Weddingbee boards

@rachel3212:  One question - who is paying for this? That is very important in wording.

@rachel3212:  If just your parents are paying, I would actually say the following, AND I would put the RSVP info on a seperate card.  Changes are in bold.  I'm assuming your parents are divorced?

Mrs. Brides' mom full name and Mr. Brides' dad full name

Request the honor of your presence

At the marriage of their daughter

Rachel3212

to

FI full name

son of FI's parents names

Saturday, the twenty-eighth of January

In the year of our Lord two thousand twelve

At four o'Clock in the afternoon

Church name

Church location

Reception to follow at name of venue

Reception Venue Address

And actually, if your parents are divorced, I think your dad's name comes first.  And if any new spouses are contributing financially, I think their names should be on it.

@CupCakeMeg: It is, unless the parents are divorced.  That's what it sounds like, since she left the names seperate. 

If the parents are married, it is "Mr. & Mrs. John Doe."

If the parents are divorced, it is "Mr. John Doe & Ms. Jane Smith" (or "Mrs. Jane Doe" if she did not revert to her maiden name).

@rachel3212: If the parents are divorced, your father's name comes first, followed by your mother's.

Also, according to Emily Post, you do not need to put "In the afternoon" following the time.  Additionally, if your last name is the same as your father's OR your mother's, you should not put your last name.

@rachel3212: I guess Emily Post and Martha Stewart disagree!  Emily Post is much more old fashioned.  Good luck!

Well, I wasn't going to chime in because what you started out with is fine with the exception of a few minor details --  and a one fundamental major faux pas to my mind that nonetheless falls into the "Oh, honestly Auntie, everybody does it!" category (and no, it isn't the website R.s.v.p.: with that, I have no problem.) But since I'd argue with some of the details other folk find worth commenting on, I'm going to weigh in.

So. Basic principles of formal good form: "less is more",  honest English phrases are more refined than foreign phrases, George Routledge and the original Emily trump both Martha and the current Post Institute, and a lady's name is never written up jointly with a man's name unless she is married to him.

You wrote:

Mrs. Brides' mom full name

Mr. Brides' dad full name

 -- this is the best you can do if your father insists on being named: separate lines and no "and" so as to avoid implying that the two hosts are married. Most properly, he would kindly transfer funds to your mother to allow her to host your wedding in style while gallantly remaining in the background -- hardly a twenty-first century trait however admirable such gallantry would be. And besides, as I have been told, "everybody does it".

Request the honor of your presence -- you don't need to capitalize "Request" as it is in the middle of a sentence

At the marrige of their daughter

Rachel3212 -- you get to use your middle name or names here, if you wish

to

FI full name -- since this gentleman is unrelated to the hosts, who refer to themselves by surnames and titles, the hosts would graciously acknowledge his title too, and refer to him as "Mr FI full name"

Saturday, the twenty eight of January (should the "t" in twenty and the "e" in eighth be capitalized?) -- you don't need the comma after Saturday, you do need a hyphen and an "h" in "twenty-eighth", and no, you do not capitalize the "e". In keeping with the whole "less is more" theme, you absolutely do NOT need to add "in the year of Our Lord".

Two Thousand and Twelve -- nor do you capitalize the numbers in "two thousand twelve as they are not proper nouns and are in the middle of a sentence, and you can do without the extra "and".

At Four O'Clock in the Afternoon -- unless your friends could imagine you getting married at four o'clock in the morning, you can forego the "in the Afternoon", and as above since none of these are proper nouns, they aren't capitalized.

Church name

Chruch location

Reception to follow at name of venuename of location -- these two lines can go in smaller letters in lower left if you are running out of space; and you don't need to say "to follow" as that is implicit.

Please R.S.V.P. by (not sure when yet!) on our website -- Less is more, remember? If you are not going to use the English "The favor of a reply is requested by <date>", then just use "R.s.v.p. / www.theknot.com/ourwedding / by <date>" in small letters in the lower right corner. Don't go for the extra reception card; it is unnecessary, and therefore overblown, and therefore pretentious.