Marriage announcements are a great way to let people know that you have gotten married. Marriage announcements are a great keepsake for friends and family that attended the wedding and marriage announcement cards are an especially great way to let those who did not attend know that the wedding has taken place. To follow proper marriage announcement etiquette, they should be sent within one month of the wedding to one year after the wedding has taken place.

Marriage announcements should keep with the theme of the marriage invitations. This means that your unique marriage announcements should be the same color, and formality as well as the tone. This is true even for informal marriage announcements. Making sure that all stationery is the same will help further the theme of the wedding.

The parents of the bride traditionally send out marriage announcements and when marriage cards are keeping with a formal theme, they have a fairly standard format for marriage announcement wording. Typically they will say something such as, "Mr. and Mrs. Smith have the honor of announcing the marriage of their daughter, Rebecca Jane to Brian Matthew, 30th of June, 2007 at Calvary United Church, New York, New York."

If the wedding was a small, casual affair, the marriage announcements should keep with the casual theme. For instance, if the wedding took place on a beach and was unconventional, the tradition of the parents sending out the marriage announcements isn’t a necessity. The marriage announcement wording on the marriage card could say, "We tied the knot! At the Paradise Sands Resort Beach in the Bahamas, on June 30th, 2007. Thanks to all of those that participated in our special day!"

A photo taken of the ceremony is a nice inclusion in any marriage announcement. It will give those that could not come to the ceremony a glimpse into what the day was like. The photo should obviously include the bride and the groom and if not taken during the actual ceremony, it should be taken in the same setting that the wedding took place. This photo can be used as the front of marriage cards, with the back of the photo indicating the details. Using a black and white photo can be a nice touch to marriage cards.

Even those that did not attend the wedding may wish to send presents to help the couple begin their lives together and to congratulate them. While couples should not expect this, it’s a definite possibility. For this reason, there should also be marriage announcement thank you cards prepared. These are just small marriage cards that will thank the person for their gift and can keep with the theme of the marriage announcement.

Marriage thank you card wording should keep with the theme of the marriage announcement. For the casual wedding on the beach, the marriage thank you card wording could say something such as, "We want to show our thanks." For the marriage announcement that has been more formal, the marriage announcement thank you card wording should be something such as, "We express our gratitude to you for celebrating in our love."

There are many different types of unique marriage announcements, announcements for marriage and the theme and tone of the wedding need to be adhered to when sending both the personalized marriage announcements and the marriage announcement thank you cards.