GayWeddings.com

One of the most common questions I get is about getting the wording right on invitations. I also spend countless hours working with clients on the right "look" for their invitations. Invitations do, after all, say a lot about the kind of event you'll be having.

We have some great resources, which include etiquette tips for invitations here .

You can also find some online, courtesy of Checkerboard, here .

And, for kicks, check out the story I wrote about my exchange with Miss Manners.

Do any of you have questions to "stump the expert?"

This is such a personal decision, but if it's at all helpful for inspiration, here is the text we used on our invitations:

"In the spirit of love and friendship,
we, [our names here],
invite you to celebrate with us
on the day of our wedding.

Saturday, the fourteenth of January,
two thousand and six, at half past five in the evening.

San Francisco Conservatory of Flowers
John F. Kennedy Drive, Golden Gate Park

Candlelight dinner following.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: justmarried,

You can find a good resource at the UU church online they have a nice wedding planning book. It may not help in the way of Invitations but the book may inspire.

Oy! Just last week, we spent a grand total of 15 hours making our invitations. And most of that was with an assembly line of 5 people. Whose bright idea was that? Oh yeah, mine. In one way it's great because we spent less than $100 on some truly fabulous invitations (if I do say so myself), but it was really time consuming!
With the wording, one thing that helped us was to look at tons of different examples online, pick out parts or phrases that we liked, and then actually write them out in every possible combination. That way, we could compare all the possibilities side-by-side and choose the one that called to us the most.
The "host" thing is pretty tricky- we're footing almost all of the bill ourselves. J's parents did contribute a few hundred dollars. My parents have let us have the use of their fancy printer (with expensive ink) for save-the-dates and invitations, and moreover my mom has spent many hours helping us make them, so we wanted to acknowledge them, too. Especially as my folks are less comfortable with this wedding and I really want them to feel valued and important. So I love the "together with our parents" line- we get to acknowledge their contributions and still maintain the wedding as our event.

Our wording:

"Two lives, two hearts,
joined together in friendship,
united forever in love."

It is with joy that we,
Kathryn Lynn B...
and
Josi Rae M...

together with our parents,
invite you to share in a celebration of love
as we exchange marriage vows

Sunday the 3rd of September
Two Thousand and Six
At Four O'clock in the Afternoon

....
Northampton, Massachusetts

Just curious, but when writing the invitation, is it really necessary to write out the numbered parts, such as the date (ie: two thousand and seven) or can you actually use 2007? Which is proper?

Spelling everything out is the proper for a formal wedding. If your having a casual wedding and your invitation is a casual looking than you can get away with out spelling it.