Wording for Wedding after Marriage

TawneeHayden10

My husband and I got married in a courthouse about 7 months ago right before I deployed. Our plan has been to have a wedding around our 1 year anniversary. It is getting close to the time to send out our invitations and I have no idea how to word it. I want to mention that we are already married and now want to have a formal ceremony and reception to celebrate with family. Please help!!

hz80408

Unfortunately you can't have a wedding after  you're married because you're already married.  It would be a vow renewal and should be worded as such

MyNameIsNot

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_invites-paper_wording-wedding-after-marriage?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:cd062f89-8272-496a-b0ab-225e1f87acecDiscussion:6ef19332-2c0d-4b1b-81fb-df00bd06b4d2Post:37600dfe-f5e7-4196-9992-889e41917818">Wording for Wedding after Marriage</a>:
[QUOTE]My husband and I got married in a courthouse about 7 months ago right before I deployed. Our plan has been to have a wedding around our 1 year anniversary. It is getting close to the time to send out our invitations and I have no idea how to word it. I want to mention that we are already married and now want to have a formal ceremony and reception to celebrate with family. Please help!!
Posted by TawneeHayden10[/QUOTE]

<div>The thing at the courthouse was your wedding.  </div><div>
</div><div>You would either have a vow renewal or an anniversary party.  </div>

aragx6

I agree with others. No matter the circumstances there is no such thing as a "wedding after marriage" It's simply impossible.

An open house or other casual party would be a great way to get your loved ones together to celebrate not only your marriage, but also your return home.

HobokensFury

You can't have a wedding after the marriage.  Have a vow renual or anniversary party.  No showers, no registeries etc.

invitemeweddinginvitations

I think you CAN have a wedding after you're already legally married! Even if it's not technically a wedding in a traditional sense, there are a lot of people throwing big weddings that can't legally get married in most states and they're still fabulous weddings. Call it a vow renewal, call it an anniversary party, call it a wedding reception that's just a while after the fact... whatever you call it it's your big day, so celebrate!

I would word your invites something like this (of course change it depending on how formal or informal you want to go):

We tied the knot!

Together with our families

we invite you to join us

to celebrate our marriage

etc.

Congratulations!

rlavach

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_invites-paper_wording-wedding-after-marriage?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:cd062f89-8272-496a-b0ab-225e1f87acecDiscussion:6ef19332-2c0d-4b1b-81fb-df00bd06b4d2Post:3525a0ae-2f65-4d16-ae0f-95597fe826e8">Re: Wording for Wedding after Marriage</a>:
[QUOTE]I think you CAN have a wedding after you're already legally married! Even if it's not technically a wedding in a traditional sense, there are a lot of people throwing big weddings that can't legally get married in most states and they're still fabulous weddings. Call it a vow renewal, call it an anniversary party, call it a wedding reception that's just a while after the fact... whatever you call it it's your big day, so celebrate! I would word your invites something like this (of course change it depending on how formal or informal you want to go): We tied the knot! Together with our families we invite you to join us to celebrate our marriage etc. Congratulations! :)
Posted by invitemeweddinginvitations[/QUOTE]
Hmm, lemme guess. You want her to get her invites from your site, huh?<div>
</div><div>If you're a vendor, go away. If you're not, then remove that link from your siggy & change your sn. Or else a mod will let you know.</div>

hz80408

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_invites-paper_wording-wedding-after-marriage?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:cd062f89-8272-496a-b0ab-225e1f87acecDiscussion:6ef19332-2c0d-4b1b-81fb-df00bd06b4d2Post:3525a0ae-2f65-4d16-ae0f-95597fe826e8">Re: Wording for Wedding after Marriage</a>:
[QUOTE]I think you CAN have a wedding after you're already legally married! Even if it's not technically a wedding in a traditional sense, there are a lot of people throwing big weddings that can't legally get married in most states and they're still fabulous weddings. Call it a vow renewal, call it an anniversary party, call it a wedding reception that's just a while after the fact... whatever you call it it's your big day, so celebrate! I would word your invites something like this (of course change it depending on how formal or informal you want to go): We tied the knot! Together with our families we invite you to join us to celebrate our marriage etc. Congratulations! :)
Posted by invitemeweddinginvitations[/QUOTE]
 In addition to advertising (which is not allowed) you're also contradicting yourself by saying you can have a wedding and then "celebrate our marriage"; celebrating a marriage is not the same this as a wedding.  As one who makes invites you should know this

lauriebug

It would probably be called a post wedding reception. The company we used referred us to this site for wording suggestions and I just looked it up and there are such wordings.

http://www.verseit.com/VerseIt_Verses.cfm?SR=1

We used for our invites Invitation Discounters.

toothpastechica

I was soooo confused by the title of this post...you cant have a wedding after a marraige unless you get divorced. Anyways I ditto what others have said, have a vow renewal, call it that, and leave out the 'wedding-y type stuff.

BTCarolus

The key here is to think over how you would react if somebody else were in your position and invited you to their vow renewal/wedding. Are they up-front with their situation? Do their reasons for getting legally married and then having a bigger celebration later make sense? Are they clearly portraying it as a vow renewal/marriage blessing/something else? And they're not being ostentatious about things, seeming gift-grabby, etc.? Then you probably are happy for them and will gladly attend the event. Are they hiding the fact that they're married? Do they seem like they just are having a big them-centric party after the fact for no reason? Do you feel like they just want presents? Then you would probably be turned off and not want to go, right?

We're in a similar situation, needed to be legally married but couldn't arrange for the religious/friends and family side given our time constraints. I'm being up front about already being married on the invite, and explaining that we are already married and why on the website. Also, we are erring on the side of close friends and family, not people from high school we haven't spoken to in years. I think most people on the invite list already know what our situation is. 

Most people will be understanding of situations like deployment, visa issues, etc. and happy for their friends regardless. On the other hand, occassionally you'll see people on the knot asking about ettiquette issues involving courthouse wedding, shower, bachelorette party now, the "REAL WEDDING" a year from now, for no apparent reason. Or reasons like, 'well, we're buying a house together, but want to have a super gigantic wedding later." Those are the kinds of situations to avoid, as they look gift-grabby, rude, and/or bridezilla-ish.

Our invite wording is going to be something along the lines of:

Mr. and Mrs. Our Names

Request the honor of your presence at the blessing of our marriage

Date

Time

Location of Church

Reception to follow

Time of Reception

Location of Reception

TawneeHayden10

Wow, a lot of rude postings! I understand that I can't have a "wedding" after a marriage. I got that after the first person who posted it. Was it really necessary to continously remind me? Sheesh. I don't mind that you corrected me, however, pretty much everyone who did still didn't help me with my initial question on how to word my invitations. For those of you who did so, thank you! I greatly appreciate your suggestions.

BTCarolus

Tawnee,

You'll find that there are three people on the knot:

1) earnest women trying to put a good event together.

2) Clueless, tacky people who are making huge etiquette mistakes

3) People who feel it is their job to ensure that those clueless tacky people know that they are making huge etiquette mistakes, even at the expense of politeness

Unfortunately, types 2 and 3 sometimes dominate the boards, and the place can seem pretty nasty sometimes.

For this reason, I mostly fly under the radar regarding the whole second ceremony thing (alas, I've seen bashing a lot worse than what's here). It's your friends and your family who matter, and so long as you go about in a way that won't insult them, and that they feel they should support, everything will go well.

emarble1

I'm actually doing the same thing. My husband and I got married in October of 2011 and were planning our vow renewal for this upcoming May. Honestly, it's your day and who cares if your already married. The most important thing is that you and your husband enjoy your day. I would word your invites however you want especially if people already know that you are married. For instance my husband and my family already know that were married but I still want to have my dress cake bridesmaid and etc and thats exactly what were having you only live once so why not enjouy it. To answer your question choose whatever wording makes you happy 

elishebah

Thanks for posting that site. We are planning an intimate destination wedding with a big reception party when we come back. I was wondering what would be the best way to address the second invite.