Although wording your wedding invitations correctly is important, there’s no need to stress about it. They are traditionally written in formal, third-person language. Although at first they might seem complicated, invitations honestly don’t require Shakespeare-level wordsmithing.

Follow these few simple steps and guidelines, and you’ll be done in no time!

First, here’s a checklist of information that all invitations must include:

• The names of the bride’s parents and/or other hosts, if you want them to be mentioned. This isn’t really necessary as many people will just say “Together with their parents” as the intro. If the bride and groom are hosting, the photo above is a great example of wording to use (oh look, its mine!)
• The names of the bride and groom.
• The location of the wedding ceremony, written out as the Church or venue name, then street address, city and state.
• The date, month and year of the wedding ceremony, followed by the time.
• A mention of a reception following, only if the reception is taking place at the same location as the ceremony. If the ceremony and reception are at different locations, the traditional mention of the reception would be on a separate insert. Mailed along with the ceremony invitation, it would include the address of the reception location as well as details of the event (Cocktails, Dinner and Dancing) and an approximate start time.

You might also like to include:

• Details of the dress code (If different to traditional morning attire).

Wording the invitation generally depends on who’s hosting the event. The traditional wording of “Mr and Mrs BRIDE’S PARENTS request the honor of your presence at the marriage of their daughter BRIDE’S NAME to GROOM’S NAME, son of Mr. and Mrs. GROOM’S PARENTS” reveals that the wedding is being paid for by the bride’s parents. To avoid issues with divorced parents or too many names on the invitation, “Together with our parents,” is a safe option. It also skirts the issue of who’s paying the bill.

Quick Tips

• Though people can differ on opinion on this, it is most common to not add “on” before the date or “at” before the time.
• Spell out all abbreviations in the address such as Road, Drive and geographical locations likes cities and states.
• No zip code is included on street addresses on the invitation.
• The correct formatting is not to include “and” in the year. The correct wording is “Two thousand twenty-four”.
• Capitalize the first letter in each line and proper names only, unless you are leaving certain lines uncapitalized for design reasons.
• When referring to the time of day, anything five o’clock or after would be “evening”. Anything before that would be “afternoon.” Anything before noon would be “morning.”

More Common Wording Examples

A wedding hosted by the bride’s parents:

Mr. and Mrs. Bradley Hunter
Request the honor of your presence
At the marriage of their daughter

Odette Claire
to
Oliver Richards Temple

Son of Mr. and Mrs. William Temple

Saturday, the twenty-third of June
Two thousand twenty-four
Half-past four in the afternoon

First Church

3432 Oak Street
New Vernon, New Jersey

A wedding hosted by both sets of parents:

Mr. and Mrs. Bradley Hunter
And Mr. and Mrs. William Temple
Request the pleasure of your company
At the marriage of their children

Odette Claire
and
Oliver Richards

Saturday, the twenty-third of June
Two thousand twenty-four
Half-past four in the afternoon

First Church

3432 Oak Street
New Vernon, New Jersey

A wedding hosted by divorced parents:

Ms. Elaine Robbins

and

Mr. Bradley Hunter

Request the honor of your presence

At the marriage of their daughter

Odette Claire

to

Oliver Richards Temple

Saturday, the twenty-third of June
Two thousand twenty-four
Half-past four in the afternoon

First Church

3432 Oak Street
New Vernon, New Jersey

A wedding hosted by the bridge and groom:

Odette Claire Hunter

&
Oliver Richards Temple
Joyfully request
The pleasure of your company
At their wedding celebration

Saturday, the twenty-third of June
Two thousand twenty-four
Half-past four in the afternoon

First Church

3432 Oak Street
New Vernon, New Jersey

Included with the invitation is a response card or postcard for your guests to reply back to you, either accepting or declining the invitation. This can also be a card that directs them to your website, if you are collecting RSVPs online instead.

If this card will be mailed back to you, you should include:

• The address to which guests should reply. Either address the envelope with your name and address, or address the backside of the post card, if you are using a post card. Consider who you want the replies to go to. Sometimes, if your mother is handling the guest list, you’ll want the response cards to be sent to her instead of you. That said, seeing your friends and family’s responses arrive each day in the mail is so hard to pass up!
• The deadline for their replies.
• Any meal preference choices if they are to choose an entrée for dinner.
• You can include a line stating, “_ of _ guests will attend”. Filling out the second line before sending the response card is a good way of limiting how many people your guest can bring. They would then fill in the first line, letting you know how many people will attend.
• Common practice is to pre-stamp the envelope or postcard so it is as easy as possible for your guests to return it.

In conclusion, the best thing to know about writing out your invitations is that you don’t have to do it alone! As your stationer, I’m here to help with any guidance you need. Let’s get started! Reach out to me at josie@ivoryisledesigns.com