Inviting my friend who is a witness

I understand this very well as my Grandmother and Aunt are JWs. We invited both of them to tour wedding that is October 23rd this year, and thankfully my grandmother will be attending the ceremony. Since they celebrate anniversaries, weddings usually aren't an issue, especially with yours not having any religious references. Now some may only attend the ceremony and not the reception because some do not eat a meal with others that are not a JW brother or sister, so do be prepared for that possibility.

Your wedding should be about you. I've gone to plenty of religious ceremonies even though I don't consider myself religious.

My mom used to study the bible with JW's and from what I know they integrate into society pretty well - even though they don't celebrate holidays, they go shopping at the mall when Christmas decorations are up, etc - so I can't imagine anything about your ceremony would be offensive to them. Even so, your wedding should represent you and you shouldn't change your wedding plan to accommodate the unique views of one or two guests.

I think I did a bag job explaining the question. I'm not suggesting I'll change anything about my ceremony because I won't. I'm asking if I should get my hopes up about my friend being able to come and if it is disrespectful to her religion to ask.

I can't imagine any scenario where it would be disrespectful to invite a friend to your wedding. If their religion makes it disrespectful, that is on them to manage, not you.

As for whether or not to get your hopes up, it's a good idea not to have too many expectations about any guest's RSVP. There are all kinds of reasons why people decline wedding invitations, but there's nothing you can do about it in advance.