wording for invitations - already married

Knottie08423378

Hi guys!

So I'm having this issue of not knowing what to put on our invitations since we are already married. Got married (civil union) on 7/30/2013 because I was pregnant and we wanted to be married before the baby came; there was no party or celebration because we wanted to focus on the baby who was born 9 days later and now we are planning our Holy Matrimony and reception that is happening on 7/30/2016 (our 3rd wedding anniversary). Any ideas how to word the invitations?

TIA!

Jen4948

Well, since you're already legally married, you aren't having either Holy Matrimony or a "reception" so the invitation shouldn't indicate either or you'll be inviting guests to a PPD.

Instead, invite your guests to a "celebration of your recent marriage."

ILoveBeachMusic

Just for clarification, are you having a ceremony in the Catholic church so that the church recognizes your marriage? If so you might want to ask this question on the Catholic board because it is a legitimate question. I have read on there when people have that ceremony and then a reception afterwards. 

marie2785

I'm catholic and have ALOT of friends who went through this, so I'm overly familiar with this. If you're catholic, and unless you have a priest who is REALLY bending the rules, you are not having "holy matrimony". You are having a covalidation ceremony, which is when the church recognizes an already existing marriage as being valid.

http://togetherforlifeonline.com/wedding/convalidation/

This can be done inside a mass, or separate, and often looks and feels very similar to a wedding. But it's NOT Holy Matrimony, and the church records will not show this as your marriage since the church already views you as married. They are blessing your existing marriage, and it will appear as a covalidation. 

To the original question--the wording should be something like this (this is taken from a google thread on the same issue):

The honour of your presence is requested

at the blessing of our marriage

and the reaffirmation of the wedding vows of

Mr. and Mrs. Happy Couple

Date

Time

Location

Reception to follow

Viczaesar

Just to clarify, it's convalidation, not covalidation.

Knottie08423378

Thank you ladies! Yes we are having a convalidation ceremony - could not remember the name while I was writing the post!

ILoveBeachMusic

marie2785 said:

I'm catholic and have ALOT of friends who went through this, so I'm overly familiar with this. If you're catholic, and unless you have a priest who is REALLY bending the rules, you are not having "holy matrimony". You are having a covalidation ceremony, which is when the church recognizes an already existing marriage as being valid.

http://togetherforlifeonline.com/wedding/convalidation/

This can be done inside a mass, or separate, and often looks and feels very similar to a wedding. But it's NOT Holy Matrimony, and the church records will not show this as your marriage since the church already views you as married. They are blessing your existing marriage, and it will appear as a covalidation. 

To the original question--the wording should be something like this (this is taken from a google thread on the same issue):

The honour of your presence is requested

at the blessing of our marriage

and the reaffirmation of the wedding vows of

Mr. and Mrs. Happy Couple

Date

Time

Location

Reception to follow

Thank you @Marie2785 I too couldn't remember the name of the ceremony. I knew it wasn't Holy Matrimony but wasn't sure of the word.