Cruise Wedding Invitation Dilemma, help!

[FLgator]

I have two issues:

1. We are just less than 7 months out from our wedding cruise (1/17/09), and we will be getting married in the port of Ocho Rios and have a lunch reception there as well. We are inviting all guests we would invite to a "normal" wedding, knowing many will not be able to attend. One of the main reasons we are having this type of wedding is because we can't afford a typical wedding, and we expect only a limited number of people will be able to cruise with us. Well, now as the details get out people are mentioning they might just fly to Jamaica instead of cruising. We would like to treat those that actually cruise with us to a nice lunch reception, but if the numbers get out of hand because people just fly in then it will really limit the type of reception we have. Now if a lot more people cruise then expected we have decided just to suck it up and pay what it takes to make it nice for them. I hope we don't sound cheap. In order to not let everyone else know of our Jamaica plans and to keep them from getting the same idea to fly we would like to vaguely word the invites by saying join us on our wedding cruise or something. So....is this wrong to do and if not, how should we word it So far I like:

Because you have shared in their lives
with your friendship and love,
Jamie XXX
and
Jared XXX
together with their parents
Mr. and Mrs. Marc XXX
and
Mr. and Mrs. James XXX
Invite you to share and celebrate
their marriage blah blah blah

we don't want to say aboard Celebrity Century because we won't be getting married on the ship.

Issue #2:
We have 40 days for our guests to put down a first deposit otherwise we lose the cabins. Therefore, I need to get them the booking info asap. Would it be okay to just go ahead and send invites now with a cardstock insert with booking information and no RSVPs? Then I could always send a reminder down the road requesting an RSVP if we are able to extend the deposit dates or in case people book seperate from the group. What do you think?? It seems silly to send save the dates and then send invitations after they would of already had to book.

Thanks in advance girls!

[adias.angel]

If you are not sending a STD with that info, I would send out the invites now.

How about some kind of wording that says "the couple and their guests will be sailing aboard the Celebrity Century. Reserve by xx/xx/xxxx" And then include your TA's information in a separate insert?

Also don't place the information for lunch on the invites. Give out the info on board the ship....

Might want to post this in the invites forum to get a little more visibility. Carla

[Pug3636]

If you give me your email address I can send you what we used. We did a letter that explained everything and included an info sheet with booking and TA info. I printed the letter on beachy nice paper and used heavy duty envelopes. After sealing them, I put a wedding themed sticker on the back. They turned out great! I also had guests RSVP to my wedding website and that helped move along the process more quickly than a US Mail RSVP.

As far as people flying to Jamaica for the wedding only...I wouldn't be afraid to mention something along the lines of...we will only be in Jamaica for a few hours for the wedding and you want to make sure they know that so they aren't dissapointed. Or, another way around that, is to book a cocktail/appetizer reception or luncheon back on the ship. Only cruise guests are allowed on the ship. That's what we are doing and it's pretty affordable. What cruiseline are you using?

[FLgator]

I would love to see what you sent, my email is ufjamolei at yahoo.com. We are sailing on the Celebrity Century.

Thanks!

Originally Posted by Pug3636

If you give me your email address I can send you what we used. We did a letter that explained everything and included an info sheet with booking and TA info. I printed the letter on beachy nice paper and used heavy duty envelopes. After sealing them, I put a wedding themed sticker on the back. They turned out great! I also had guests RSVP to my wedding website and that helped move along the process more quickly than a US Mail RSVP.

As far as people flying to Jamaica for the wedding only...I wouldn't be afraid to mention something along the lines of...we will only be in Jamaica for a few hours for the wedding and you want to make sure they know that so they aren't dissapointed. Or, another way around that, is to book a cocktail/appetizer reception or luncheon back on the ship. Only cruise guests are allowed on the ship. That's what we are doing and it's pretty affordable. What cruiseline are you using?

[JenABride]

Pug, will you send that to me as well? jennfreed at gmail.com

Thanks :)

[Reba2009]

Pug, can you send that to me as well? rororoyb at yahoo.com

Thanks so much! :)