announcement in newspaper...wha..?

That is pretty old-school, but if you and/or your FH are prominent in the community, or it's a small town, e.g., if he is a doctor, lawyer, research scientist, etc., families publish the announcement as a way to let people know who they wouldn't inviting to the wedding, like neighbors, but want to know about it.

(I am 41, and i can remember seeing people's announcements all the time in the local paper when I was a child into my teens.)

I haven't seen it done routinely since the internet became common, BUT again, small towns or prominent families still do it all the time, and there's nothing wrong with it. It's very sweet, actually!

It will go in the "Announcements" section of most papers, which lists weddings and engagements, as well as legal announcements in some cases. Won't go in the obits, don't worry

It is a lot less common since the dawn of the internet, but is still done. It is a way to let the community know that you are getting married, especially if you or your fh is someone prominent in the community. To be honest I never really pay attention to them; for people I know the only one I paid attention to was when my former boss had one printed in the New York Times. I thought that was pretty cool. If you FMIL wants you to do one why not?

When we got engaged and married (27 years ago), we put both announcements in the local paper and it was free at that time. Now, our local paper charges to include such announcements. I don't know if they charge to announce on their website.

We just put our engagement announcement in the local paper this past week. We are from a small town and the paper has an announcement section about deaths and births and educational achievements, weddings or engagements. I wouldn't have put something in the paper in Minneapolis or St. Paul but our town is only 2000 or less people and so the paper is where things go. Its free. People here have been pretty excited to hear about us and see a photo of both of us.

If I could have afforded it, I would have done it.

I still subscribe to the papers and love looking at the wedding sections on Sundays.

Fiance is from NC and he requested that we do it in his home town. Not sure if it is more for his parents or him or what. Either way we will be putting it in his hometown paper and my hometown paper. I think they actually publish both in print and online for both of the newspapers we will be submitting to.

I come from a small town, and at least when I got married in 1977, the local newspaper ran announcements of both engagements and weddings, free of charge. In larger cities, they may be limited to more prominent people and/or incur a charge. But if your FH's parents want to run one, and their local newspaper allows it, why not?

I think they still do them in the LA Times and Pasadena Star News. Our mothers want us to do it. However, we have decided against it. We explained to our mothers there are a lot of people who we are not able to invite due to budget and don't know we're engaged. They understood and have not brought it up again.

We put one in our local newspaper because my mom really wanted us to, plus it was free.