Your Wedding Announcement - Card or Newspaper?

Wedding Announcement - tradition

The purpose of a Wedding Announcement is to inform people about your married status after the wedding. If you have eloped, this would be the normal way to announce to friends and family that you are now married! More traditionally, however, it is used to announce your wedding to those of your family or friends that you were not able to invite, either through distance or because of budgetary constraints.

For example, Las Vegas weddings or long distance destination weddings that only a few close members of your immediate family and one or two good friends are able to be invited are frequently followed up with a Wedding Announcement. The responsibility for this is traditionally that of the bride’s family.

Wedding Announcement - protocol

You should always check with both sets of parents if they have specific names to which they want the Wedding Announcement sent. You will also both have your own list of friends to whom you will want to send an announcement. In the USA it is common to send personalized announcement cards to people individually, and in both the USA and the UK the announcement is also placed in the local press, and the national press where appropriate.

The Wedding Announcement can also be used to double up by the bride as a thank-you card for any wedding gifts provided, though it is better to send these separately because these should be from the bride and groom, while the announcement is made in the name of the bride’s parents or guardians. They should traditionally be sent out immediately after the date of the wedding, usually the Monday after a Saturday wedding for example.

Wedding Announcement - newspaper

Newspaper announcements will depend on the particular newspaper’s rules. In some cases they are free, though most newspapers will charge for a Wedding Announcement, especially the larger dailies. You should at least include the name of the bride and groom, their parents and the date and place of the wedding. Other information such as grandparents, details of the wedding party, education and occupation of bride and groom, and occupations of their parents can be included if the newspaper allows space, and you can also state where the couple are honeymooning.

Many newspapers will provide a form detailing the information that they will accept, together with a note of any word or character restrictions. If you are providing this information in a daily paper, some have specific days on which wedding details are published, and if not then a Friday and Saturday are normally the best days for the Wedding Announcement. It is at weekends that people have more time to read such announcements, so more people are likely to notice it on a Friday evening or Saturday. Mondays are also popular, immediately after a Saturday ceremony, and some are even submitted for publication before the actual ceremony to be sure of securing a Monday slot!

Wedding Announcement - personal

However, irrespective of newspaper wedding announcements, it is more traditional in many countries to send personal announcements. Apart from letting those you were unable to invite to your wedding know that you have been married, they are also useful professionally to send to people who must know your change of name if any. Many weddings are very intimate affairs and you will have a lot of friends you want to inform personally, rather than waiting for them to read a newspaper Wedding Announcement.

You should find a wide range of Wedding Announcement cards available from most wedding supplies stores or you can make your own. Some people prefer the more traditional wedding announcements, preprinted inside so that all you do is fill in the names and the venues of the ceremony and reception. Others prefer to write their own personally, especially if there is not too many people to send them to. It is more personal that way, but can be very time consuming if you have a long list of recipients.

Wedding Announcement - personalized

You can make your own Wedding Announcement from materials that you should be to able find in any scrap-booking store. All it needs is a bit of imagination to make something that is unique and show the recipient that you are thinking of them. Hand made cards are much more acceptable than store bought ones, especially to somebody who was either not invited or was unable to attend your wedding.

A Wedding Announcement is not an essential part of organizing a wedding, but is a thoughtful part that indicates to those that you were unable to invite that you are thinking of them nonetheless.










Wedding Announcement

Copyright 2007 © Sovco LLC.