Wedding invitation wording — examples you can use

The wording of the invitation is the first thing your guests will read about your wedding. It doesn’t need to be long. It needs to be clear, to sound like you, and to answer the questions every guest asks themselves.

What every invitation must have

• Who is inviting — your names, and at a more traditional wedding the parents’ names too.
• What — a wedding, and if the ceremony and the reception are separate, both.
• When — the day of the week, the date and the time. “Saturday, 12 September, 16:00” is clearer than “12/09”.
• Where — the name of the venue and the address. With a digital invitation you add a map with directions as well.
• Reply by when — one date and one way to reply.
• Optional: dress code, whether children are invited, information about hotels and transport.

Five ready-made texts

Classic

We would be delighted for you to share with us the day we say “I do”. Emily and James. Saturday, 12 September, 16:00, Hartwell Manor, near Bath. Please reply by 20 August.

Warm and short

We’re getting married! And more than anything we want you there. Emily and James, 12 September, 16:00, Hartwell Manor.

With the parents

The Harrison and Bennett families have the pleasure of inviting you to the wedding of their children Emily and James. Saturday, 12 September, 16:00, St Nicholas’ Church, followed by a reception at Hartwell Manor.

Playful

After seven years, two cats and one renovation, we’re finally making it official. Come and celebrate with us. Emily and James, 12 September.

For a small wedding

We are getting married with just our closest people around us. You are one of them. Emily and James, 12 September, 16:00, The Garden restaurant.

Tone matters more than words

Read the text out loud. If it doesn’t sound like something you would say to a friend, change it. An invitation from two thirty-year-olds doesn’t have to read like a legal document.

The mistakes people make most often

1. The time is missing. Guests ask one by one, and you answer twenty times.
2. No reply deadline. Without one, half the guests reply in the final week.
3. Abbreviations. “St”, “Rd” and “Rest.” save letters but confuse guests from abroad.
4. The dress code is left for later. People want to know what to wear when they receive the invitation, not a week before the wedding.
5. Too much information on the first screen. Hotels, the running order and the gift list belong in a separate section, not in the invitation itself.

When guests speak different languages

If you have relatives abroad, don’t write a bilingual invitation in two columns. Set it up so that each guest receives it in their own language.

In InviteCards you choose the language for each guest individually. The text, the dates and the buttons appear in that language, and you write the invitation once.

Write the first version today, leave it for two days and read it again. The second reading always makes it better.