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Family Dynamics
Last week I touched a bit on invitation wording and this week I will take that topic a little further and talk about how to deal with wording when you have divorced or deceased parents and what to do when you don’t want to invite children.
If your parents are divorced and remarried it creates far too many names to write on an invitation, so I always suggest that the invitation should come from the couple and include the line “together with their parents” or “together with their family.” This includes everyone without naming names. This could also apply if the bride or groom has been raised primarily by a step-parent.
Sometimes couples want to mention a deceased parents name on an invitation and wonder how to do that tastefully. My suggestion is to say something like “son of the late John Smith.” I do find that there is often a lot of emotion when trying to decide on wording if a parent has passed away recently. In this case I might suggest only having the living parents name or using the all encompassing “together with their families.” You can always mention the parent who has passed away in the wedding programs or talk about them in your speech.
And last but not least, and definitely the trickiest thing to deal with, is how do you politely ask people not to bring their children to your wedding. My best suggestion is to write on the reply card “Number of Adults attending.” This subtly tells your guests to find a babysitter.
Tags: children, divorced parents, etiquette, invitations, wording
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