Wednesday, August 04, 2004

Wedding Invitation

A wedding invitation is a letter sent to a person, asking the recipient to attend a wedding. They are typically mailed out 6 weeks before the wedding date. Wedding invitations can sometimes have fancy writing on them known as calligraphy. Other types of printing include Engraving, Thermography, Letterpress printing and sometimes Blind Embossing. Most of time, they are mailed in double envelopes. The inner envelope can be lined in a matching color, is not gummed and fits into the outer envelope. The outer envelope is gummed for sealing and addressing.

Along with the wedding invitation, the ensemble may also include a respond card or folder and envelope. The respond card or folder is traditionally used for gathering totals for the caterer and getting a general number of guests attending. The recipient is asked to mail back the respond card or folder roughly two weeks before the wedding or by the date indicated. The envelope is pre-addressed and pre-stamped by the wedding party for ease.

Other pieces often included in the ensemble are the reception card or folder, map or direction card, and accommodation information. The reception card simply lists the addresses and times of any post-wedding events, such as a cocktail hour, dinner or dance. Map or direction cards provide details about the location of the wedding and reception. The accommodation information gives helpful tips about airfare, transportation or hotel arrangements for out-of-town guests. Local attractions may be featured as well. Often times the accommodation information is sent in advance with the save the dates.

A save the date is similar to an invitation and is mailed up to one year before the wedding date. Save the dates simply announce that the wedding date has been set and encourages recipients to plan for the event. It is not used as a a substitute for the wedding invitation and typically mentions that an invitation will follow.

Sunday, August 01, 2004

Religious aspects of marriage

In virtually all religions, marriage is a long-term union between two people and is established with ceremonies and rituals. The two people are most commonly a man and a woman, though many societies have permitted polygamous marriages, and same-sex marriage is now acknowledged in some places.

Many religions have extensive teachings regarding marriage. Most Christian churches give some form of blessing to a marriage; the wedding ceremony typically includes some sort of pledge by the community to support the couple's relationship. In the Catholic Church, marriage is one of the seven sacraments. In the Eastern Orthodox church, it is one of the Mysteries, and is seen as an ordination and a martyrdom. In marriage, Christians see a picture of the relationship between Jesus Christ and His Church. In Judaism, marriage is so important that remaining unmarried is deemed unnatural. Islam also recommends marriage highly; among other things, it helps in the pursuit of spiritual perfection. Hinduism sees marriage as a sacred duty that entails both religious and social obligations. By contrast, Buddhism does not encourage or discourage marriage, although it does teach how one might live a happily married life and emphasizes that married vows are not to be taken slightly

It is also worth noting that different religions have different beliefs as regards the breakup of marriage. For example, the Roman Catholic Church believes it is morally wrong to divorce, and divorcées cannot remarry in a church marriage, though they can do in the eyes of the law. In the area of nullity, religions and the state often apply different rules, meaning that a couple, for example, could have their marriage annulled by the Catholic Church but still be married in the eyes of the law because the state disagrees with the church over whether an annulment could be granted in a particular case. This produces the phenomenon of Catholics getting church annulments simultaneously with state divorces, allowing the ex-partners to marry other people in the eyes of both the church and the state.

In the Christian faith, marriage is viewed as a lifelong union of a man and a woman before God. One commonly used text is from the Gospel of Matthew (which is itself a quote from the book of Genesis).

"...For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate." Matthew 19: 5-6 (quoting from Genesis 2:24)

Virtually all Christian denominations frown on divorce, although some more harshly than others.

Christian marriage is seen by Saint Paul (especially Ephasians chapter 5) as paralleling the relationship between Christ and the Church, a theological view which is a development of the Old Testament view that saw a parallel between marriage and the relationship between God and Israel.

All major Christian groups take marriage to be a good thing. In 1 Timothy, Chapter 4, St. Paul talks of heretics who, among other things, "forbid marriage" and he describes their views as "doctrines of demons". At the same time, even though marriage is believed to be a good thing, Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy traditionally see an even greater value in celibacy when that celibacy is undertaken for the sake of a more singleminded devotion to God, but do not believe that everyone is called by God to this.