Wedding invitation wording is one of the few remaining areas of English with genuine conventions attached, which is why people get stuck on it. The good news is that the conventions are simple, and breaking them is fine as long as you do it deliberately.
The six things every invitation must contain
- Who is hosting
- The names of the couple
- The date and time
- The venue and its location
- What kind of event follows — reception, dinner, drinks
- How to RSVP, and by when
Everything else, including dress code, accommodation and your website, belongs on a details card or a wedding website.
The host line
This is the part that causes most of the difficulty, because it encodes who is paying and which families are involved.
Bride's parents hosting:
Mr and Mrs James Whitfield request the pleasure of your company at the marriage of their daughter Anna Claire to Thomas Reid
Both families hosting:
Together with their families, Anna Whitfield and Thomas Reid invite you to celebrate their marriage
The couple hosting:
Anna Whitfield and Thomas Reid request the honour of your presence at their marriage
Divorced parents, both hosting: list the mother's name first, on its own line, then the father's on the next. No “and” between them.
A deceased parent: the usual solution is to name them in the couple's line rather than the host line — “Anna, daughter of the late James Whitfield and of Sarah Whitfield” — since a deceased person cannot host.
Formal versus modern
Formal wording spells things out and uses the third person. Modern wording uses numerals and addresses the guest directly.
Formal:
Saturday, the fourteenth of June, two thousand twenty-seven, at half after four o'clock
Modern:
Saturday, June 14th, 2027 at 4:30pm
Both are correct. Pick one and use it consistently across the invitation, the details card and the RSVP. Mixing them is the only actual mistake.
One convention worth knowing: “the honour of your presence” traditionally signals a religious ceremony, and “the pleasure of your company” a secular one. Almost no guest will notice, but older relatives sometimes do.
Wording the reception line
- Dinner and dancing to follow
- Reception to follow at the same location
- Cocktails, dinner and dancing to follow at The Old Mill
If there is a gap between the ceremony and the reception, say so and give the time. Guests left with three unexplained hours will remember it.
Adults-only weddings
There is no perfectly graceful way to write this, but the invitation is the wrong place for a long explanation. The cleanest solution is to be specific in the addressing — name exactly who is invited on the envelope and the RSVP card — and add one line:
- We respectfully request an adults-only celebration
- Adult reception
Anything longer starts to sound defensive.
Gifts and money
Traditionally, registry details do not go on a wedding invitation. They go on a website or a details card. If you would prefer money, the standard phrasing is indirect:
- Your presence is the only gift we need. Should you wish to give something, a contribution towards our honeymoon would be very welcome.
RSVP wording
Give a name, a method and a deadline. The deadline should be three to four weeks before the wedding, which is usually a week before your caterer needs final numbers.
On the RSVP card, “M____” is the traditional line for guests to write their title and name. “Name(s):” is clearer and increasingly common. If you are serving a plated meal with choices, put them here.
Common mistakes
- Missing the year. More common than you would think, and it matters for save-the-dates sent far ahead.
- No RSVP deadline. Guarantees you will be chasing people the week before.
- Putting the website in tiny type. It is the thing that saves you the most questions.
- Inconsistent formality between the invitation and the other cards.
- Not proofreading names aloud. Read every name out to someone else before printing.
Printing your invitations
Our wedding invitation templates are editable in Canva, so you can set the wording exactly as you want it and print at home or at a print shop. There is no per-card cost, which matters when the guest list changes.
See the printing guide for paper weights and settings. The save the dates collection covers what goes out six to twelve months earlier, and wedding printables covers signage, menus and seating charts in matching designs.
Related guides
- Wedding planning checklists — a twelve month timeline
- Seating charts — alphabetical or by table
- Wedding thank you cards — what to write and when