Wedding Invitations

Many of my married friends have a habit of reading the wedding and engagement announcements in the newspaper. It’s so nice to look at the couples’ photos and read about them and how happily they are anticipating their future together. Some days there’s not a lot of happy things in the newspaper; it’s such days that the happy wedding and engagement announcements are extra appreciated, I suspect!

For those of you planning your wedding and looking forward to seeing your own engagement or wedding announcement in the newspaper, you may be unsure of either the process or wedding etiquette of the announcements. First off, contact your local newspaper to find out their guidelines for submitting announcements for publication; no matter how large or small the newspaper, they almost certainly have someone on staff whose job it is to help the new brides get their announcement printed. Some newspapers will print your announcement and photo for free, while others will ask for a fee depending upon the length of the announcement itself and possibly the size of the photo. Some newspapers have a strict policy of not printing announcements until after the wedding has taken place. It is because of this wide variety of policies among newspapers that the best place to begin is to call the newspaper to talk to the person in charge of announcements.

No matter where you stand on wedding etiquette, whether you write your own announcement, fill in a form with the pertinent facts (names, wedding date and location, etc.), or something in between, be sure to buy extra copies of the newspaper the day your announcement is printed. It’s nice to have a clipping of the announcement as a keepsake.