Wedding Invitations

Proper Wording For A Wedding Invitation When One Parent Is Deceased

The wording etiquette for the wedding invitations and the attempts to respect it can get a bit stressful, not to mention the fact that is can also be a bit confusing because for each particular situation there is distinct style of wording. Basically, you have to search or ask for tips about the formal addressing form if you are planning a traditional wedding.

One tip says that the name of the wedding hosts must be mentioned in the wedding invitations. Things can get a little complicated, or rather say, the wording tends to get complicated if one of the parents is deceased. Usually, the bride’s parents act as the wedding hosts, but the couple can finance their own wedding if they wish so. In some cases, only the groom’s parents or both families make a financial contribution.

The wording will have to be different if one of the parents is deceased; in this situation, the name of the deceased parent is mentioned in a newspaper announcement style.<

Another option, regarded as a tribute for honoring the existence of a dead father or mother, would be to mention his or her name in a prayer during the wedding ceremony or during the reception to arrange a small table decorated with a family picture with him or her, a white rose and a note from you to him or her.  This option is an alternative if you don’t want to write the name of that dead parent on the invitation.

Below are some tips about what to write if one parent or both parents of the bride or groom are dead.

The name of the surviving parent usually is mentioned alone on the wedding invitation and in most cases, if the parent remarried, the name of the stepparent is not included; if the mother remarried she will use the name of her new husband and if she is still a widow, she can continue to use the name of her late husband.

If the father of the bride is deceased and the mother is alive, the wording could look something like this: “Sara Sun, daughter of Jenny Wittfield Sun and the late Sebastian Sun, and Andrew Smith, invite you to join them in celebrating their marriage, on Saturday, the sixth of December, two thousand and ten, at six o’clock in the evening, St. Marc’s Church, New Orleans, Louisiana”.

If the groom has a dead father, the wording would be something like this: “Mr. and Mrs. Sebastian Sun, request the pleasure of your company, at the marriage of their daughter, Sara Sun, to Andrew Smith, son of the late Conrad Smith, on Saturday, the sixth of December, two thousand and ten, at six o’clock in the evening, St. Marc’s Church, New Orleans, Louisiana”.

The wording is a bit different if the deceased parent had a military title and rank. It is normal that the name of the bride should be mentioned first on the wedding invitation, but if both her parents are deceased, a close or older relative can issue the invitations: “Mr. and Mrs. John Sun request the honor of your presence, at the marriage of their granddaughter…”.

If the bride’s father is deceased, but while living he had a military rank, one wording example could be this: “Captain and Mrs. Sun request the honor of your presence, at the marriage of her daughter, Sara Sun…”.

If the mother is deceased and the father is remarried, the wording could look like this: “Commander and Mrs. Sebastian Sun, request the honor of your presence at the marriage of his daughter, Sara Sun…”.

As I’ve stated above, for each situation there is a different wording style so gather as much information as you can about this, before writing and sending the wedding invitations.