jcapulet

Hello,

Cory and I plan to get married in May, and I keep wondering what we should send to relatives across the borders who can't make the trip due to financial reasons...would we send them some sort of announcement mentioning our upcoming wedding? We already know (roughly) who can/can't make it, but we didn't want to seem disrespectful to family and not send an invitation.

Also, the chapel we plan to be married at only seats 12 guests, so we can't invite everyone except immediate family. I was wondering what others have done? If anyone can share an experience or suggest anything, it would be really helpful.

Thanks!

Juliet

Scout

I am thinking along the same lines. We are planning a small courthouse wedding when Pete arrives. Then we are planning on having a party for friends and relatives within a few days to celebrate. This way, I won't be stressed on my wedding day and we will have time to enjoy the festivities. Lots of friends and family from the UK as well as some from all across the US won't be able to attend, but I want to send out a sort of wedding announcement/party invitation to let everyone know. Any tips on sites for wording would be appreciated by me.


Cheers,

Leslie

NiceGuy82

Scout, so you just went 3-4 months without seeing your fiancee?

Just Jenney

Mark and I are also planning on getting married in May -- a VERY small ceremony consisting of just us, the officiant, and two witnesses. We're hoping to having something more elaborate, a sort of vow renewal ceremony, later in the year when Mark's family can attend from England.

So we're not really inviting people to our wedding (from either country, including my parents!), but I still want to let people know about it. I looked at some wedding websites and came up with some wording for a wedding announcement that I think I'd like to use:

Jennifer and Mark
joyously announce
the beginning
of their new life together
as husband and wife,
on the fifth of May
two thousand and three
in Richmond, Virginia
in the United States of America

This is just an idea -- feel free to steal it if you like it!

Since you're "announcing" the wedding, you should send it afterwards, not before -- otherwise they might think it's an invitation.

I don't think there's anything disrespectful about not inviting people to attend your wedding. You have your reasons -- just make sure they understand what those reasons are. If anyone is slighted by it, then it's their problem, really. (IMHO, anyway.)

~ Jenney

Rete

Rather than an invitation, think more in the lines of an announcement after the wedding. In this part of the country many married couples will send pre-printed thank you notes that include a photo of the couple in their wedding finery. For couples such as yourselves, perhaps a professionally printed wedding announcement, similar in size to an invitation, with a slot for a wedding photograph. Include a sentence telling of how you missed not being able to have them attend your wedding in person but know that they share your happiness and your thanks for their blessings on your marriage. Hallmark stores do these with hundreds of different styles to chose from and can be done in qualities as little as 25.

Another option is perhaps something along the lines of what we used as wedding favors. We found a place online that placed flower bulbs in a nest within a lovely white box and they printed cards to be slipped under the ribbon. The card gave our names and the date of our marriage.

Rete

AndysGirl

I just bought my invitations today. I have planned a wedding unlike most on the NG. It may be the death of me worrying about making it in time.

I am sending those people in England an invitation, but wont send the reception or a rsvp card. I never thought about doing it differently for the ones across the pond that cant make it. oh well.


Robin


By the way my wording is like normal wording on a wedding invitation...(thats why I didnt share).

Caro

Hey Juliet,

Here was our situation (just a quick recap...):
1) Married in the courthouse in the US on Nov. 2nd with 2 sets of parents and my set of siblings - Small party in our appartment with our friends
2) Married in the church in Paris on the following May 4th with more extended family - Big party in Paris

My dad and one of my sisters were our photographers in MI (and were reconducted for France ), so we got our pictures really fast. Then, we went to a photo shop to do cards with our favorite picture, our names, the date and the "Just married" inscription. We took 50 of them and it costed something like $30 [we wanted something "cheap" as we were going to have to do it all over again for France]. We used the cards as Thank you cards / Save the date of the next "wedding" cards. We ended up almost running out of them because they were really popular! The nice thing was that people who had never met my husband could at least have a nice picture of the two of use before the wedding.

At the beginning of March, I sent a formal announcement/invitation where the english text was as follows:

Caroline and Matthew have the joy of announcing their wedding and, with their families, request the honour of your presence at the ceremony that will be held on Saturday, the 4th of May...

The english text was a compromise between the French and the English wording so that the two texts that were facing each other had the same lengths, meaning etc... Otherwise, I designed the announcement and we both wanted it very simple. Esthetically, it was on a cream paper with curly edges folded in half, the ink was medium/dark blue, the font was curly but not too much and we had our initials as a light blue watermark [C and M work nicely together with a curly font]. The first page had our names with the CM watermark in the low-right corner, and the second and third page had the texts in French and English facing each other on the CM watermark.

You probably have way more information that you were asking for, but I always like to share what we did.

If you would like to see how the photo card or the announcement looked like, you can just PM me and I will send them to you by email.

Caroline

Mvstolar

Hi Caroline - liked your idea for wedding announcements. How did you place a
watermark and would you email me too your announcements([email protected])? My
fiance is from Paris. Unfortunenately we're not even close to this part but it
gives me something else to think about that is at least fun. thanks.
Ms. Missing My Parisian Man in Ann Arbor, MI
1st noa NSC - 9/13/02
2nd - day 194............

    >Hey Juliet,
    >Here was our situation (just a quick recap...):
    >1) Married in the courthouse in the US on Nov. 2nd with 2 sets of
    > parents and my set of siblings - Small party in our appartment with
    > our friends
    >2) Married in the church in Paris on the following May 4th with more
    > extended family - Big party in Paris
    >My dad and one of my sisters were our photographers in MI (and were
    >reconducted for France ), so we got our pictures really fast. Then,
    >we went to a photo shop to do cards with our favorite picture, our
    >names, the date and the "Just married" inscription. We took 50 of them
    >and it costed something like $30 [we wanted something "cheap" as we were
    >going to have to do it all over again for France]. We used the cards as
    >Thank you cards / Save the date of the next "wedding" cards. We ended up
    >almost running out of them because they were really popular! The nice
    >thing was that people who had never met my husband could at least have a
    >nice picture of the two of use before the wedding.
    >At the beginning of March, I sent a formal announcement/invitation where
    >the english text was as follows:
    >Caroline and Matthew have the joy of announcing their wedding and, with
    >their families, request the honour of your presence at the ceremony that
    >will be held on Saturday, the 4th of May...
    >The english text was a compromise between the French and the English
    >wording so that the two texts that were facing each other had the same
    >lengths, meaning etc... Otherwise, I designed the announcement and we
    >both wanted it very simple. Esthetically, it was on a cream paper with
    >curly edges folded in half, the ink was medium/dark blue, the font was
    >curly but not too much and we had our initials as a light blue watermark
    >[C and M work nicely together with a curly font]. The first page had our
    >names with the CM watermark in the low-right corner, and the second and
    >third page had the texts in French and English facing each other on the
    >CM watermark.
    >You probably have way more information that you were asking for, but I
    >always like to share what we did.
    >If you would like to see how the photo card or the announcement looked
    >like, you can just PM me and I will send them to you by email.
    >Caroline
    >--
    >Posted via http://britishexpats.com

Scout

Nice Guy............nope. Pete just spent the last 3 months here on the VWP and I flew back with him to the UK for a couple of weeks. Now, hopefully, we can get his interview scheduled shortly and get on with our lives. We took a chance having him come here on the VWP, but it worked and we were together while we waited for our 2nd NOA.

Cheers,

Leslie

imkimmy

Juliet-

Stantton and I sent announcements after we got married. I had them printed up and it had this sweet poem, and that he and I had been married, the date and the place. That way people felt included. We included a photo of us taken right after the ceremony in the announcement.

Kimberly

KissingtheBrit

Dave and I were married fairly quickly and had about a month to plan it. It was a courthouse quickie and we didn't have many people there. Afterwards we did send annoucements to everyone, including those in the UK.

Much to the surprise of all my relatives who didn't even know Dave had come for a visit!

Ang

DCMark

Caro:

We just did a similar invitation. We choose a large Crane invitation that opened like a book. We put the French on one side and English on the other. For the reception card, we have French and English.

No reply card as we know who is coming.

imkimmy

I forgot to mention what I did for our 1st anniversary. I got a shadowbox and covered the backing in a lilac material (purple is his and my favorite color), glued down one of the announcements, glued down one of the "Thank You" cards that said "Mr. & Mrs. Stantton", and glued down the boutonnière he wore. This made a great present to give him.

Kimberly

sharmilashah

Rajat and I had our small civil ceremony at City Hall the week after he arrived from London. We did this simply for AOS purposes - to get the ball rolling ASAP. My immediate family was there as witnesses. With so much going on (immigration AOS, AP, EAD paperwork, social security number, Rajat looking for a job, me sitting for the bar) we weren't able to celebrate much - just a romantic night out for the 2 of us. His family wanted to come, however we had them hold off (plane tickets were so expensive and the weather in New York City was horrible). Fortunately we had a wonderful engagement party in London in December, so nobody felt left out.

Our actual wedding ceremony is set for October 10, 2003. This is when we will have our officiants marry us and we will celebrate with our entire family and friends. This is our religious ceremony and probably what we will consider our real "anniversary"... So our wedding invitations will go out sometime in August.

We consider our marriage in January sacred since we are now truly husband and wife, however we also take it for what it was --an immigration requirement! The only weird thing is that we are actually married but only my close close friends and family know - as most people assume we are getting married officially in October. It's just easier than explaining! Especially with the wedding venue, caterer, etc... they are used to referring to your "fiance" !!

This is just our way of doing it. No matter what you decide Congratulations to everyone on starting your new journey together!

You can check out our wedding website at:
www.rajatandsharmila.virtuallymarried.com

All the best!
Sharmila

Christa

Unless you're asking for presents to be sent to you, I would send an
announcement after the wedding and include some pictures. Why send an
invitation to somebody who isn't expected to attend anyway?


"jcapulet" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > Hello,
    > Cory and I plan to get married in May, and I keep wondering what we
    > should send to relatives across the borders who can't make the trip due
    > to financial reasons...would we send them some sort of announcement
    > mentioning our upcoming wedding? We already know (roughly) who can/can't
    > make it, but we didn't want to seem disrespectful to family and not send
    > an invitation.
    > Also, the chapel we plan to be married at only seats 12 guests, so we
    > can't invite everyone except immediate family. I was wondering what
    > others have done? If anyone can share an experience or suggest
    > anything, it would be really helpful.
    > Thanks!
    > Juliet
    > --
    > Posted via http://britishexpats.com