Invite wording for wedding after our civil marriage?

I was just reading invitation stuff in Emily Post's Wedding Etiquette for another post so perfect timing w/ your question.

The invitation shows who is hosting the party, since you're paying you're under no obligation to list parents but you can certainly word it however you want.

Thanks Marie. Also, how do you feel about wording it as a regular "first wedding" invite considered we are already legally married? We were open about our civil marriage and it was required of us to have one here in Germany.

Just went back to the wedding Bible for you on this and there's nothing in there for your particular situation so I say just go with the standard invitation etiquette:

The Honour of your presence is requested at the marriage of

Miss Ginny to Mr. Ginny or

Miss Ginny & Mr. Ginny request the honour of your presence or less formal

Ginny Smith & Joe Jones invirw yu to attend their marriage

There's a Mature Couple invite for folks who've been together for a long time or live together:

Ginny Smith

&

Joe Jones

invite you to share with them the joy of their marriage

That one might be the best for your circumstance. :-)

Thanks...that also brought up something I didn't even think of and that is that i am already going by my married name. Luckily I still have some time to think of this but we are planning to send out STD in a few months time. Thanks again

I get asked all the time about the etiquette for wedding invitations and what would be best and I tell all my brides that they should go with whatever etiquette that they feel would be best and make them happy! Although, typically, whoever is on the invitation shows who is hosting the wedding, but if you are wanting to include your parents in it, I say go for it! I have had quite a few brides do that because they want to show their appreciation to their parents. Definitely go with what makes YOU happy!

You could have your names on the same line since you are already married.

Or, just do your first names? if you don't want to decide between married and maiden name.

Did you want to advertise your Germany wedding date?

Is it a ceremony to make it legal in the states or just to renew vows?

Ginny and Groom Last

began their lives together

on the eighteenth of December

Two thousand eleven

in City, Germany

We, along with our parents, invite you to

join us in a celebration of our marriage

Friday, the twenty-sixth of April

Two thousand thirteen

at five o'clock in the evening

277 West Bay Avenue

Pleasant View, Utah

*I would bookmark ideas, but don't print your invites until you are 6 - 4 months out from the wedding date, never know what might change

Hayley it will technically be a vow renewal bc the US will recognize our German marriage to be legal with our international marriage license. But we are treating this as a marriage and not a vow renewal as we did not exchange vows in our civil union here.

Ginny, that is an awesome question you asked!! that is why I LOVE this website... we just got married on 12/28/11 & I was wondering same exact thing, but havent got around to asking yet, since I been taking few weeks off from planning (crazy few weeks at work) .. but after this week, I can resume & now I sort of know what to do regarding the invitation..

Hayley, as usual.. You are just amazing!!! Thank you

Ginny, we're doing the same.. except I think our's will read "Together with their families request the honor of your presence as Jen & Denna exchange vows on September 22, 2012" (it will look better than that of course...) So we aren't calling it a wedding or marraige, but we aren't calling it a "vow renewal" because we won't have taken our vows until then.

Another idea for wording... If you don't want the original date listed and if you are going to go by your married name on the invite....

Because you have shared in our lives

by your friendship and love we,

Bride and Groom Last

together with our parents

invite you to share in our joy

as we exchange our marriage vows

Friday, the twenty-sixth of April

Two thousand thirteen

at five o'clock in the evening

277 West Bay Avenue

Pleasant View, Utah

-or-

Bride Middle

and

Groom Middle Last

together with their parents

invite you to share in the joy

when they exchange marriage vows

on Saturday, the fifteenth of February

Two thousand eighteen

at two o'clock in the afternoon

St. Joseph's Church

210 Main Street

Chicago, Illinois

Even Miss Manners, who is generally opposed to "weddings" after you are already married, makes an exception for your situation, saying, "We are not talking about a civil ceremony followed, in short order, by a ceremonial religious blessing." Ok, so maybe the order is not all that short, but given the logistics of involving two different countries, it seems short enough to me.

I know this thread is very old but I was online googling "wedding invitation wording for couple already married" and I came across some other threads that were absolutely horrid. The women posting in response to the original poster asking the same question as above, were just awful. Calling her names and telling her she isn't a real bride and she's not allowed to call it a wedding, that she can't wear a fancy dress or have a party because they are already married. Telling her that she's a fraud by inviting people to celebrate in a ceremony/reception with them. I was truly MORTIFIED!

I'm so happy I came across this thread because I was getting really discouraged. We had our marriage license signed at the stroke of midnight NYE. It was a very last minute decision for our own reasons and our wedding has been planned and booked for months, it's in May 2017. We didn't make a formal announcement of our NYE signing, and it was nothing but the signing of the license. We didn't have a ceremony or exchange any vows because we are saving that for the wedding with friends and family. We are still having our wedding and being a second marriage for both of us we are having a casual, informal event with some of the traditional touches.

THANK YOU ALL for being so kind and respectful of each other. I found the perfect wording for our invitations on this thread and am happy to know that so many people do the same thing. You should have to loose the excitement of having your wedding and celebrating with friends and family. Does anyone aside from the witnesses ever see the signing of the license anyways?

View Quoted Comment Hi Kenna,

this question is completey seperate from this conversation. I got married through civil court back in 2015 which was a last minute arrangement so no real celebration took place with family. I am now planning to get married through church and having an intimate reception in my backyard. What’s the proper invitation wording since I’m already married civilly

View Quoted Comment

Only in America do we drag brides for daring to have joy and white dresses after a civil ceremony. FACT: The whole church thing we do in the US does NOT make you married. It is a misdemeanor for a preacher to marry you without receiving your LICENSE to marry. What makes you married is the signatures of bride, groom, 2 witnesses and ANY lawful officiant. That is marriage. WEDDING is all the swirl and whirl people do. And SO MANY cultures party WAY harder than we do. As a matter of fact. Many hit the court house/ city hall; combine households and save money for YEARS to throw a WEDDING. Why? Because the wedding is about CELEBRATING and in other cultures, TWO families becoming ONE. My daughter is having 3 - count them 1, 2, 3 - weddings. Why? Law. Culture. Religion. They are three different ceremonies held for three different reasons. AND when they get to good ole USA, we're having a RIDICULOUSLY BIG RECEPTION. Why? Cause who the heck doesn't want to celebrate two people pledging love and loyalty until forever?! So LOL and relax. Here you go. (Format for visual appeal.)

With great joy the families announce

Sally Ann and John David were married on April 15th, 2019

Their Civil Ceremony was held at ABC Town Hall/Court in Anytown, FU, USA

The honor of your presence is requested for the CELEBRATION of their marriage at First Baptist Pilgrim's Rest St. Somebody Mt. Mountain

123 Main Street

Anytown, FU, USA

OR

The honor of your presence is requested for their WEDDING at

First Baptist Pilgrim's Rest St. Somebody Mt. Mountain

123 Main Street

Anytown, FU, USA

OR

The honor of your presence is requested for their exchange of Religious Vows at

First Baptist Pilgrim's Rest St. Somebody Mt. Mountain

123 Main Street

Anytown, FU, USA

See? Literally

The honor of your presence is requested for WHATEVER YOU FEEL BEST DESCRIBES WHAT YOU ARE DOING. Screw the haters. They weren't bringing a gift anyway.

CONGRATULATIONS!!!