Invitation wording for wedding in port....

[2preschoolers]

Is anyone willing to share how they worded their invitation for a wedding in port?

 

We'll be married on the Pride in Baltimore before we set sail. Just the two of us will be sailing, as almost all of our guests are local. We have a few guests from out of town but they have family in the area so they wouldn't strictly be attending just for our wedding.

 

Do you put the time on the invitation as they time they need to arrive for boarding? Then later, include an informational note about boarding procedures, etc?

 

Our wedding time and location on the ship won't be confirmed until a few weeks before we sail....

 

Thanks, in advance!

[Carnival_Brides]

This is the invite and RSVP we used for our guests. When we booked Carnival had to have our guest list 30 days before the wedding which would have been December 15, so we made the RSVP December 1. That gave us 2 weeks to compile our list and contact those who were just coming to the ceremony. This doesn't apply to you, so ignore this, but sailing guests don't have to provide extra information (license and birthdate) they have to be on the guest list.

 

We weren't crazy about our non-sailing guests sending that information via the mail system in an open post card, so we were going to call, email, smoke signal, etc for that information.

 

We made the time on the invite 10 a.m since that's when we wanted them at the port for the check-in and for the place we put the Carnival Pride since we'd know specifics before we boarded. We probably could've put the McComas St. address, but we really wanted to have the ship's name on the invite.

 

[2preschoolers]

This is great info. Wouldn't I need a place on the response card for guests to provide their ID information? (None of our guests are sailing...)

 

Any others willing to share what their invites look like? (-: or the wording?

[Carnival_Brides]

The response card can be whatever you want it to be. I think some people have asked for all of that information on the card, but many guests are leary of writing it down and sending it through the postal system, that's why we planned to call our guests for that information once they RSVPed yes. We left extra time in order to do that. It ended up not mattering for us since our guests had to sail, so I can't comment on how our strategy actually ended up working.

[mrstriceasnice]

We are only inviting our parents to the ceremony so inside of their invitation was a card telling them to be there in time for embarkation:

Heather XXXXXX

And

Michael XXXXXX

Request the pleasure of your company

at our marriage ceremony

Sunday, the twenty fifth of January

Two thousand fifteen

at half past ten o'clock

Aboard Canaveral Sensations

Port Canaveral, Florida

A sit down dinner will follow aboard ship

After which you are welcome

To set sail to the Bahamas with us

Should you desire to

 

 

Then the main invitation said:

Heather XXXXX

And

Michael XXXXXXX

Will be married

January 25, 2015

in

Port Canaveral, Florida

In a private ceremony with immediate family

Friends and family are invited join

For four days of celebration and love

Aboard

Carnival Sensation

Sailing January 25-29, 2015

To Freeport and Nassau, Bahamas

Additional Details at http://www.theknot.com/wedding/Greeson-Trice

[NL2134]

Our Invites said:

 

Nicole -----

and Brian -----

would like to invite you to join them

as they unite in marriage aboard the

Carnival Cruise Lines

"Carnival Dream" Ship

while docked at the

Port of New Orleans, LA

on Sunday, June 22, 2014

Boarding at 10:00am

 

You are also welcome to join us

on our 7-day Western Caribbean Cruise

departing immediately following

the wedding ceremony and reception

------------------------------------------------------

 

I also included a "Approximate" Schedule of Events:

10:00am - Meet at Port of New Orleans

10:30am - Customs Check-in and Boarding

11:30am - Lunch on the Lido Deck & explore the ship

1:00pm - Wedding Ceremony (exact location TBD)

1:30pm - Reception (AKA: open bar, hors d'oeuvres, music and dancing)

3:00pm - Sadly, all non-sailing guests must leave the ship at this time

4:00pm - Muster Drill for all sailing guests (listen for announcements)

8:15pm - Dinner in the Main Dining Room

 

I figure this way people know what to expect. I wanted to make sure they knew that there might be some waiting around early in the day and a lot of walking before wedding. Plus, non-sailing guests will know that they can still plan things to do later that day and know that they are on their own for dinner.

---------------------------------------------------------

 

Then, attached is a scan of our RSVP "page", requesting the needed guest data. The photo here shows both sides of the page. I had it with RSVP on front & info request on back, printed on 8.5x5.5 page. When folded it fits in A2 envelope, which I provided pre-stamped & addressed for them to return to me.

 

About 2-3 weeks before the wedding, I plan to mail out additional info, only to guests that plan to attend. At that time I will send boarding instructions & info, map of the ship, directions to port, parking info, and any other details that may be needed. We are thinking of doing a welcome dinner the night before wedding, so we would include invite and details at that time also.

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