Editor's Note: For more on receptions, check this page.

Dear Miss SOS:

I was married on June 17th, 2005 but we are having our reception this June 2007. How do I go about sending out invites seeing it will be two years later? I was pregnant during the time therefore we did not want to do a reception the same day or year for that matter. We wanted to wait until our daughter was a little older … walking, talking, etc. Please advise me on how to go about the invitations and reply cards. Thank you.

Belated wedding receptions may occur when a couple have married privately (i.e. an elopement), or a newly-wedded partner has returned after being actively deployed in the United States military, or even when there has been an illness or death in the family necessitating a small ceremony, to be followed by a larger reception at a time deemed more appropriate.

Belated wedding receptions are not held for couples who have been married for a few years, established a household, and have started a family. To be candid, such an event would give the appearance that you are only interested in hitting people up for gifts.

What you are celebrating is your second anniversary and while most anniversary parties commemorate more significant milestones, such as a 10th, 25th, or 50th anniversary, there is nothing that precludes you from hosting a party marking your second year together as husband and wife. Early anniversary parties are always given by the couple themselves. The form of the invitation depends entirely on the degree of formality of the party. You may invite people informally by telephone, or by a handwritten note, or an engraved card.

If your invitation is handwritten, a sample wording would be:

Dear Linda, Will you and John join us for a light dinner at the Yavapai Country Club on Saturday, June 16, at 4:00 PM to help us celebrate our second wedding anniversary? Hoping to see you then, Tracy Johnson.

For a more formal occasion:

R.s.v.p.
800 Pinecrest Land
Prescott, Arizona 86301

Dear Miss SOS:

This may be a silly question but we are having a post-wedding celebration one month after our wedding date of October 10, 2003. On the wedding celebration favors, do we put our wedding date of October 10 or the date of the wedding celebration?

Celebration favors are to reflect the joyous occasion of the date that you two were wed. The day you were married, October 10, 2003, would be correct.

Dear Miss SOS:

For a post-wedding celebration (reception), would it be inconsiderate to let my guests know on the invitation that we are to be married in a private ceremony at an earlier date, which is only one month prior? I’m having a problem with the wording of the invitations for I want to let them know we will be married at a different date. I really need help on this matter ASAP. Thank you.

Invitations may be mailed no less than one month prior to the reception. As the host and hostess (generally the Bride’s parents) issue the invitations, their names appear first. Although the party is held to celebrate the wedding, the wording on the invitation must be changed slightly.

If the Bride and Groom are hosting the event themselves, then the wording would be

Guests are smarter than most people seem to think. Should your invited guests not have learned or figured it out for themselves by the day of the reception, it will be a happy surprise for them to learn of this important change in your life.



Have a question? Write Miss SOS at Prescott Weddings.com