Invitation woes

My mom called me the other day to tell me about a wedding invitation that she received in the mail. It was addressed only to Mr. and Mrs. She couldn't believe some of the items that she found so blatantly outstanding that a phone call to me was less than 30 minutes of the mail call! She was deeply offended and hurt, not the thing you want when issuing a wedding invite.

Here are some things that I am pleading with you not to do when you send out invitations: some are easy to remember, some are etiquette issues and all just ask you to use good, common sense.

1. Please find out the proper name spellings. I understand that there is the occasional misspellings and pronunciations, but to really mess up a name that has been in the family for over 30 years is just poor investigation on your part.

2. Please, please, please NO Bridal registry information on the invitation!!! In bold letters, no less was the request right on the invitation that my mother received: WE ARE REGISTERED AT WAL-MART.I wonder how much Wal-Mart paid them for advertising their store for them? Tacky and so etiquette-incorrect that this error is nothing less than just plain wrong.

3. Make sure that your invitation makes sense. "No bikini's" on the invitation is probably not a good thing. A party invitation maybe, but not a wedding invite. The reception is in March and the theme is supposedly a beach theme: "Beach attire" was requested on the invite. March in Nebraska doesn't make me thing of beaches and bikinis, so the invite is a little confusing and not very inviting.

Am I picky? Maybe, but again, this is a wedding, not a beach blanket party as the invite clearly states. If this invite came to them in July, my mom and dad would be all up in smiles and fun, but not in March. And by the by, the invite also instructed by mom and dad to "let the rest of the family know about the reception." If they wanted me to know, they would have sent me an invite. I think I'll decline and let my bathing suit rest for a few more months.