The Difference between Wedding Announcements and Wedding Invitations

To those who aren’t familiar with wedding planning, the difference between wedding announcements and wedding invitations might seem as baffling as the nuances separating bridal shower and bachelorette party, but don’t be fooled, there are very important distinctions between the two. If you are feeling lost, read on to discover the simple but important differences between announcements and invitations.

Wedding Invitations:

These do just what is purported by the name: they are used for inviting guests to your wedding! They will include the pertinent information of the bride and groom and details of the wedding ceremony. These invitations are an essential part of your wedding day, and should formally request the presence of all the people you want to be there to celebrate with you.

Deciding on the number of wedding invitations you will need and figuring out your guest list obviously go hand in hand. Knowing the number of people you expect to attend will also influence your choice of wedding venue. You may discover that mom and dad’s backyard just isn’t big enough and you have to rent out that rose garden after all, or you may realize that your first-choice church will be overwhelmingly large for the smaller guest list you have planned. Whatever the case may be, you should have a solid idea of who will be receiving invitations and will be likely to join you on your wedding day.

Wedding Announcements:

Wedding announcements serve a different purpose. These will go out to all those people to whom you want to formally announce your marriage, but that you are not inviting to the ceremony itself – perhaps because they are too distant to attend, because you don’t know them well enough to invite them, or because you are having an intimate ceremony with a limited number of guests. They will also serve to inform recipients that you are changing your name, if that is the case. Announcements commonly go out on the day of your wedding rather than well in advance of it.

Because announcements are a part of your official wedding plans, they should be as formal and well-planned as your invitations, and printed in the same style. There should be no difference in quality, only a slight difference in the information presented, as these willnot include physical details of the time and place of the ceremony. It is a good idea to have extras, perhaps even more so than with wedding invitations since these are likely to go out to a wider array of acquaintances.

Reception Invitations:

A possible (but not always necessary) extra will be invitations to the wedding reception. Traditionally anyone invited to the ceremony is also invited to the reception. Typically the only case where the two sets are not equal is if you plan to invite more people to your reception that to your ceremony, in which case you will want to send out separate invites for those who will be invited to the reception only. Again, it is best if these match the style of your invitations and other wedding stationery.

Keep a careful eye on these three different lists so that all the important people in your life get something in the mail from you, and no one gets the wrong invitation. A detailed and continuously updated list should keep you in the clear.