Wedding Invitation Wording – the right words for every event

Wedding Invitation Wording – the right words for every event

Wedding Invitation Wording – the right words for every event

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Wedding Invite Wording

Whether you’re going traditional, it’s a second marriage or you want to include your children, this month’s wedding blog looks at the perfect wedding invitation wording.

Whether you’re going classical or creative with your invites, the right wording on them will depend on lots of things: if you’re naming parents on the invitation, if you’ve been married before or if it’s an evening or full-day invitation. There are some basic guidelines to follow that mean your guests will get all the information they need and you’ll have gorgeous invites that represent you and your day.

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Basic Information To Include In Any Wedding

Here’s what to include in your wedding invitations:

  • Who’s hosting the wedding

  • The request to come to the wedding

  • The names of the couple

  • The location of the wedding

  • The date and time

  • Reception information

  • Dress code (if there is one)

  • RSVP details

Traditional Church Wedding Invitation Wording

A traditional wedding invitation would typically come from the parents of the bride, as tradition dictates that they host the day and foot the bill. As the bride’s parents would be hosting, the RSVPs would go back to them.

The text for a traditional wedding invitation to a church wedding ceremony, followed by the reception should read as follows:

Mr & Mrs John Smith
request the pleasure of
Guest’s Name
at the marriage of their daughter
Jane
to
Mr Edward Cullen

at St Andrew’s Church, Town, Townshire
on Saturday 15th September 2019
at 1:30pm

and afterwards at
The Queen’s Head Hotel, Town, Townshire

R.S.V.P by 30th June to
Mr & Mrs John Smith
12 Street Road
Town
AB1 2CD

Traditional Civil Ceremony Wedding Invitation Wording

You may have chosen to eschew the religious wedding ceremony, but still go down the traditional path of having the bride’s parents host the wedding.

You only need to list one venue on the invitation as the ceremony and reception will be in one place, but it’s best to include ‘followed by a reception’ so the guest knows they’ll be welcome at the ceremony as well as the celebrations after!

Mr & Mrs John Smith
request the pleasure of
Guest’s Name
at the marriage of their daughter
Jane
to
Mr Edward Cullen

at The Queen’s Head Hotel, Town, Townshire
on Saturday 15th September 2019
at 1:30pm
followed by a reception

R.S.V.P by 30th June to
Mr & Mrs John Smith
12 Street Road
Town
AB1 2CD

Wedding Invitation Wording with the Couple as Hosts

If your parents haven’t chipped in for the wedding, or you just feel like you’d like the invitations to come directly from you, then you don’t need to include their names on your wedding invitations. You can simply put yourself down as hosts – just tweak the text accordingly following the above examples to reflect whether you’re having a church or civil ceremony.

Miss Bella Bride and Mr Gary Groom
request the pleasure of
Guest’s Name
at their marriage
at The Queen’s Head Hotel, Town, Townshire

on Saturday 15th September 2019
at 1:30pm
followed by a reception

R.S.V.P by 30th June to
Miss B. Bride and Mr G. Groom
12 The Street
Town
BA1 2DC

Wedding Invitation Wording with Divorced and Remarried Parents

It can be tricky to know how to word your wedding invitations if your parents are divorced or have remarried. If they are divorced but neither of them has remarried (or just the father has), you would use both full names, like the example below:

Mr John Smith & Mrs Beth Smith
request the pleasure of
Guest’s Name
at the marriage of their daughter
Jane
to
Mr Edward Cullen
at The Queen’s Head Hotel, Town, Townshire

on Saturday 15th September 2019
at 1:30pm
followed by a reception

R.S.V.P by 30th June to
Mrs Beth Smith
12 Street Road
Town
AB1 2CD

If your parents have divorced and both remarried but are still hosting the wedding together, you would name them separately and use your mother’s new married name, like so:

Mr John Smith & Mrs Beth Howard
request the pleasure of
Guest’s Name
at the marriage of their daughter
Jane
to
Mr Edward Cullen
at The Queen’s Head Hotel, Town, Townshire

on Saturday 15th September 2019
at 1:30pm
followed by a reception

R.S.V.P by 30th June to
Mrs Beth Howard
12 Street Road
Town
AB1 2CD

Wedding Invitation Wording With Step-Parents

If your parents split up a long time ago and they have since remarried or met a new partner and your step-parent is a part of hosting the wedding instead of one of your biological parents, there are a couple of ways around this in your wedding invitation wording.

You would use their separate names if they’re not married but if they are your wording should look something like this (the use of his and her is interchangeable depending on whether it’s your father or mother hosting.)

Mr & Mrs Paul Cooper
request the pleasure of
Guest’s Name
at the marriage of her daughter
Beth Bride
to
Mr Edward Groom
at The Queen’s Head Hotel, Town, Townshire

on Saturday 15th September 2017
at 1:30pm
followed by a reception

R.S.V.P by 30th June to
Mr & Mrs Paul Howard
12 Street Road
Town
AB1 2CD

Wedding Invitation Wording with a Widowed Parent

Addressing a wedding invitation from a widowed parent can be sensitive. It is traditional to just use the name of the parent who is requesting the company of the guest if they are hosting alone or haven’t remarried.

If they’ve remarried and you’re happy to have both names on your invitations, you’re best to follow the format above. Or if it is from the father and he has not remarried, you’d just use his name. Finally, if it’s the mother that is the surviving parent, and she has not remarried, you’d use her married title like in the example below:

Mrs Beth Smith
requests the pleasure of
Guest’s Name
at the marriage of her daughter
Bella
to
Mr Edward Groom
at The Queen’s Head Hotel, Town, Townshire

on Saturday 15th September 2017
at 1:30pm
followed by a reception

R.S.V.P by 30th June to
Mrs Beth Smith
12 Street Road
Town
AB1 2CD

Wedding Invitation Wording with Both Families Included

Perhaps both sets of parents have helped contribute towards the wedding, or you would just like to reference both sets of families on your wedding invitations. This is an increasingly popular way to word your wedding invitations, and you can use the names of both sets of parents.

Mr and Mrs John Smith
&
Mr and Mrs James Jones
request the pleasure of
Guest’s Name
at the marriage of their children
Jennifer Ann
to
Axel Rose
at The Queen’s Head Hotel, Town, Townshire

on Saturday 15th September 2019
at 1:30pm
followed by a reception

R.S.V.P by 30th June to
Mr & Mrs John Smith
12 Street Road
Town
AB1 2CD

If you feel like having both sets of parents’ names on there is a bit clunky, you can word it slightly more informally. ‘Together with their parents’  works well if both sets of parents are still together, but if one party is widowed or there are any remarriages involved, ‘Together with their families’ is a nice option that acknowledges everyone.

Together with their families
Miss Jennifer Cooper
&
Mr Jonathan Beckett
request the pleasure of
Guest’s Name
at their marriage

at The Queen’s Head Hotel, Town, Townshire

on Saturday 15th September 2019
at 1:30pm
followed by a reception

R.S.V.P by 30th June to
Mr J. Beckett & Miss J. Cooper
12 Street Road
Town
AB1 2CD

Wedding Invitation Wording for a Same-Sex Marriage

The guidelines are almost exactly the same for same-sex couples, the only difference is which name goes first. Traditionally the name of the bride comes at the top as her parents pay for the wedding, but if there are two brides or two grooms then this rule doesn’t directly apply. If one set of parents are paying for the wedding then etiquette dictates their names will go first, but otherwise, it is your choice how you list your names. Alphabetically might solve any potential issues!

Together with their parents
Mr Jack Andrews
&
Mr Edward Jones
request the pleasure of
Guest’s Name
at their marriage

at The Queen’s Head Hotel, Town, Townshire

on Saturday 15th September 2019
at 1:30pm
followed by a reception

R.S.V.P by 30th June to
Mr J. Andrews & Mr E. Jones
12 Street Road
Town
AB1 2CD

Wedding Invitation Wording for a Second Marriage

For those planning a second marriage, it’s likely that you’ll be at a different stage in your life and might have quite a different style of wedding in mind.

If your parents aren’t being included on the invitations and you still have your surname from your previous marriage, you might choose to leave off your title (or refer to yourself as ‘Ms’). If the bride doesn’t have a title on the invitation, the groom shouldn’t either:

Betsey May Bride
&
Bert Ernie Groom
request the pleasure of
Guest’s Name
at their marriage

at The Queen’s Head Hotel, Town, Townshire

on Saturday 15th September 2019
at 1:30pm
followed by a reception

R.S.V.P by 30th June to
Mr G. Groom & Ms B. Bride
12 Street Road
Town
AB1 2CD

Invitation Wording with Children as Hosts

This is a super sweet idea if you and your partner have children together already, or have children from previous relationships that you want to include on your wedding invitations. Here’s how to word your invitation if the children are from your relationship:

Bella and Jacob Jones
request the pleasure of
Guest’s Name
at their marriage of their parents
Miss Joanne Smith
to
Mr Edward Jones

at The Queen’s Head Hotel, Town, Townshire

on Saturday 15th September 2019
at 1:30pm
followed by a reception

R.S.V.P by 30th June to
Mr E. Jones & Miss J. Smith
12 Street Road
Town
AB1 2CD

If the children are from a previous relationship they should be listed in age order from oldest to youngest, with the bride’s children appearing first.

I love this as an option if you want to present your new family unit:

Bella Carter
Jacob Carter
Billy Jones
request the pleasure of
Guest’s Name
at the marriage of their parents
Joanne Carter
&
Edward Jones

at The Queen’s Head Hotel, Town, Townshire

on Saturday 15th September 2019
at 1:30pm
followed by a reception

R.S.V.P by 30th June to
Mr E. Jones & Ms J. Carter
12 Street Road
Town
AB1 2CD

Wedding Invitation Wording for an Evening Invite Only

Sometimes there just isn’t enough room on the guest list to invite everyone to the day. If you need to invite someone to the evening reception only, make sure you word it clearly so your guests aren’t confused. Here’s a traditionally worded wedding evening invitation to inspire you.

Mr & Mrs John Smith
request the pleasure of
Guest’s Name
at a reception to celebrate the marriage of their daughter
Bella
to
Mr Edward Cullen

at The Queen’s Head Hotel, Town, Townshire

on Saturday 15th September 2019
at 7:30pm

R.S.V.P by 30th June to
Mr & Mrs John Smith
12 Street Road
Town
AB1 2CD

Wedding Invitation Wording When Children Aren’t Invited

For couples who want an adult-only celebration, it is worth specifying this on your invitations as some people may assume their children are invited, even if they haven’t been named. You can politely point out your choice on your invitation like so:

Unfortunately, children are not invited – we hope you understand
We have chosen to have a child-free wedding. We hope you are still able to celebrate with us
Our wedding will be a child-free occasion – we hope you can still come and enjoy a night off

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Each wedding is unique. The above is intended as a loose guide, but don’t feel like you’re doing it wrong if you want to deviate – it’s your day after all!

Happy Planning!

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