Catholics: convalidation invitations?

DeBo130

So after five years of "legal marriage" by a JOP elopement (no witnesses, just the judge and us), my husband and I have decided to have our marriage blessed in the eyes of the Catholic Church at the end of this year (not really to be mistaken with a vow renewal as according to our priest this will be a regular nuptial ceremony since our marriage was seen as invalid.). The ceremony itself will be very similar to a wedding ceremony and consist of a Mass, a homily, our vows to each other (which we will tweak a little saying "I promise to continue..." rather than the vows we took at the courthouse), my Filipino wedding traditions, and the blessing (instead of exchanging) of the rings.

Anyway, here is my question:
We will be inviting family and friends to our ceremony and small reception afterwards so I wanted to know how to best word these invitations. My husband's entire side of the family is non-Catholic so I wanted to make this as understandable as possible. I didn't want them to misinterpret this as a second wedding or anything like that. Please help!

SlothGoals

Underneath "Cultural Wedding Boards" to your left there is a Catholic board. They could probably help out a bit more with this.

DeBo130

Oh thank you! I'm really new here so I'm still trying to navigate my way around.

OliveOilsMom

Ditto Lia about the convalidations being private or held during a regularly scheduled mass.

DeBo130

Yes I've spoken with our priest. We already have a slot on the books for our ceremony. He said because of our certain circumstances, he will allow it.

OliveOilsMom

In that case, I would use something like this, even though a little wordy:

DeBo and Husband
request the honor of your presence
at the blessing of their marriage in a Nuptial Mass

Church
City
Date
Time


Then you would have a second insert for your reception card.

Join us for dinner and drinks
Place
City
Time

courtski2004

I think that since this may be uncharted territory for a portion of your IL's, it wouldn't hurt to include an insert in their invitations to explain what the Covalidation ceremony will consist of, and maybe a bit about why it is important to you and your husband. When I received an invitation to a Jr. High friend's Bat Mitzvah back in the day, she included a page for her non-Jewish friends to explain what to expect and the importance of the service. Looking back, I really appreciate that her family took the time to include that information.