Wedding Invitations

Wedding Invitation Wording Deceased Parent

The wording etiquette for the wedding invitations can be a little confusing sometimes, especially when you want to follow the basic tips for a formal addressing. Usually on the wedding invitations, as a sign of respect, we also include the names of the wedding hosts, in most cases being the bride’s parents. The couple can finance their own wedding with the help of their families or only the groom’s parents can financially make a contribution to plan and arrange the wedding.In the unfortunate cases when one of the parents is deceased, the wording will change accordingly to this kind of situation.




For example, if the father of the bride is deceased, with only her mother alive, the wording could look something like this: “Sara Sims, daughter of Jenny Stone Sims and the late Sebastian Sims, and Kenneth Doyle, invite you to join them in celebrating their marriage, on Sunday, the sixth of December, two thousand and ten, at six o’clock in the evening, St. Nicholas’s Church, New Orleans, Louisiana”.

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. An exception would be when the stepparent made a long lasting contribution in raising the bride from a very young age, so on the third line of the invitation, the couple could write: “at the marriage of his/her daughter”.
If the mother is still a widow she can use her husband’s name, on the invitation her name being mentioned in this form: “Mrs. Sebastian Sims”. In the case when the mother has remarried, on the wedding invitation she will be mentioned with her new husband’s name, example: “Mrs. Jack Silver”. It is common to mention the name of the deceased parent in a newspaper announcement style.
Including the name of the dead parent on the wedding invitation is often regarded as a tribute offered to him or her, especially if we are talking about a joyous day such as the wedding day.

Up until now we talked about a deceased parent from the bride’s side, but if the groom has a dead father the wording would be something like this: “Mr. and Mrs. Sebastian Sims, request the pleasure of your company, at the marriage of their daughter, Sara Sims, to Kenneth Doyle, son of the late John Doyle, on Sunday, the sixth of December, two thousand and ten, at six o’clock in the evening, St. Nicholas’s Church, New Orleans, Louisiana”.
If you would like to mention the name of a deceased parent, you can also do that during a prayer dedicated to him or her, within the service. Usually on the wedding invitations you only mention the name of the wedding hosts and since a parent is dead, he or she cannot act as a host for your wedding.
You could also honor the existence of your deceased parent during the reception by arranging a small table decorated with a family picture with him, a white rose and a note from you to him.
The wedding day should be regarded as a happy day but I don’t see anything wrong with you, trying to share this happiness with a deceased parent, because you can be sure that he or she watches you from above or wherever they are.