March 24, 2006
going too far with SpongeBob
I would hate to bore everyone with a lot of wedding talk, especially because if you're reading this you're probably not invited (it's pretty much family only). But the Beau and I are puzzling over one aspect of wedding planning this week:
If we are feeling campy and silly and decide that it would be fun to send out, as our wedding invitations, SpongeBob SquarePants kids' birthday-party invites with the word "birthday" scratched out and "wedding" scribbled in, will out-of-town relatives take the invitation seriously, or will they decide that whatever we have planned is too informal for them to bother to attend? Does it make a difference if we fill out the invitations in crayon or in purple pen?
Somehow I cannot find the answer to this question anywhere in the shelf of etiquette books I possess. Miss Manners would probably tell me that I get what I deserve, and honestly I ought to just write informal letters. And not on SpongeBob stationery, either. I will probably cave in and have Paper Place print the invites, but the SpongeBob idea is terribly tempting. It would work if we were sending the invites only to friends, but I fear older relatives will just be confused.
Posted at March 24, 2006 10:52 PMWell, how informal or formal is the wedding itself?
In theory, at least, the wedding invitation is the first impression for the wedding itself; it provides a sort of cue as to how seriously you're taking it. It also tells your guests just how much of an effort you expect from them; if you're expecting them to truck in from Louisiana or parts elsewhere, then either the formal invitation or the informal hand-written letter works, but Spongebob kind of doesn't work either way.
(Mr PostManners, so to speak, has done more research into this issue than he would like. Much much MUCH more research.)
Posted by: at March 27, 2006 02:09 PMIf there aren't so many stamps that it would be ridiculously expensive, why not do both? You could send out the Sponge Bob ones to the ones who'll be amused, and the 'serious' ones to everyone. Or use Sponge Bob for your save the date notice, which seems to be the rule now.
My guess is that many of those in the smartass and trendy group will want one of the serious invitations. The most surprising people get all mushy and sentimental about weddings.
I'm getting a little choked up myself.
Annie in Austin