Mixed Family Rules
When divorce and remarriage come into play, the wording is a little different.
The Mother of the Bride Is Hostess
Mrs. Elliot Hunt
requests the honor of your presence
at the marriage of her daughter …
This assumes the mother has not remarried and has kept her married name. If she has remarried, of course, she would use that name; if her new husband is also sponsoring the wedding, his name would be included also, but the bride would be referred to as “her” daughter (not “their”), unless the bride has been adopted by her stepfather.
Parents and Stepparents Are Hosts
In the case of divorce and remarriage all around, with all of the parents cohosting, the invitation could read something like this:
Mr. and Mrs. Joshua Peters
[bride's mother, remarried]
and
Mr. and Mrs. Elliot Hunt
[bride's father, remarried]
along with
Mr. and Mrs. Carl Lucia
[groom's mother, remarried]
and
Mr. and Mrs. Andrew White
[groom's father, remarried]
request the honor of your presence
at the marriage of their children
Anne Marie Hunt
and
Jacob Thomas White …
Of course, in doing this, you've pushed the bride and groom way down to the bottom of the page and have made all of the remarriages the main issue instead of the wedding at hand. A better way to word an invitation like this is as follows:
Together with their parents,
Anne Marie Hunt
and
Jacob White
request the honor of your presence …
Bride and Groom Are Hosts
When the bride and groom host their own wedding, they would simply list their own names at the top of the invitation:
Anne Marie Hunt
and
Jacob White
request the honor of your presence
at their marriage
on Saturday, the first of June …
Or …
The honor of your presence is requested
at the marriage of
Anne Marie Hunt
and
Jacob White
on Saturday, the first of June …
