Wedding Invitations & Paper

Polterabend (German pre-wedding party) wording help

I'm German and my FI is American. We both live in the US and our wedding will take place in the US as well. 

In Germany it is customary to have a Polterabend, which is basically like an informal party to honor the couple that traditionally happens the evening before the wedding (Wikipedia). Since most of my friends and family won't be able to come to the wedding in the US we decided to have a Polterabend in Germany a few weeks before the wedding. We would like to also invite FI's immediate family and our close friends from the US to this event. We realize that most probably won't be able to come but we feel that they should still receive an invitation. 

We're wondering what the best wording for this would be? Most people that we're thinking about inviting from the US know about the party in Germany but we still want to avoid any confusion about whether or not this is the actual wedding. Also, most people won't necessarily know the term 'Polterabend.' The invitation will include a link to our wedding website which has a section about the Polterabend. 

Also, when do you think these invitations should go out. Is 8 weeks sufficient?

Re: Polterabend (German pre-wedding party) wording help

  • I would skip inviting friend from US just do a word of mouth invite to FI immediate family. But if you are going to do, maybe work as a "Traditional German Pre-wedding Celebration". Also for any travel that requires flights overseas, I would put it ASAP so that people can book flights, ground transportation & time off for work. Most of your US guests I think would turn this into a vacation if they go and stay for at least a week, not just a weekend.

    Before sending out invites think of these logistics

    • Can guests who come take a taxi or train to the destination or will they need to rent a car?
    • What are overnight accomodations in the town?
    • Do your guests in Germany speak English or do your guests from American speak German?
    • Who will be entertaining your US guests during their visit, will they have to fend for themsleves or will you play tour guide

    I'm just bringing these things up because my parents are from Germany & all my relatives still live there. When we go there to visit I've been fine because I speak german, but when my Brother in laws went, they didn't so they felt left out because they didn't know what anyone was saying because none of my relatives speak english. And because of them being unfamiliar with the language and the area for driving (my relatives live in a small country town), my parents had to rent a small bus to transport everyone and play tour guides for the whole period of their visit. And my parents had to line up all the over night accomodations too since there weren't any chain hotels where we could just go online & book rooms.

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