Love. Amore. Amore. Amour. There are oh so many ways to say love. So it isn’t surprising that there are oh so many ways to get married.

Below, we cover the invitation etiquette for several different cultures, religions and customs. Because while the end result is the same, how the bride and groom get there is a unique and special experience as individual as a snowflake. Except so much more romantic.

Roman Catholic Weddings
Jewish Weddings
Mormon Weddings
Hispanic Weddings
Military Weddings
Double Weddings
Second Marriages

Roman Catholic Weddings

The Roman Catholic Church requires the posting of banns, the public announcement of a couple’s intentions to marry. The banns must be announced from the pulpit or in the church bulletin three times before the wedding. The traditional posting of the banns was the forerunner of today’s wedding announcements.

Continue reading →

Once upon a time, wedding invitations were delivered by hand. If you were a bride, your footman delivered your invitations to your guests’ homes. Their servant received the invitation and removed it from its mailing envelope (an envelope much too pedestrian for your guests to handle themselves).

The servant then presented the invitation to your guests in its pristine inside envelope. Because the invitation was already at its destination, the inside envelope had only the names of your guests written on it. The address was no longer needed. It just had to be directed to the appropriate members of the household.

Though footmen have since been replaced by postmen, the inside envelope is still de rigueur. It gives something as important as your wedding invitation a certain je ne sais quoi. As for how you should address both the inside and outside envelopes, here is a perfectly proper guide for how to do so.

Single Woman & Date
Single Man
Single Man & Date
Unmarried Couple Living Together
Diplomatic Leaders
Married Couples
With Children Under 18 Living at Home
With Two Daughters Over 18 Living at Home
With Two Sons Over 18 Living at Home
With a Son & Daughter Over 18 Living at Home
In Which Wife Kept Maiden Name
In Which Wife is a Doctor
In Which Husband is a Doctor
In Which Both are Doctors
In Which Husband is a Judge
In Which Wife is a Judge
In Which One or Both are Lawyers
Divorced or Widowed Woman
Military Titles
In Which a Man is a Junior

SINGLE WOMAN 

Outside Envelope

Miss Page Beacham or Ms. Page Beacham

Inside Envelope

Miss Beacham or Ms. Beacham

Continue reading →