautiful to look at the formal Olde English text and my parents’ names, but I think my favorite part was the passage on the invitation that read “request the honour of your presence.” Something about that spelling, “honour,” just struck me. From then on, whenever I’d dream of the day my prince would come, I’d think about that beautiful wedding invitation on my mother’s dressing table.

When my prince finally showed up and we got down to the serious and very important business of planning our wedding, I started poring over wedding invitation catalogs almost right away. I had a picture in my head of precisely the invitation I wanted (luckily, my prince did not feel as passionately about invitations and deferred to my choice): cream card stock, formal font, engraving, and of course that word “honour.”

After many wedding invitation websites and catalogs, many consultations of wedding etiquette books, and (I’m not ashamed to say) more than a few printers’ proofs, the box of wedding invitations arrived from the printer. Although of course not anywhere near as happy as the wedding day itself, opening that box made me very happy. There they were, at long last: the cream card stock, engraving, formal font, and my favorite “honour,” with my name right next to my prince’s name. My dream invitation was a reality.

It shouldn’t surprise anyone that I’ve framed our wedding invitation and it sits on my dressing table, even as my prince and I approach our tenth anniversary.