Congratulations on your engagement, now you can enjoy creating a stunning Wedding Invitation to set the scene. Below are various examples that we hope help and do contact our in house wedding team of stationery lovers.
Wedding invitation wording
The wording of your wedding invitations convey the style and manner of your wedding day right from the beginning. There are a few standard essentials to every invite:
– Names and titles of the bride and groom
– Location of the marriage venue
– Location of the reception
– Date and time of both of the above (or just the wedding itself)
– RSVP address
Following on from the essentials, there’s certainly other wording you can add to your invite to highlight the style and theme of the day.
With the design and wording of our elegant invitations, we allow you to easily put across the individual style of your big day.
Use of traditional wording, such as the bride’s parents ‘requesting the pleasure’ of the guests’ company at the marriage, will let your guests know that your wedding has a traditional feel. If no reference is made to dress code on a formal invitation, then morning attire should be worn. Black tie or suits should be specifically mentioned. Further formality can easily be reinforced with suggestions of ‘carriages at midnight’ which referrers to the time events will draw to a close.
To RSVP or not to RSVP?
Adding an RSVP address is an excellent way of tracking who will be attending your ceremony and this helps you with planning, seating, catering, orders of ceremony and every other element of the day itself. With RSVP we also suggest – for all the reasons above that a cut off date is clearly displayed.
Should I include an email address and contact number for an easy RSVP from those who are less inclined to use traditional mail? The issue here is that if an email is displayed people will feel this is an option and if that is OK with the recipient to collate attendee’s then this is fine.
Tel numbers, especially mobiles can be rather problematic as one could receive the call at a time that is difficult to note the acceptance or declining of an invitation and make it difficult to collate the replies. Mobiles also can prompt people to sms text which also is not the place you will look to view to collate all the various replies.
Further on the day information:
It is also advisable to include with the invitation any further information seperately to the Invitation. Additions such as a map, local accommodation, venue and transport arrangements and a menu and request for food choices (if applicable) are important for the planning of your big day and will keep the pressure off by being organised. Information cards, booklets, folders and maps as an excellent addition to your wedding invitations and helps deliver essential information you might not be able to fit on the invite itself.
At this stage of planning your wedding invitations, you might even like to include an indication of where people can find your wedding gift list.
Wedding Invitation Wording – Etiquette
This guide is designed to help you word your invitation correctly. You may find that you do not wish to be completely traditional, but we believe that if you have all the information at your finger-tips, you can word your invitations in the way that you want…after all, it is your wedding!
Names of Guests
We recommend that the names of your guests be hand-written for that personal touch, either on the dedicated line provided or in the top left-hand corner of your invitation (depending on the design you have chosen.)
Guest Names
Prefixes such as ‘The Right Honourable’ or ‘The Honourable’, and suffixes (or ‘letters’) after the name denoting a decoration or qualification such as MBE or MA Cantab., should not be given. However, all titles should. For example, Lord and Lady [BLANK], Dr [BLANK]
Names of Host and Couple
As with guest names, hosts’ names should be written with titles but without prefixes or suffixes.
Traditionally the bride’s middle name may be included, and all of the groom’s forenames….but we think that the bride should be able to include all her names if she wishes! (If the groom is in the armed forces, it is again traditional to note his regiment in brackets on the line below, and towards the right-hand side.)
Invitation to the Reception only
In some cases it is possible (and necessary) to invite guests to the reception only, and if so, a note should be placed in the envelope with the invitation, giving the reason, for example: ‘Owing to the small size of [the Church/ceremony venue], it is possible to invite only a small number of guests to the ceremony. We hope you will understand, and forgive this invitation being for the reception only.’
Alternatively, reception-only invitations can be designed, and rather conveniently, can also be adapted for guests coming to the evening entertainment only. Suggested wording: ‘Mr and Mrs Smith request the pleasure of your company at the reception following the marriage of…’ and then the relevant date, time and venue can be given.
RSVP Cards and Enclosures
We recommend enclosing RSVP Cards with invitations. It is a nice touch, shows guests you are thinking of them, and serves as a useful prompt for encouraging them to reply in a timely manner, so helps you too. We design ours with Printed Return Envelopes, making everyone’s lives easier!
Replying to Wedding Invitations
Traditionally replies are handwritten, and follow the phrasing of the invitation by thanking the invitee and then reiterating the event description, date, time and venue. Some of your guests may wish to respond in this way. However, we encourage the inclusion of our specially designed RSVP cards which make it easy for your guests to respond, and allows you to maintain the theme of your beautiful wedding stationery, especially if you want to keep replies as keepsakes!
Suggested Wedding Invitation Wording (etiquette)
The Bride’s Parents are the Hosts
Mr and Mrs John Smith
request the pleasure of your company at the marriage
of their daughter
Mary
to
Mr Alexander Jones
at [CEREMONY VENUE]
on Saturday 7th September
at 2 o’clock
and afterwards at
[WEDDING RECEPTION VENUE]
The Bride’s Mother is the only Hostess
Mrs John Smith
requests the pleasure of your company at the marriage
of her daughter
Mary
The Bride’s Father is the only Host
Mr John Smith
requests the pleasure of your company at the marriage
of his daughter
Mary
The Bride’s Mother and Stepfather are the Hosts
Mr and Mrs Mark Lewis
request the pleasure of your company at the marriage
of her daughter
Mary Smith*
*The bride’s surname may be included if she has not adopted her stepfather’s surname.
The Bride’s Father and Stepmother are the Hosts
Mr and Mrs John Smith
request the pleasure of your company at the marriage
of his daughter
Mary
The Bride’s Stepmother is the Hostess
Mrs John Smith
requests the pleasure of your company at the marriage
of her stepdaughter
Mary
The Bride’s Parents have divorced, but they are the Joint Hosts
Mr John Smith and Mrs Mark Lewis*
request the pleasure of your company at the marriage
of their daughter
Mary
*’Mrs Emily Smith’ if she has not re-married, nor reverted to her maiden name
The Bride’s relatives, guardians or godparents are the Hosts
Dr and Mrs Peter Martin
request the pleasure of your company at the marriage of
their niece/ward/goddaughter
Mary Smith*
*The bride’s surname may be included if it is different to that of the hosts
The Bride is the Hostess
Miss Mary Smith
requests the pleasure of your company at her marriage to
Mr Alexander Jones
The Bride and Groom are the Hosts
Mr Alexander Jones and Miss Mary Smith
request the pleasure of your company at their marriage
Invitation to the Reception only
Mr and Mrs John Smith
request the pleasure of your company at the reception following
the marriage of their daughter
Mary
Invitation the Reception only if the Bride is the Host
Miss Mary Smith
requests the pleasure of your company at the reception following
her marriage
to
Mr Alexander Jones
Invitation to a Civil Partnership / WEDDING
Mrs and Mrs John Smith*
request the pleasure of your company
at the ceremony of
Mary
and
Alice
*The status of the hosts – whether they be married parents, separated parents, guardians etc should follow the examples already stated above
Invitation to a Civil Partnership / wedding – informal
Kay and Kate are getting married!
We would be delighted if you could join us
in our love, laughter and happy ever afters
at [VENUE]
Invitation to a Civil Partnership / Wedding Evening Celebration
Alexander and James
have pledged their life long commitment to each other
and would like you to join them
at an Evening Party
to celebrate their partnership
to be held at…
Lastly may we wish you all the very best and do please comment, as we have grown thanks to all the stationery lovers out there. To contact our Bespoke Wedding team please use the contact form below and we will assist with your enquiry.
Leave a Reply