I don’t understand. The mother said that she mailed you an invitation and a check. Maybe she really did and you just never got it- it got lost in the mail. Now you are not asking her for money straight out and she thinks she sent it to you already. She probably thinks that you are now asking her for some pictures and an invitation to put aside and she doesn’t realize that you have alterior motives. Why don’t you just tell her straight out that you never got the original invite with the check? She probably doesn’t even realize.