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Inside
Military Weddings
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Marine Corp Guidelines |
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I was told, that having a Marine
Corps wedding, goes by certain guidelines. Is that true, and if
so, could you please explain ? I want to make sure things are done
right.
You'll be happy to hear that they're not all that different from
civilian weddings. Many military couples get married in an academy
chapel and/or have the reception on a base, but some decide on a
wedding with military traditions in their own church, and have the
reception at a hotel or restaurant. It's not the location that
creates a military wedding; it's the uniforms! Remember, wedding
requirements vary depending on rank and military branch, so check
with your base protocol officer to find out exactly what you need
to do.
Read on for more about military wedding rules and traditions. If
you have specific questions not answered here, call the protocol
office or chaplain's office at the nearest military installation
(or the one you're eyeing for your wedding) for all the
information you'll need.
WEDDING CLOTHES
Probably the main distinction of a military wedding is that the
bride and/or groom, as well as service members in the wedding
party, usually wear their uniforms. The type of uniform depends on
the style of the wedding, the time of day, and the season:
Evening dress uniform (blue in winter, white in summer) is worn
for an ultra-formal wedding (i.e., a white-tie affair).
Dinner or "mess dress" uniform is appropriate at a formal or
semiformal event (comparable to black-tie).
Dress blues or whites are worn for less formal weddings; they are
equivalent to a nice suit or a cutaway coat.
Any non-military wedding-party members simply wear traditional
wedding clothes of the same level of formality as those in
uniform.
Some additional tips:
Bride and bridesmaids: The bride can wear her uniform (and so can
any bridesmaids), but many military brides opt for a traditional
white wedding dress. Bridesmaids might wear navy bridesmaids'
gowns to complement the colors of the men's uniforms, or any other
color dress the bride prefers.
Groom and groomsmen: If any ushers are members of a different
service than the groom (Army instead of Navy, for example), they
simply wear a uniform of comparable formality to his. The groom
and best man do not wear gloves because they will be handling the
rings, but the other ushers wear white gloves throughout the
ceremony. Boutonnieres are never worn with uniforms; instead,
officers wear their military decorations.
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Parents: Should the fathers of the bride or groom be active or retired
officers, they may wear uniforms. So may mothers, although they usually
choose to wear traditional mother-of-the-bride attire.
Guests: Military guests (active or retired) may wear their uniforms or
traditional formal attire. Put "Full dress uniform invited" on the
invites to request that your guests come in uniform.
INVITATIONS
Military wedding invitations follow the same general guidelines
used for civilian weddings. The main difference is in the use of
titles. The bride's/groom's rank and service, and that of any of
their parents, is included. Traditionally, brides who are members
of the military have not used their titles on the invitations, but
you absolutely can and should if you want to!
Here are the basics and some examples.
If the bride, groom, or both are senior officers (Commander and up
in the Navy and Coast Guard, Captain and up in the Army, Air
Force, and Marine Corps), their titles appear before their names,
followed by the branch or service on the line below:
Captain Timothy Andrew Smith
United States Air Force
If the bride, groom, or both are junior or company-grade officers,
their titles appear under their names, followed by the branch of
service on the same line:
Andrea Rebecca Barnett
Second Lieutenant, United States Air Force
First and Second Lieutenants in the Army both use simply
"Lieutenant." In the Air Force and Marines, "First" and "Second"
are used.
For enlisted personnel, rank is usually omitted. The full name is
written on one line, with the branch of service underneath. "Mr."
is never used to address or refer to an officer on active duty.
Joseph Peter Jones
United States Air Force
Retired officers (generally this refers to parents of the bride
and/or groom), especially in the ranks of Commander and Lieutenant
Colonel, generally keep their titles in civilian life and use them
on wedding invitations, *only* noting that they are retired if the
invitation is issued in their name alone:
Lieutenant Colonel Richard James Dixon
United States Air Force, Retired
requests the honor of your presence...
When officers' names are used with their spouse's name, the branch
of service is not mentioned on the line underneath.
Lieutenant Colonel and Mrs. Richard James Dixon
request the honor of your presence...
Military titles should never be abbreviated. Examples:
Brigadier General and Mrs. David Louis Guthrie
request the honor of your presence
at the marriage of their daughter
Leslie Anne
to
Paul Taylor Daley
Lieutenant, United States Army
Thursday, the ninth of June
at half past four o'clock
Cadet Chapel
West Point, New York
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