How this Website Came About

Many marriages—unlike diamonds—do not last forever. But, happily, many of us get another chance and find great happiness the next time. This website was written by, and for, people in that category.

We are three women who have all remarried in recent years. So have many of our friends and co-workers. Collectively, we did hours of research on second wedding etiquette, wedding planning, honeymoons—what we call “the fun stuff.” We also needed to explore more serious subjects like the financial and legal implications of remarriage, blended families and the special concerns of people who remarry after the death of a spouse.

In some ways, we were well trained for this project. One of us is a travel consultant, one an online magazine editor/writer and one a website designer. So we decided to apply our professional skills to what we learned from our research and create a website. Our goal is to make the work of planning a second wedding easier and help you deal effectively with all sorts of things: an outdoor service on a rainy day, relatives who disapprove of your new spouse or finding a role for your children in your remarriage ceremony.

We have lived through the anxiety and hassles, as well as the joy and fun that a second marriage brings. We wish you good luck with your own wedding plans and hope that this website will help you create a wonderful event in the most efficient way.

A final note: This website contains a page entitled “Testimonials.” We hope you’ll let us know what has worked well for you, any experiences that others could benefit from, or perhaps something you came up with that we never thought of.  Share your second wedding story.

Thanks and congratulations on this exciting chapter in your life.

Who we are

Liz Horvath, a travel consultant, remarried four years ago after losing her first husband to cancer in 1996. She has three children from her first marriage, two in high school and one in college. Her current spouse, who is in his 40s, had never been married before. “When you’re a widow, the second wedding can be a bittersweet experience,” she admits. “We decided to do something very different from my first ceremony, which was in a Catholic church. So we took the members of our immediate family and our two closest friends to a ‘destination wedding’ in the Caribbean. It couldn’t have been more perfect.”

Renee Vargas is a graphic artist and website designer. She was recently married for the third time. Neither she nor her husband has children. “I eloped with my first husband, and my second wedding was a pretty low-key event,” she says. “It sounds crazy, but I wanted this wedding to be the one with the white gown and veil I had always dreamed of.” So in the summer of 2000, she walked barefoot down a pristine beach in an elegant gown of Chantilly lace as 200 friends and relatives looked on. “My husband and I are both artists and both free spirits,” she notes. “I wanted to combine something traditional with something offbeat, and that’s what my wedding did. I felt elegant, but I also felt this wedding was a very personal statement about who we are.”

Sandra Young-Leonard is an online magazine editor/writer. A divorcée, she is now the mother of two children and two step-children. With an already busy lifestyle, she found the prospect of planning a second wedding daunting, so she and her future husband decided to keep things simple. Surrounded by close friends and relatives, they had a religious ceremony in which the children participated. The reception was held at home. Today, she says, her blended family is settling into a harmonious unit; but it requires work, flexibility and, above all, a sense of humor. At the request of her children from her first marriage, she decided to use a hyphenated name that includes their name (“It keeps me forever Young,” she says.)

Get some fabulous ideas for planning your second wedding.

Get important information about unique issues that come up in a second marriage.