Vow renewal invitations
The design problem is separation: it needs to feel like a wedding without a guest arriving thinking it is one.
$65
Your details set by hand, usually back the same day. $145 to rebuild it in your own colours.
A vow renewal borrows the emotional register of a wedding and almost none of its conventions. There is no engagement, no wedding party in the traditional sense, usually no registry, and the guests are people who in many cases were at the original wedding. If the invitation looks exactly like a wedding invitation, some of them will arrive with a wedding gift and a slightly confused expression.
The wording does the separating. "Celebrating twenty-five years" or "renewing their vows" in the first two lines is all it takes, and it should sit above the names rather than below them. What follows can be as formal as you like; the frame at the top is what tells the guest what kind of evening this is.
Two situations come up often enough to plan for. The first is a renewal that is really the wedding a couple never had, because the original was at a courthouse or rushed by a deployment or a visa. That one is allowed to be a full wedding in everything but name, and the invitation should say so. The second is a milestone anniversary where the children are hosting, in which case the host line names them, and that detail is usually the most moving thing on the card.
What changes for this one
Wedding-quality paper and type, with the framing line at the top doing the work of separation. Where the couple has a photograph from the original day, using it is nearly always the strongest choice available and costs nothing. Anniversary numbers set as a real display element rather than as text.
When to send
Six to eight weeks out, like a wedding, and twelve if guests are travelling. If it is tied to an anniversary date, work back from that date rather than from the nearest convenient weekend.
Colours that work
Warmer and less pale than a first wedding. Gold with cream, deep green, or a colour lifted from the original wedding if anybody remembers what it was, which is a detail guests notice immediately.
Questions people ask about vow renewal invitations
How do we make clear it is not a wedding?
A framing line above the names: "celebrating twenty-five years" or "renewing their vows". Above the names, not below, because that is where a guest looks first.
Do we mention gifts?
Only to say no. "No gifts, please, just your company" is the standard and it is worth including, because guests who were at the first wedding will otherwise assume they should bring something.
Can the children host it?
Yes, and for a milestone anniversary it is common. Naming them in the host line is usually the line people mention afterwards.
What if it is really the wedding we never had?
Then treat it as a wedding in every respect except the word. The invitation can say "the celebration we never got round to", which is warm, honest and immediately understood.
1,000
US searches a month for vow renewal invitations, measured rather than guessed. Nearly every page here targets a term almost nobody is defending properly.
- anniversary party invitation — 480/mo
- elopement announcement — 880/mo
How to have this made
Custom invitation design
Designed from nothing for one event. No template underneath.
From $285
Day-of event paper
Menus, place cards, table numbers, programs and signage.
From $95
Save the date design
The first thing anyone sees. Sets the tone for everything after.
From $185
Start with a First Look
$45 for one finished concept designed for your event, back in three days. It comes off whatever you book, and if you do not love it you keep the file and owe nothing.