Making The Wedding Etiquette Announcements

Beginning on the day he proposed, there are certain wedding etiquette announcements to be observed. The couple should be aware of these wedding etiquette announcements or else wedding could fall into jeopardy.

There are wedding etiquette announcements to be observed when breaking the news to the parents. First, let the people closest to you know of your plans. The groom must ask the bride’s parents for her hand in marriage. It is traditional that men do wedding etiquette announcements to both families but modern times have changed this. Now, both of them can make the wedding etiquette announcements together personally.

The wedding etiquette announcements for friends can be personally by the couple. They can also plan a party for both their friends and turn it into an engagement party. The couple on this event can choose their maid of honor and best man.

Wedding etiquette announcements for sponsors should be done personally with the help of the parents. The sponsors can be chosen by influence, convenience, prestige, or by relationship.  The important thing to remember is to get them to commit in being your sponsors and list them down in your planner.

The wedding etiquette announcements for wedding details can be overwhelming, which is why most couples hire a wedding coordinator. If your budget can fit in the fee for this person’s services, hire them. It will greatly lift the pressure of planning, organizing and supervising the entire event.

The maid of honor often performs wedding etiquette announcements for the bridal shower. The bridesmaids, mother and other women family members are invited to chip in and join the event. Depending on what they have prepared, the bride can expect something as elegant as a garden tea party or wild as a trip to the local men’s strip joint.

The best man makes the wedding etiquette announcements for the bachelor party or stag party. Stag parties require little preparation since most parties only require five things: the groom, food, drinks, music and entertainment. The entertainments have wedding etiquette announcements of using either a stripper or just a regular DVD player and watching x-rated movies.

There is a third option of making wedding etiquette announcements for a “couple” shower. Friends of both the bride and groom organize and celebrate this event. The best choice for this is to have a themed party, something with fantasy on it like a masque ball or have it done like Carmen Elektra and her husband Dave of Inxs where it was one big stripper party.

The wedding preparations:

The wedding etiquette announcements for the flowers should be booked months in advance. The same goes for the caterer, the arranger and the musicians. If the couple decides to hire a wedding coordinator, this will be an easier job for them.

The wedding etiquette announcements for the dress fitting is should also be made weeks in advance. Any adjustments to the dress can be done as the wedding date comes closer. For the men, their clothes are classic pieces so it is no problem for the coordinator. However, it is a must that the groomsmen have a neat hair cut prior to the wedding.

The photography and video documentation needs of the couple should be provided by the coordinator. As a rule, wedding etiquette announcements for photo and video coverage of the wedding can be open to bidders.  This way they couple can sample the best work and hire the one they like most at a price that they can handle.

On the wedding event:

Within weeks of the big day, the wedding etiquette announcements for invitations should have already been mailed. Along with it are the wedding etiquette announcements regarding the attire, program, location of the wedding and a map to the reception.

The wedding etiquette announcements for the wedding program at the ceremony is usually printed and given to the guests as they arrive at the church. The couple can skip this if they prefer an informal ceremony.

With the solemnity of church celebration over, it is now time for everyone to relax at the reception. There is still another program in the event but most of it is well-wishes, thanksgiving and entertainment for everyone who attended the wedding.

More about → Making The Wedding Etiquette Announcements

Wedding Etiquette Advice for Guests

More often than not, it is the guests that we oftentimes hear complain about the outcome of the wedding, that the bride and groom violated wedding etiquette, and so on and so fort.

Guests seem to be forgetting that wedding etiquette is not just for the bride and groom. There is wedding etiquette too reserved for the guests.

We have outlined here some wedding etiquette advice for guests. These wedding etiquette advice are taken from different sources and may help you understand how to act and socialize with grace and manners in any wedding.

Wedding Etiquette Advice 1: Thou shalt respond to an invitation, immediately!

Invited guests who do not respond to an invitation are the major cause of headaches to the bride and groom. There are guest who will say regrets to the bride and groom just a day before the wedding day. While some guests will not reply to the invitation at all and then show up without notice to the wedding ceremony and wedding reception.

Wedding Etiquette Advice #1 says this act is totally rude! Today, the bride and groom pay for their own wedding. They rely on their savings and salary to fund their wedding. They are not asking their fathers anymore to host their big day.

So, with the limited budget that the couples have allotted for their wedding (of course they need to save some as a startup money). The couples need to know the exact head count so they would know if they will go over their budget. And failure of guests to reply to an RSVP will give the bride and groom headaches. They would not know how many guests should they book in the hotel or caterer. And also, if you aware of this fact, if the bride and groom add you to the guest list and they inlist you for a sit-down dinner, they will pay for your head even though you did not attend the wedding.

Please follow this wedding etiquette advice if you don't want to be called an unmannered brute. Reply to an invitation immediately if you must, or at least two week before the wedding day.

We, guests, expect the bride and groom to practice wedding attique, and so should we.

Wedding Etiquette Advice 2: Thou shalt be dress appropriately.

This wedding etiquette advice is not meant to promote fashion, although being fashionable is really good. This wedding etiquette advice came next to the wedding etiquette advice on responding immediately to an invitation. Because after you respond to an invitation, the next thing you will do is either buy a gift (if you still have some spare money to buy your bride friend a gift) or attend the wedding (if you do not have the money to buy a gift, you can skip the gift giving).

This wedding etiquette advice is for your own good. You would not want to look like a gate crasher in your friends weddign, or do you? If it is a formal wedding, you would not want to be caught wearing a jeans and t-shirt, right? You would definitely look like a gate crasher if you are not dressed properly.

The wedding etiquette advice if the event is informal: please refrain from wearing jeans and tank top or t-shirt. For women, kindly wear a cocktail dress or a pretty Sunday dress. For men, please, if you may, wear your suit. Just forgo your tie. You can even roll up your sleeves and open the top button of your shirt to make it look less forma. You would definitely look dashing in a suit!

Wedding Etiquette Advice 3: Thou shalt greet the newlyweds.

Brides and grooms want to feel you are happy for them and your greetings will greatly be appreciated. This wedding etiquette advice is not hard, isn't it? All you have to do is go to the bride and groom and greet the bride, "Best Wishes" while the groom "Congratulations."

Saying your greetings is not only a thumbs-up act, it is also a kind one.

More about → Wedding Etiquette Advice for Guests

Much Ado About Wedding Envelopes

When preparing for a wedding, the first thing the soon-to-be-wed couple will have to pay attention to is the guest list. It will be advisable to make a comprehensive and complete guest list before planning for the reception so you will have the rough estimate how many people might show up.

After the guest list was completed, the couple should start making or composing the wedding invitation. There are dozens of wedding etiquettes that cover this particular aspect of wedding preparation.

When preparing the wedding invitation, please bear in mind that your invitations will create a first impression of the coming wedding among the guests.

Good invitations, or those that adhere to acceptable wedding etiquettes, will create the impression or idea that the couple is caring for the guests and are valuing them as to inviting them to take part in the important occasion.

Preparing the wedding invitation

Most of today’s wedding invitations are prepared by professional printers. Some are part of packages offered by wedding planners.

Wedding invitations should be carefully and tastefully worded  so the message would be effectively conveyed. Paying attention to even the smallest details in the invitation can make a really significant difference on how the invitation will be received by the recipients.

This particular section will focus on one aspect in wedding invitation preparation that most couples often neglect---the addressing envelope.

Envelopes

Addressing envelopes are often not paid much attention to because most couples and wedding organizers think guests will not pay particular attention to them.

It can be true. There are some guests that pay no attention or do not care about the general presentation and appearances of addressing envelopes. But there are a significant few that do care about how invitations’ envelopes are addressed.

For a start, we know that for every person, the sweetest sound or word is his or her own name. Thus, it often annoys them when people misspell their names.

In adherence to traditional and practical wedding etiquette, make sure that the addressing envelope bears correctly spelled names. Titles to people should also be mentioned and addressed in the envelope. Doctors would like to be called as one, as well as engineers, architects, lawyers and priests.

Wedding etiquettes for addressing envelopes also urge that couples or wedding invitation makers should spell out everything. Even titles in envelopes should be spelled out. Thus, Doctor is written instead of Dr.; Engineer is written instead of Engr; and Attorney is written instead of Atty.

Zip codes in addresses in envelopes for wedding invitations should not be hyphenated. Of course, practically, the addresses written in the envelopes should be accurate, or else, the invitation will be returned to you.

As for children, their names are not usually written in envelopes for wedding invitations. Wedding etiquettes for addressing envelopes have it that only the parents’ name are mentioned in the envelope.

For guests with no definite professional titles, do not forget to put Mr., Ms., or Mrs. before their names. This is a universal gesture that indicates respect to the person.

Inner envelopes

For aesthetic rather than practical reasons, some wedding invitations include inner envelopes. According to existing wedding etiquettes, inner envelopes are not a no, no, but they are not also required.

Wedding invitations can get away with it. However, inner envelopes certainly make for much better presentation. They may cost a little more, though.

The aim of inner envelopes is to clearly state or reiterate who exactly is invited to the wedding. Children’s names are never mentioned in the address envelope, but in inner envelopes, they can be mentioned.

In accordance to wedding etiquettes, inner envelopes also may appear less formal. Names and titles can be abbreviated.

Wedding invitations herald good news

Yes, wedding invitations are the herald or bearer of the good news. In wedding etiquette books, experts say the invitation should be considered a gift coming from the soon-to-be-wed couple to their beloved guests.

Wedding invitations are tokens of appreciation by the couple to their friends, families and relatives who have played significant roles in their lives. Make every wedding invitation count for that reason.

More about → Much Ado About Wedding Envelopes

Wedding Etiquette: The Basics

People these days are thinking, does WEDDING ETIQUETTE still exist in our age wherein every rule that anybody can think of could be bent? In this rule defying age, it seems that WEDDING ETIQUETTE is just a thing of the past. But is WEDDING ETIQUETTE really now just part of history? I don't think so. And maybe even you and the rest of the population don't think so, too.

Every culture has WEDDING ETIQUETTE. Even if we think those who live in far flung areas are barbaric and do not know a thing about WEDDING ETIQUETTE, they have their own sets of rules and etiquette to follow. Their WEDDING ETIQUETTE may not be as proper as we think ours is, but for them their WEDDING ETIQUETTE is the proper WEDDING ETIQUETTE.

The WEDDING ETIQUETTE that we have come to know dates back from the 1800, at the time of the Victorians. Victorians are well educated, intelligent and well mannered. They value social manners and behavior. This is the reason why lots of social and WEDDING ETIQUETTE books had been published during the Victorian era.

The social and WEDDING ETIQUETTE practices of the Victorians has been passed on to us and became the basic WEDDING ETIQUETTE of the westerners. These Victorian WEDDING ETIQUETTE has been modified or bent to suit our current culture and lifestyle.

What are the basics of WEDDING ETIQUETTE? Should we follow every rule in Emily Post's famous WEDDING ETIQUETTE book?

WEDDING ETIQUETTE BASICS

In every all aspect of the wedding there is a WEDDING ETIQUETTE that should be followed. There's a WEDDING ETIQUETTE to follow when creating an invitation, sending it out, and replying to it; in attending a wedding, guests should abide to the basic WEDDING ETIQUETTE for guests; when sending out gifts there's a WEDDING ETIQUETTE too that must be followed. <

Here are some of basic WEDDING ETIQUETTE for the wedding parties and the guests:

For the bride and groom:

- Wedding invitation must be worded either formal or informal. It depends upon the couple. If they want a formal wedding celebration, they must choose formal words. If the wedding will be celebrated with closest family and friends, an informal wording on the invitation would do.

Invitation should be sent out four to six weeks before the wedding. If your wedding is a wedding destination, you may send a Save a Date card to your guests six to eight months before the wedding. Your guest also need to prepare themselves financially and physically for your wedding destination.

- A bride can now choose any dress design and color that she wants. But if she will be wed in a church with strict rules on dress code, she should abide to the rules of her church.

- A groom may wear either a suit or black tie. He could also wear a loose dress in beige pants for a beach wedding.

- The couples should not ask for cash gifts. As for wedding registry card, they should not insert it invitation. Just mention in your invitation that you have an online wedding registry.

- The stepmother may seat at the church's first pew only if the bride (if the bride is her stepdaughter) is closer to her than her mother. However, if the bride is close to both her mother and stepmother, she should seat her mother at the first pew.

For the guests:

- Invited guests should reply to a wedding invitation immediately after receipt of the invitation card or not later than two weeks before the wedding. Couples need to be informed of the actual head count for the sit down dinner.

- Guests should be formally dressed if the invitation is worded formally even if there is no indication that the attire should be formal. Women are now allowed to wear evening dress for a formal wedding especially if their escorts are in black tie.

- Guests are not obliged to buy gifts from the registry. Invited guests who can't make it to the wedding are also not obliged to send gifts.

Gifts may be sent to the couple before or one year after the wedding. It will help the newlywed alot if the gifts will be delivered at the couples new address.

More about → Wedding Etiquette: The Basics

Wedding Etiquette For Cancelled Weddings

The worst nightmare of any couple is the cancelled wedding. Despite months of preparation, things can still go wrong even at the moment of saying “I do.” From a cheating partner to having the extreme case of cold feet, one must remember to maintain wedding etiquette throughout the entire ordeal.

Depending on the seriousness of a cancelled wedding, one can still turn a failed occasion into a positive one. An obvious wedding etiquette procedure is to inform the family and guests that there will be no wedding celebration. If the wedding is cancelled a few days before the actual ceremony, sending cards to family and friends announcing the broken engagement is a suitable wedding etiquette.

All arrangements made for the wedding date itself should be cancelled. Some companies will ask for payment, an amount that could be equal to the preparations taken by the supplier. It is a wedding etiquette to handle all this with grace and finesse.

However, if the cancellation happens on the wedding date itself, the announcement must be made verbally and as soon as possible to avoid public humiliation. The family should use the wedding etiquette of comforting the one left at the altar and make it a point to shield him or her from other people since this is a sad situation.

Gift wedding etiquette should be followed. This means all the wedding gift items will be returned, including cash, appliances or properties. It will be hard to do but at least the aggrieved party will not be accused of impoliteness.

When calling off a wedding, it really is a proper wedding etiquette to do it months before the wedding date. That is what pre-marriage counseling is for. The wedding etiquette dictates that all couples should take marriage seminars to make sure that they are prepared emotionally and mentally for the huge responsibility ahead.

A broken engagement is embarrassing as it is but as a wedding etiquette, you have the freedom not to question the couple why they decided not to continue with the wedding. And being the couple, you also have the right not to tell anyone until you feel you are ready.

Not all broken engagements happen because of a lonely partner. When a relative’s death occurs, it is proper wedding etiquette to cancel the wedding. This shows wedding etiquette in respect to the deceased’s family and expresses sincere sorrow.

Proper wedding etiquette is to allow six months to pass before attempting to walk down the aisle again. And even if the couple decides to wed two to three months after the death in the family, one must be ready to simplify the ceremony to observe wedding etiquette.

Engagements broken by family members also happen. If this occurs, try to resolve the matter as discretely a possible. Wedding etiquette dictates that only the couple can decide on canceling the weeding or postponing it to a later date.

When a partner is left cold on the altar:

Things can become worse but you can also turn it into a positive one. If the wedding reception has been paid for, the person who paid for it can use the reception and continue on with the party for the guests’ benefit. Wedding etiquette may not require the aggravated person to attend but it is a better way to forget the embarrassment.

When the cancelled wedding occurs out of town, it is an important wedding etiquette to have a clear head and sort out the pre-made plans of the wedding. Things like the honeymoon trip and the hotel accommodations must be taken cared of. If the aggrieved party has paid for the trip, he or she can choose to take it as a getaway and period of reflection.

Bouncing back from the broken engagement:

The first few weeks are the toughest to face. Be prepared to here the question “Why?” and “What happened?” a lot. Wedding etiquette dictates that you have to face these people with a smile and offer as little detail as possible.

As attractive as the sound of revenge is, you must try to keep an open mind and be as civil about everything a possible. Remember that this person once had an important part of your life and part of a wedding etiquette is to respect their decision.

More about → Wedding Etiquette For Cancelled Weddings

The Shower And Stag Wedding Etiquette

Being the maid of honor and the best man have a number of wedding etiquette duties. This includes the church responsibilities of handling the train, making sure that everyone is in their place and hosting the reception program.

One of the important duties for any maid of honor and best man is to arrange for the bridal shower and stag party. Wedding etiquette for showers or stags can be done separately or together. It is a traditional wedding etiquette for the bridesmaids to have their own celebration as well as the groomsmen for their stag party.

For the bridal shower:

Women have more finesse when it comes to bridal shower parties. The wedding etiquette for such events may require the maid of honor to come up with original ideas for the shower. The first thing to consider is the format. The wedding etiquette for formats can be from the formal (a dinner) or informal (strip club party).

Aside from that, there are other alternatives like going to the spa, spending a party at the circus or whatever the maid of honor thinks that the bride will appreciate. A bridal shower is thrown in honor of the bride and her friendship with the girls. Wedding etiquette only calls for all the bridesmaid’s help in organizing it and making it memorable.

A proper bridal shower observes the wedding etiquette of a program. A simple one will do. Depending on the theme, the program starts off with an introduction of the bride’s friends, a round of games for everyone, the gift giving (if any) and then dinner.

Gifts for the bridal shower are optional but are a great wedding etiquette to follow. The bride’s friends can chip in for one extravagant gift or each of them can bring a piece for the bride. The wedding etiquette gift for bridal showers can be as tame as matching monogrammed towels to something naughty like lingerie.

The wedding etiquette for games is to celebrate it as a fun reminder of the bride’s single days or something about her current relationship. It is acceptable to have games purely for fun. But what the maid of honor has to remember is the shower giveaways.

Already considered as an art form, the giveaways or gift bags are a wedding etiquette must have. The bags should contain a souvenir (any object of choice chosen by the maid of honor), a thank you card for making the event and maybe a picture of the couple for remembrance. Yes it sounds corny but it is about the bride and groom.

Another wedding etiquette to remember is the timing of the bridal shower. An event like this should be celebrated weeks before the wedding date. This will allow the bride enough time to relax and truly enjoy the shower. And should she get drunk then, there is a lot of time to recover from the hang over.

For the best man:

A stag party is usually celebrated weeks before the wedding celebration. It is bad wedding etiquette to hold it the day before the ceremony. Things can go wrong what that happens. Imagine the groom arriving with a big headache.

All the stag party is concerned is the budget of the event. If the best man can get as much funding from the other groomsmen, the event can go well underway. Most wedding etiquette for a stag party is not followed but the concept is there.

Hosting is a wedding etiquette that the best man has to perform. Unlike the bridal shower, this process is very informal. The hosting job may only go as far as introducing the other groomsmen and then inviting in the strippers.

The wedding etiquette of providing food and drinks still apply though. If the stag party is held at the hotel, room service can be ordered up to their room. If they decide to celebrate in a bar, the menu is easily available to them.

The groomsmen can get as frisky as they want with the hired strippers but as a wedding etiquette rule, the groom should have self-control. The saying “Look but don’t touch” applies. Or if it is unavoidable, “Touch but don’t squeeze” will do.

Stag parties are different from bridal showers because men view this as their last hurrah. The most important wedding etiquette rule or both parties is to never ask what transpired that night. It will only open up suspiciousness and could cancel a wedding. Brides, just be glad that your man made it to the altar. By him showing up there and meeting you means that nothing further happened.

More about → The Shower And Stag Wedding Etiquette