They'll then drive to an Italian restaurant eight miles away in
Pasadena, California for "a time of celebration," the nine-page
engraved invitation said.
The first page inside the invitation holds a quote from "Dancing the Dream," a book of essays and poems published by Jackson in 1992:
"If you enter this world knowing you are loved and you leave this world
knowing the same, then everything that happens in between can be dealt
with."
The news media -- which have closely covered every aspect of Jackson's
death -- will be kept at a distance, with their cameras no closer than
the cemetery's main gate. The family will provide a limited video feed
that will only show mourners arriving.
Little is known about the
planned ceremony, though CNN has confirmed that singer Gladys Knight --
a longtime friend to Jackson -- will perform. Her song has not been
disclosed.
The massive mausoleum, which is normally open to tourists, was closed
Wednesday as preparations were completed for the funeral. A security
guard blocking its entrance said it would reopen to the public on
Friday.
Fans of Clark Gable, Carole Lombard and dozens of other
celebrities buried on the grounds have flocked to Forest Lawn-Glendale
for decades, but Jackson may outdraw them all.
It is unclear how
close tourists will be allowed to Jackson's resting place. Security
guards -- aided by cameras -- keep a constant vigil over the graves and
crypts, which are surrounded by a world-class collection of art and
architecture.
The Forest Lawn Web site boasts that the
mausoleum, which draws its architectural inspiration from the Campo
Santo in Italy, "has been called the "New World's Westminster Abbey" by
Time Magazine.
Visitors will see "exact replicas of Michelangelo's greatest works such
as David, Moses, and La Pieta" and "Leonardo da Vinci's immortal Last
Supper re-created in brilliant stained glass; two of the world's
largest paintings," the Web site says.
Jackson's burial has been delayed by division among Jackson family members, though it was matriarch Katherine Jackson who would make the final decision, brother Jermaine Jackson recently told CNN.
He preferred to see his youngest brother laid to rest at his former
Neverland Ranch home, north of Los Angeles in Santa Barbara County,
California.
That idea was complicated by neighbors who vowed to
oppose allowing a grave in the rural area -- and by Jackson family
members who said the singer would not want to return to the home where
he faced child molestation charges, of which he was ultimately
acquitted.
The mystery of where Michael Jackson would be buried became a media obsession in the weeks after his death.
After his body was loaded onto a helicopter at UCLA's Ronald Reagan
Medical Center hours following his June 25 death, it stayed in the
custody of the Los Angeles County coroner for an autopsy.
It was
only later disclosed that Jackson's corpse was kept in a refrigerated
room at the Hollywood Hills Forest Lawn cemetery until his casket was
carried by motorcade to downtown Los Angeles for a public memorial
service in the Staples Center arena.
Again, speculation about
Jackson's whereabouts grew when the media lost track of his casket
after his brothers carried it out of sight inside the arena. Though the
family has not publicly confirmed where the body was taken, most
reports placed it back at the Hollywood Hills Forest Lawn while
awaiting his family's decision.
Though Thursday's interment may settle
one Michael Jackson mystery, a more serious one remains. The coroner
announced last week that he had ruled Jackson's death a homicide. A
summary of the coroner's report said the anesthetic propofol and the
sedative lorazepam were the primary drugs responsible for the singer's
death.
Los Angeles police detectives have not concluded their criminal investigation and no one has been charged.