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I have the exact same issue. My parents are divorced and remarried, FI's parents are married. I'll be following this board just to see what others have to say.
We decided to say "together with their families" just to make it simple. My parents are both a little embarassed about their divorce and the less attention it receives, the more comfortable they seem to be.
I feel bad for the FI's parents since they somewhat get the short end of the stick, but hopefully we can make it up to them in other ways. :)
In the end, will your parents feelings be hurt if you omit their names on the invitation? They will be announced during the reception :)
Did your parents spouses change their names? As in did your mother take your step father's last name and did you stepmohter take your father's last name. If so so see the first example. If not see the second example. I have been told to put your mother's name first in the list, but that is up to you.
My parents are divorced too and remarried as well and while I really want to put their names on the invitation, Example 2 is a lot of names.
Example 1
Mr. and Mrs. Donald Duck and
Mr. and Mrs. Mickey Mouse
Request the honor of your presence
at the marriage of their daughter
Linda Ann Ray
to
Chuck Willie Robinson
son of Mr. and Mrs. Willie Robinson
Example 2
Dr. Emily Kline, Mr. Donald Duck,
Mr. Mickey Mouse, and Mrs. Emily Mason
Request the honor of your presence
at the marriage of their daughter
Linda Ann Ray
to
Chuck Willie Robinson
son of Mr. and Mrs. Willie Robinson
I hope this helps! Happy planning!
The traditional wording starts with the brides parents, because traditionally they are the ones who host the event. If everyone is hosting, there is nothing wrong (as long as it is fine with all your parents) with an invitation that says something like:
Jane and John Jones
Susan and Sam Smith
Lucie and Larry Lee
Request the pleasure of your company at the marriage of their children
Cindy Smith and Matt Lee
You could also put just your various parents at the top, and include his parents after his name (son of Lucie and Larry Lee) although the implication there is that his parents are contributing primarily their son to the occasion, and your family is hosting. Speaking as a stepmother myself, I believe that you can ignore the issue of whose biological daughter you actually are for the purposes of the invitation. I'm not sure there is any good way to include both your parents and your step-parents while making that distinction - most of the wording you see like that assumes that the event is hosted by one parent/step-parent combination, in which case you could indicate that you are either "her" or "his" daughter. In your case, if you feel the need to explain beyond word of mouth which people are biologically responsible for your existance, you could do that in the program.
Good point about the names, Lindz1701.
Also, remember that you're writing an announcement, not a sentence. In a sentence you would include a lot of punctuation that you wouldn't on an announcement (e.g., Chuck Willie Robinson, son of Mr. and Mrs. Willie Robinson,).
So if you think it looks better to include all the ands and commas, go right ahead, but it's really not necessary. I think when you get the names of all the various parents appropriately centered or justified and in your fancy font it will look lovely either way.
As far as how many names are there, I would just feel lucky to have so many people who love you and want to make your day special!
I have a similar problem as both of our parents are divorced or widowed and now remarried, this is what we came up with:
Mr Joe & Mrs. Jill Smith and Jack Taylor
along with
Mr Bill & Mrs. Ann Shaw and Alan Thomas
request the honour of your presence at the marriage of their children...
It's a little wordy but worth it to include all our parents
Miss Peony, I would suggest that if you use the formal title of Mr. or Mrs. for some of your various parental units, you should use it for all of them (Mr. Jack Taylor and Mr. Alan Thomas as well). Also, the sad result of using that form of addressing is that unless the wife has a different last name than her husband (for instance, if Mrs. Jill Smith was the wife of Mr. Jack Taylor) the use of the woman's name is not correct. So you can say "Mr. and Mrs. Joe Smith," or you can say "Jill and Joe Smith," but to say "Mr. Joe and Mrs. Jill Smith" is not really correct.
Also, if you want to include deceased parents on your invitation, announcement, or program, the correct way to do that is to indicate "daughter (or son) of the late Mr. Jack Taylor." A deceased person cannot actually host the event (request the honor of your company). Many etiquette books will tell you that the deceased parent's name should not be included on the invitation at all, only on the announcement or program, and I'm sure that's at least partly because of the difficulty in doing it in a way that makes sense.
I had the same problem (parents divorced and both remarried) and mom went nuts when I showed her my invitation draft with "Together with their parents..." AND she did NOT want to have her name on the same line as my dad (hard to believe I actually came to be.)
The way Lindz wrote it is the way we did it. With "son of" as a way to acknowledge the fiance's parents.
Thanks for all the advice!
I thought I would recap and let you guys know what FI and I decided incase anyone else is still struggling with the same situation.
Here's the wording...
Mr. and Mrs. (Dad Lastname)Mr. and Mrs. (Stepdad Lastname)
Mr. and Mrs. (FI's Dad Lastname)
request the honour of your presence
at the marriage of their children
Firstname Middlename
to
Fi's Firstname Middlename
on Saturday, the tenth of October
two-thousand nineat three o'clock in the afternoon
at (location)
(City), Missouri
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I'm having a hard time coming up with the right wording to acknowledge FI and I's parents on the invite. All are contributing, and since the wedding will have a large amount of guests from both sides of the family, I feel like it is important for all names to be on the invite. I know it might be a bit wordy, but I don't feel right leaving anyone off.
Basically what I need to do is include: My mom and stepdad, My dad and stepmom, his parents (still married). Should I just include an "and" between every set? Has anyone else done this?
I know I can just be "together with family", or "together with family or friends", but this is really important to both of our parents (first wedding in my generation on my side), so I really really like to recognize them.
Sorry if that was repetitive or wordy :)