Wedding Invitations

Wedding Etiquette: what’s the difference between a wedding announcement and wedding invite?

My cousin is getting married later this year, and my sister and I cannot wait to go.

We first heard about this forthcoming blessed event via a wedding announcement. Then, a couple of months later as I recall, we received our formal wedding invitation.

The flow of this correspondence, in the order it came in, produced a question that just so happens, our wedding etiquette expert Debby answers:

The purpose of the wedding announcement is to let family and friends who were not invited know that the wedding took place. They are traditionally sent out by the parents the day after the wedding. They can be sent out up to a year afterwards but the sooner of course, the better.

They follow the same format and are usually printed on the same stock as the invitations but do not include the time or physical address of the wedding, just the day, year and name of location (i.e.: First Baptist Church, Rockville, Maryland).

The announcement usually begins with the parents names “have the honour of announcing” or “have the honour to announce.”

The wedding announcements can also be issued by the bride and groom in which case their names will appear on the first three lines then continue with simply “announce their marriage.” It would be presumptuous for them to include “have the honour” so that is not included if the announcements are from them. Also the word “joyfully” is not properly included as it is assumed that they are happy.

Wedding announcements are usually sent with “At-Home Cards” which are small enclosure cards on which their new address is given. These at-home-cards are not expected. They are just a nice and easy way to let people know your address. Wedding gifts are not expected upon receipt of a wedding announcement as they are upon receiving a wedding invitation.