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.

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.