Answers to your questions about toasting, timing, and traditional reception rites and rituals.
By: Diane Forden, Editor-in-ChiefQ: When my husband and I married in 2010, we couldn’t afford a proper reception. He has been on active military duty and has just come back from a deployment. Is it OK to plan a reception now?
A: You can certainly have a celebration with your family and friends, but considering that it’s been a few years since you married, I would have a vow renewal rather than a reception. The style of the event is up to you, and you can plan a ceremony that includes wedding traditions such as the processional, readings, ring exchange, vows and recessional, followed by an evening of dinner and dancing. In short, very much like the reception you envision. Here’s a sample of how your invitation should read:
The pleasure of your company
is requested at the reaffirmation
of the wedding vows of
Mr. and Mrs. Sean Stanhope
Saturday, the seventeenth of October
Two thousand and nine
(location)
