Two ceremonies & one reception wedding invitation wording

msmari_17

I'm pretty sure this has been discussed here but how would one go about putting information on 2 ceremonies and 1 reception in one day on the wedding invitation?

I am hispanic and my fiance is Cambodian and we plan to have a short Cambodian morning ceremony first. My non-religious American ceremony will take place in the evening followed by cocktail hour and reception.

Everyone is invited to both. How do I go about wording and figuring out whos coming to what. 

Thanks!

Jen4948

Does Cambodian custom require that its ceremony be in the morning? If not, move it up to the evening just before the American ceremony.  Otherwise, I'd move the American ceremony back to immediately follow the Cambodian ceremony.

Then send one invitation with the start time being the time the Cambodian ceremony takes place.

But don't try to have a long gap between the two ceremonies if everyone's invited to both. Long gaps on wedding days are something wedding guests really hate -- which is why they should be avoided.

[Deleted User]

msmari_17 said:

I'm pretty sure this has been discussed here but how would one go about putting information on 2 ceremonies and 1 reception in one day on the wedding invitation?

I am hispanic and my fiance is Cambodian and we plan to have a short Cambodian morning ceremony first. My non-religious American ceremony will take place in the evening followed by cocktail hour and reception.

Everyone is invited to both. How do I go about wording and figuring out whos coming to what. 

Thanks!

Umm what about something along the lines of:

"The honour of your presence is requested at the wedding of 
ms Mari & mr mari

The first of January, two thousand seventeen

Cambodian ceremony will take place at xyz venue at ten o'clock in the morning 

Lutheran ceremony will take place at abc venue at six o'clock in the evening 

Reception to follow the Lutheran ceremony. "

*obviously change the details to whatever is accurate and the initial wording so that it properly shows who is hosting. This is assuming the couple is hosting. But it's a starting point. I'm assuming @CMGragain will have a better response. 

CMGragain

Is the Cambodian ceremony religious?  If so, what religion?  Are the two ceremonies being held in the same place?  Who is hosting which ceremony?  Why not combine the two ceremonies, and have one, followed by the other?  Non-religious western marriage ceremonies only take a few minutes.  Are you wearing the same clothes at both ceremonies?
Without this information, I cannot help.

http://cambodiangecko.com/cambodian-wedding-traditions/

CMGragain

@msmari_17, we are waiting for more information.

DrillSergeantCat

CMGragain said:

@msmari_17, we are waiting for more information.

Don't hold your breath on that. 

CMGragain

I hate people who post and run.

MobKaz

CMGragain said:

I hate people who post and run.

I think this is more of a "post and ghost" situation.  OP was active this morning.

CMGragain

Too bad.  It was an interesting question.

msmari_17

Don't be a hater... I am still here. I don't get notification if anyone responds to my question. I'm new to this site...

Thank you everyone for the suggestions  

The Cambodian ceremony is pretty long - we have decided to just do some of the rituals in the morning like the blessing from monks (Buddhist) and food offering, etc. It will be held at my mother-in-law's house. She is hosting that event. 

We are not set on time yet and would consider moving it to just before the American ceremony which will begin at 6:30 pm. 

My American ceremony will not be religious. Just an officiant marrying us. That will be held close to my mother-in-law's house at a venue. My immediate family are non-practicing Catholics and the others are different types of Christian. I don't practice any religion but thought it would be nice to do the Cambodian ceremony since my fiance family does practice Buddhism. The attire will be different. It would be traditional clothing and for the evening I would wear my ivory wedding gown. 

Jen4948

Since it sounds like both ceremonies will be held at your mother-in-law's house and everyone is invited to both ceremonies, why not hold them one after the other at her house in the evening and eliminate the gap?

msmari_17

Well the 2nd ceremony is close to my mother-in-law's house. Maybe like 15 min away. I'm having my hair redone and toning down my make up for that so I would need time. Other issues are: Someone needs to drive the monks back and that's pretty far. I wouldn't want that person to miss the wedding. 

I guess I am just re-thinking the timeline here now. 

Thanks everyone!

CMGragain

You need two separate invitations that can be mailed together in the same envelope:

Mrs. Cambodian MIL

requests the pleasure of your company

at the marriage of

Ms. Mari Seventeen

to her son

John James

Day, date

at two o'clock

Address

City, State

The pleasure of your company is requested

at the marriage of

Ms. Mari Seventeen

and

Mr. John James Lastname

Day, date

at four o'clock

Venue

Address

City, State

Reception to follow

If you move the Buddhist ceremony up, you only need one invitation, and that would be the second one if they can be at the same location.  If you do use two invitations, I would put in a note,
"The first ceremony will be a traditional Cambodian wedding ceremony."  You could have this printed on a simple business card.  Vistaprint does it cheaply, or you could print them yourselves.
I'm glad you finally came back!  We will be glad to help you plan this.

SaintPaulGal

Thanks for the update!

I still think the best option would be to have the events back to back.  Could you have the religious ceremony, then a cocktail hour at your venue while you change and re-do makeup, then the American ceremony, and straight into the reception?  Maybe put the monks in a cab so nobody has to take the time to drive them?

OurWildKingdom

SaintPaulGal said:

Thanks for the update!

I still think the best option would be to have the events back to back.  Could you have the religious ceremony, then a cocktail hour at your venue while you change and re-do makeup, then the American ceremony, and straight into the reception?  Maybe put the monks in a cab so nobody has to take the time to drive them?

Great idea!

msmari_17

Thank you CMGragain! I think that's the route I'm going with. Cambodian ceremony moved up, the location of the other ceremony is not at the same place but very close. It would be easy for everyone to head over to the other venue. 

I am going to my MIL house this weekend to talk more about the ceremony. I just need more details on whats happening and how long everything is so that I can decide on time. 

SaintPaulGal I talked to fiance this morning and we are just going to hire a driver for the monks. I don't want to inconvenience any guest with having to go pick-up and drop-off. 

Thank you guys for the input! I still feel totally clueless on this whole wedding process but coming to these forums has helped a lot.