How to Write your Wedding Invitation Wording

Sending out invitations may sound like a simple process, but with weddings becoming more personal, less predictable and often more complicated, so have the invites. From formal text to something more light-hearted, here’s a few pointers of what or how to include the correct text. 

The Main Invitation

Your main details take centre stage here. In most cases, you would include your names as the couple to be wed in addition to the date, time and location. 

There are many different phrasing options you can choose for your invitations. Historically, the text on a formal wedding invite is determined by who is hosting the wedding. For example, if it was the bride's parents are hosting the wedding, you may have wording such as;

"Mr and Mrs Charles Jenkins

request the honour of your presence 

at the marriage of their daughter 

Elizabeth  

to 

Harrison Green 

Saturday, the fourth of July

two thousand twenty at 

three o'clock

St Barnabas Parish

Dulwich, London

and afterwards a reception at

Dulwich Picture Gallery."

This format is easily changeable if you wanted to include the parents of both the bride and groom, just the parents of the groom, or another family member altogether. Generally, if the bride's parents were hosting the wedding, the bride's name would appear first on the invitation and vice versa. 

Alternatively, you may find that you would like your invitation text to take a more modern approach. In which case, you could opt for something like;

"Rebecca and Harry

request the pleasure of your company

at their marriage 

on Saturday 4th July 2020 at 3pm

at St Barnabas Church, Dulwich Village 

followed by a reception at 

Dulwich Picture Gallery" 

Other ways to change the tone of the invite include changing the request line to a phrase such as 'would love for you to join them' or 'invite you to celebrate with them.' Alternatively, you can swap the word 'marriage' for 'getting hitched', or 'tie the knot' to make it more informal and lighthearted. 

On the whole, invitations often look better with dates laid out in words rather than numbers, and in our experience, the main invite shouldn't be too fussy. Instead, it should be a convenient and easy reference point for guests. You can include additional details separately in the information card.

Information Card 

The information card is often overlooked but is (in our opinion) an essential staple in your invitation suite. Here, you will include practical details about travel (including full addresses with post codes or ceremony and reception), options to and from the wedding (including whether there is parking available or if you have arranged buses) and accommodation options and preferred rates if you have arranged them for your guests. 

On a more useful note for your guests, you can also provide more information about the dress code, children, gifts and important contacts on the day. Some guests may appreciate extra clarity around the dress code rather than just 'formal' or 'evening attire', you could make it more transparent with specific phrases such as 'summer cocktail attire,' or 'black tie.'

You may want to make it clear whether you are inviting children for the whole day or just the evening celebrations or just “babes in arms”. The most common phrase used from all the invitations we have created in the past is “we hope you understand this will be an adult-only occasion, and hope this is an excuse to take the night off”.

The most common ideas put in the gifts section is either a donation to the couple’s honeymoon pot or link to their gift registry which will help guests select a gift they know you will love.

We recommend a section on useful contacts which will be helpful if your guests have any urgent questions on the day. If you are using a wedding planner, I would suggest you ask if you can include their details here. Other telephone numbers could include the venue or best man.

Images from our Elegance and Charlotte Invitation suites.