Wedding Invitations

A freaky thing happened last summer. I was going through boxes of my stuff at my parents' house, discarding some, keeping more. I found an artist's sketchbook with a few drawings, which I ripped out so that I could give my daughter the rest of the book. At the back of it she found a wedding invitation that I had written—almost three years before Dr. H. and I were actually married. And nearly everything about it was correct, even most of the attendants. I was in awe of my confidence and overwhelmingly thankful that it had, indeed, all worked out. I had no idea what was coming in the next couple of years when I wrote that; I was just submerged in the security of new love.

It follows with my writing nature that I would have thought long and hard about wedding invitations. I'm pretty sure I never really cared much what the invitation itself looked like, as long as it wasn't cheesy. For me it was all about the text. Music and poetry have always been part of our life together, but finding just the right quote to fill a little space…


Eventually we settled on this quote from the song "Helplessly Hoping," written by Stephen Stills and recorded by Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young. Dr. H.'s father, Ralph Small, officiated at the ceremony. He took our invitation quote and then built the ceremony theme around the verse from Ecclesiastes: A cord of three strands is not easily broken. What an awesome way to start our life together.

We were among the first of our friends to get married. I saved subsequent wedding invitations for several years. Most of them are rather similar—formal, black font on a creamy background. My favorite bears this quote: "Somewhere, inside of something, there is a rush of greatness; who knows what stands in front of our lives" (from the musical Hair). I still love that quote. (And I'd kind of like to see Hair again, come to think about it.)

Do you have a story about your wedding invitation? Tell me about it over at my 20th Anniversary Bash! Leave a comment over there OR write your own blog post and link back there on Mr. Linky. You can do it, and you might win a $20 amazon.com gift card! And if you don't have anything to say about your invitations, tell me about your wedding music. Again, just click HERE and leave a comment (or link back on Mr. Linky) to be entered!