My husband & I had planned to be married in our church in Nov 2005. He is a Marine and received his orders to be sent to Iraq so we decided to get married in the court house prior to his departure in Sept 2004. Now he is finally home and my parents are giving us the Church Wedding we had originally planned this Nov. 19th. Our problem is that we are unsure of how to word the invitations. Since we are already married do we invite our family and friends to a renewal of vows? Since my parents are hosting how do we word that? Some people think we're being greedy having this wedding. How do we deal with them? Is it wrong to celebrate our marraige this way? HELP please. Dwilly
It is never wrong to celebrate a marriage! However, the reason you might be getting some negative feedback might be if you are calling this a wedding. The basic difference between the label "wedding" as oppossed to vow renewal or blessing of your marriage is the vows you exchange and the gifts issue. Obviously for a wedding you'd be exchanging vows for the first time and for a vow renewal ceremony you would be reaffirming those vows so the actual vows are different and the ceremonies are different. The wedding is considered a gift giving event but the vow renewal doesn't obligate the guest to bring a gift (although many do!). So, call your event a renewal of vows ceremony or a blessing of your marriage and follow some basic vow renewal etiquetteand everyone will be happy!
Go to www.idotaketwo.com for more information about vow renewals and wording wedding invitations for second marriage and vow renewals too. Top Wedding Questions Forum Moderator - "Write your sorrows in the sand, your blessings in stone".
(This post was
edited by TWQadmin on Nov 13, 2005, 8:18 PM)
Renewing vows
