Wedding Announcements

Media Announcements

A wedding announcement or marriage announcement provides the perfect way to proclaim your happy news to those who weren’t invited to your wedding. Engagements and marriages are not complete unless and until it is announced to the whole world. The easiest and most expressive way for declaring a wedding message is to announce it in newspapers of your city!Choose the newspaper which would best exhibit your event and send your announcement or “press release” to that local or city newspapers. It would be more proud for you if you prepare your wedding announcement to appear on a larger city newspaper rather than a local city newspaper.

The announcement process becomes complicated when the bride , bridegroom and their parents reside in different cities. You need to be very sure that your wedding announcement appears in everyone’s native cities.Reasons for sending an Announcement

1. To inform business colleagues of your name change due to your marriage.
2. If you are having a small, private wedding.
3. If parents hosted the wedding but all of their friends and colleagues were not invited.
4. To inform faraway friends and relatives.

How To Approach The Press?

To ensure that a complete announcement of your wedding appears in the edition of the press you chose, initially find
out whether they publish engagement and wedding announcements. Also, you should find out the following information:

1.To whom should you send the engagement and wedding announcement?
2.Does the newspaper accept photos? If so, are there specific size requirements? ( most probably, they ask for
a professional photo of the couple)
3.How many days in advance( from the day you want it to appear) should the announcement information be sent?
4.How long will it take for the announcement to appear on the newspaper?
5.What is the fee for the announcement?
6.Is there a specific format you should use when preparing your announcements? If the paper uses a “wedding form,”
have they sent it to you?

If you are clear with the answers you can immediately send the announcement to the press.Some press will need you
to write a “press announcement” or “press release” instead of a wedding form.Since you would have already read that
newspaper you will surely have an idea on the format of the wedding form, so stick to the same format

Filling the Information

Be as brief as possible. Most probably, they would ask for precise details. They ask your wish for the “release date”,
that is, when the announcement should appear. Forget not to add your contact number, which will be really helpful
for the editor in case of any verification.

If you are including a photograph, make sure it is absolutely official and admirable too. Engagement photos are
generally a head and shoulders shot of the lucky couple. The wedding photo should show the couples as well as
the gist of how the wedding ceremony was held.

Send the engagement announcement as soon as possible, such that it appears pretty before your wedding ceremony.
If you want you wedding announcement to appear the very next day after the weddin ceremony, you have to take a
photo of the bride and bridegroom as they would appear on the wedding ceremony, and send it to the press.  Else, if you do not mind the announcement to appear after a few weeks, you can use a photo from the actual wedding day.

You should always keep confirming that the mails regarding your engagement or wedding announcements are
received by the editor and things are getting ready for the announcement to be printed. Approach the editor in a polite way, if they do not satisfy your expectations, explain them what you really want for and never be rude or do not demand the announcement to appear in the paper.

It is standard practice for the editor to rework press announcements. In some cases, they may cut short your your information for their official convenience or lack of space

Announcement Samples

Some samples are given below. You can use them as a guide in preparing your own engagement or wedding announcements. Simply substitute your information in any of the parenthesis. If both the families of the bride and
bridegroom are in the same state, it is not necessary to put in the state next to the town. If not , you will only need the
state inserted if the bride, groom or parents are from a different state from where the newspaper is distributed.

Sample

Bride (her name before wedding):

Bride’s parents’ names and addresses:

Bride’s high school (city, year graduated):

Bride’s college (city, year graduated):

Bride’s occupation:

Bridegroom:
Bridegrooms parents’ names and addresses:

Bridegroom’s high school: (city, year graduated)

Bridegroom’s college (city, year graduated)

Bridegroom’s occupation:

Date of Wedding:
Time:
Place:
Marriage performed by:
Reception:

Wedding Trip:

Residence after Wedding:
Maid or
Matron of Honor
Name:
Bridesmaids:

Flower Girl:
Best Man:
Groomsmen:

Information submitted by:
Phone number of person submitting:
Photograph submitted: Yes or No

(NOTE: There is a $XXX fee for placing this announcement. Our staff will contact you regarding payment)

How many additional copies of the paper would you like? Five copies will be provided for free
(our staff will contact you regarding payment in the event you want additional copies)

To submit photos, send email to: “————-”(email address of the press)
Identify the subjects in the photograph in the Subject line of the email.

Additional Notes:

When parents are divorced, the wording in the body of the announcement should read as follows:”The (bride/groom)
is the (daughter/son) of Mrs. (first and last name) of (town, state) and Mr. (first and last name) of (town, state).”

If one parent is deceased, refer to him/her as follows:”The (bride/groom) is the (daughter/son) of
Mrs. (first and last name) of (town) and the late Mr. (first and last name).

Sample Wedding Announcement that appeared in the press

Because you’ve shared in their lives
by your friendship and love, we are
very proud to share the happy news.
BRIDE
daughter of PARENTS
and
GROOM
son of PARENTS
were married in a small wedding
on
DATE
LOCATION
CITY, STATE

BRIDE and GROOM
now reside at
ADDRESS
CITY, STATE, ZIP

INVITATIONS & WORDINGS:

Your invitation serves as an important guide for your wedding guests. Not only does it include information
such as the hosts, date, time and location of the ceremony, it also sets the style for your entire wedding. So select a design
and wording for your invitation to reflect your personality!You will be able to choose from a variety of styles and typefaces for each item you require; some stationers
will customize designs. They can offer guidance with the wording of invitations. You can see a proof of your invitation
with the ink color and wording you select. Send all of your invitations on the same day four to six weeks before your
wedding date.

The wedding invitation relays not only the necessary information to your guests about when and where the event
will take place, but also heralds the style and mood of your wedding.

sample

When I look in your eyes
I delight in your being
and when you take my hand
I delight in our being together
Together with our parents, we
BRIDE
and
GROOM
request the honor of your presence
as we begin a lifetime of togetherness
on
DAY
YEAR
at
TIME
LOCATION
ADDRESS
CITY, STATE

The Right Words

The design and wording of your invitation must be mind blowing and the guests should be moved by reading it. They
should start expecting and get excited about the occasion. Your words much in the wording of your invitation as in its
design. As well as thinking about the design, it’s important to dedicate time and space within the invitation to the content.
You need to let your guests know some important details. Here is a rundown of the essentials:

* The name of bride’s parents or the other hosts;

* The full names of the bride and the groom;

* The date, month and year of the ceremony – remember this may be quite some time in advance;

* The location of the ceremony and the location of the wedding reception (note that not all of the guests will be invited to all of the day’s events so you may need to have two versions of the card);

* The address that the guest needs to RSVP and a time by which they need to do so.

Some optional pieces of invitation might be whether or not children are invited and the time that the wedding will
end.

Hosts Of the Occasion

In the traditional view of wedding the host should be always the bride’s family. They also relatives and loving persons
as hosts. But nowadays any one who is very close to both of the family are becoming host. Look at the short list
given below and guess who can be the host for your wedding..

• Parents of the bride are traditionally the automatic choice as the host.
• The bride and groom are also could be the host of the wedding invitation.
• The wedding invitation could be hosted both of the families jointly.
• In case of divorced parents, they could host the wedding invitation jointly or apart.
• In case of one parent’s deceased the other one could be the host; he/she can give the deceased parent’s name in the
invitation as late
• It is often seen that a good friend or relative is hosting the wedding ceremony.
• The divorced and remarried parents are also could be the host.

Sample

Together with their families
Jane Doe (name of bride)
and
John Brown (name of groom)
request the honor of your presence…

Or, for a less formal wedding:

Please join the ________ and ________ families
in celebrating the marriage of
(bride’s name)
and
(groom’s name)

Formality is first set through the invitation. This is how we convey the formality of the event to our guests. For formal
weddings, the word “honor,” as in the phrase “request the honor of your presence,” is always spelled with
the “u.”

The invitation is not the appropriate place to honor people; this can be done in many other ways, such as in the
wedding program or in the reception. So, there is no point in worrying that it would offend anyone if you do not
add their name in it as hosts. The invitation is not a “vehicle” for honoring people, it is simply the means by which the
hosts of the event (see above) invite the guests and relay important practical information (like date, time, place).