Marriage announcements after an elopement?

mfeo24

We're doing a just-the-two of us ceremony in April, it's not a secret, but there are no guests.

I sort of want to send out a card/announcement letting people know, I think it's a nice way to officially tell them and not have it spread via facebook/word of mouth. It would only go to close friends and family - about 40 people. On the other hand, I also feel like people may be like "uh, wait, is this an invite? Did it already happen? Why was I not invited? etc etc."

I was less conflicted when we were going to the Carribean, but now it's stateside and we could technically invite people, we just don't want to

So, what do you think?

annakb8

Just have a card made that says "Mfeo and Mr. Mfeo have the honor of announcing their marriage which took place at such and such date in such and such place."

Mail them the day after the wedding. 

specialk84

Ditto Anna. We had a small-ish wedding, and my father send announcements to his extended family. No one got butthurt, and no one was confused by it.

MattsPenguin

My brother and SIL sent out similar cards to what Anna is describing.  Just a short little "FYI: we got married".

achiduck

If you're really concerned with people getting hurt feelings over not being invited you could say something along the lines of:

Mrs. & Mr. Smith are thrilled to announce their marriage on DATE.. They eloped to PLACE.

Ollie08

I'm going with the rest of the PP, especially achiduck.

redheadfsu

Wedding announcements are sent after you are married. "Bride & Groom are happily announce they were married Date, Location"

I sent them as we had a private ceremony (just us). We also listed a website that had stories from our vacation/wedding.

hccpsu

We had a private ceremony and sent out announcements that said "Bride and Groom, together with their parents, Mr and Mrs. Bride's parents and Mr. and Mrs. Groom's parents, announce their marriage on date and place."

I read in an etiquette book you don't include anything like "happily announce" because it's assumed it's a happy occasion.

redheadfsu

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_marriage-announcements-after-elopement?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:9Discussion:a745e1ea-c613-4446-abcf-f9c3e2d7f7cdPost:6e3d2c9d-116e-4413-a558-3280f8259692">Re: Marriage announcements after an elopement?</a>:
[QUOTE]We had a private ceremony and sent out announcements that said "Bride and Groom, together with their parents, Mr and Mrs. Bride's parents and Mr. and Mrs. Groom's parents, announce their marriage on date and place." I read in an etiquette book you don't include anything like "happily announce" because it's assumed it's a happy occasion.
Posted by hccpsu[/QUOTE]

True. (I was using my wording, which wasn't formal).

But our announcements were very informal (postcards) so we went with the slang/ the way you gave sounded too formal for me. We had something like about tying the knot alone on the beach so we had a lot of slang stuff. Most people who elope/private weddings have a casual/sang announcement.

tenofcups4me

We had 12 people, including us, at our wedding. We sent announcements to people we would have invited had we opted for a more traditional size wedding. Ours read:

Jane SMith
&
John Doe

[both centered and in a larger script font]

Are pleased to announce
We have symbolically and legally
Declared our love, trust and commitment
By uniting in marriage in a
Private ceremony on month day year
in City, State

Admittedly not traditional wording, but very much "us." (And yes, I know you're not supposed to be "pleased," but f it, we were quite pleased, and I know it's supposed to be third person, but we opted for first person anyway just because I like it better).

It was important to me to include "private ceremony" so it was clear that we hadn't had a large wedding and just not invited them, even though probably everyone  knew already anyway.