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Announcing your news Tell your families, then tell the world Return to articles index | When your parents are divorced | The blended family | Invitations and stationery  You're engaged, and you want the whole world to know it. The first announcement you make, though, should be to your parents and other family members. Ideally, the news should be delivered in person. If your parents live out of town, try to plan a brief visit to share your news. Because the bride's parents often don't know the groom's parents, it is a good idea to arrange for the families to meet. This is an important step to help make the wedding planning go smoothly. For other family members and close friends, a brief personal note or phone call is a good way to let them know about the wedding. The public announcement For everybody else, the traditional way to announce your engagement is through a published announcement in your hometown paper. Likewise, when the wedding date arrives, a newspaper announcement can provide as much detail as you'd like about the bridal couple, their families, and the particulars of the ceremony. The primary publisher of engagement and wedding announcements in Southeastern North Carolina is the "Occasions" pages in Wilmington's Sunday Star-News. The nespaper accepts and publishes basic information about the bridal couple and the wedding date at no charge. If you want a longer write-up and/or a photograph, you will be charged at classified advertising rates. You may write whatever you want, but the longer you write, or the bigger your picture is printed, the more it costs. You may also pay to have a photo accompany a free notice. Forms to submit your announcements are available from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays at the receptionst's counter at the newspaper building, 1003 S.17th St. The deadline is 5 p.m. Thursday, 10 days before publication. You or a member of your family can proofread the announcement the week before publication. Photographs should be professional quality prints, either color or black and white, or good-quality, high-resolution digital images. While a formal portrait of the bride is traditional, many couples prefer a photo of bride and groom together. Also, consider how to size and crop your photo. Keep in mind that if every inch of the gown is shown, the bride's face has to be reduced so small as to almost unrecognizable. Other newspapers Often, because of family connections in other cities, it's a good idea to place announcements in more than one newspaper. Each paper has its own guidelines for announcements, including such details as deadlines, whether announcements are paid or free, photo sizes and specifications, etc. For details, call the Lifestyle or Features section. Many papers post their bridal-announcement guidelines on their web sites. A handy resource that provides links to daily newspapers all over the United States is the Newspaper Association of America's NewspaperLinks web site. Return to articles index |
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