Wording your Wedding invitations

How should I word my invitations?

Wording of Wedding invitations is debated by most couples. There are many websites which offer definitive style guides on formal, informal and traditional text placement, however I believe that as the couple getting married you should choose the wording that suits you.

Some couples prefer a more formal approach and others are very informal and throw caution to the wind, below is a list of the main points you should look to include, plus there are a few examples, text can always be customised or you can simply write your own wording if you prefer.

I am always happy to help with your wording if you are not sure, please get in touch.

Information to include

• Who is hosting the wedding (is the invite from you or your parents/families)
• Your names (first names or first and last)
• The ceremony date and time (written out in full or just numbers)
• Arrival time if you want to make sure guests are seated earlier
• The ceremony venue and address
• The reception venue and address (if different to the above)
• What’s coming after the ceremony (“reception to follow”, “dinner and dancing”)
• What time the celebration will finish (“carriages at midnight”)

Traditionally the bride’s name goes first, as guests would have been invited by her parents (as they were the ones paying for the wedding), but this is no longer the case with many weddings these days, so whose name goes first is a matter of preference.

Example wording

Mr & Mrs Jones, together with Mr & Mrs Franks request the pleasure of your company
Saturday 11th May 2024
One O’Clock in the Afternoon
The Red Barn, College Lane, South Runcton, King’s Lynn PE33 0EX
Reception to follow

Together with their families
Serena Jones and James Franks
Request the pleasure of your company
at the celebration of their marriage
Saturday 11th May 2024
One O’Clock in the Afternoon
The Red Barn, College Lane, South Runcton, King’s Lynn PE33 0EX
Dinner and dancing to follow

Mr & Mrs Jones
request the pleasure of your company to celebrate the marriage of their daughter
Serena Jones and James Franks
Saturday 11th May 2024
One O’Clock in the Afternoon
The Red Barn, College Lane, South Runcton, King’s Lynn PE33 0EX
Reception to follow

Please join us for the wedding of Serena & James
Saturday 11th May 2024
1pm
The Red Barn, College Lane, South Runcton, King’s Lynn PE33 0EX
Reception to follow

The honour of your presence is requested to celebrate the marriage of
Serena Jones and James Franks
Saturday 11th May 2024
1pm
The Red Barn, College Lane, South Runcton, King’s Lynn PE33 0EX
Reception to follow

Serena Jones and James Franks
would like to invite you to join them in the celebration of their marriage on 11.05.2024
1pm
The Red Barn, College Lane, South Runcton, King’s Lynn PE33 0EX
Dinner and dancing to follow

You are cordially invited
to celebrate the wedding of
Serena & James
Saturday 11th May 2024
1pm
The Red Barn, College Lane, South Runcton, King’s Lynn PE33 0EX
Dinner and dancing to follow

Gift Poems

Most couples now already live together so there’s no real need for the traditional setting up home gifts, instead many couples would like to politely ask for money (usually towards a honeymoon) here are a few of our most used poems…

As we’ve lived together for a year or two, we really don’t need anything new. But if you were thinking of getting us a small wedding gift, some money for our honeymoon wouldn’t go a miss.

We’re tying the knot and we just can’t wait, we knew it would happen on our very first date. As we’ve got our home dressed up with accessories,
We don’t really think that a wedding gift list is necessary. But if you did want to give something to help us on our way, some money in a card would truly make our day!

We’ve just moved home and have filled it with stuff, from books to sofas, we’ve certainly got enough! Instead of more wine glasses, we’d really love some cash, so that we can book a perfect honeymoon and head off in a dash. A romantic beach break would really do the trick, as soon as we can afford it, we’ll be on that plane quick!

We haven’t included a gift list in our invite, as we have everything — it just wasn’t right… To ask for more things for the life we lead,
What we’d really love is a good holiday indeed! If you were thinking of a gift for us to start our married life, some money would make us a very happy husband and wife!

We can’t wait to spend our wedding day with you,
We’ve been planning hard and spending money for a good year or two. As we’re keen to start our married life in style,
An amazing honeymoon would really make us smile. Instead of a gift list from a high street shop, what we’d really love is some money so that on a beach we can flop! Your financial donation would truly mean a lot, so thank you for contributing to our honeymoon pot!

In order to make our dreams come true, we’d love to go on a honeymoon for a week or two.
Instead of a dinner set, a vase or a bowl, a financial contribution would make our wedding experience whole. We’ve created a bank account to save our honeymoon money,
We really appreciate it, and we can’t wait to go somewhere sunny!

We’ll be husband and wife for the rest of our life, in our little home made for two. But instead of a vase or a new kitchen knife, we’d love to fly off to somewhere new. A week on a beach would suffice and be ideal, so instead of a gift, your contribution would help to buy us a hotel room or a romantic meal!

We’re looking forward to seeing you on our very special day, we hope that it will be perfect in every single way. As a couple we know that love is all we need forever, but a honeymoon after our wedding would be great — however… we’ve not got the money to take this very special trip, and we hope that you can help us fulfil our dream whether it be on a plane, or a ship! Some money would really be the perfect gift to give, instead of new pots and pans, for the house in which we live!

As we’re getting married we thought it would be fun, to move into a brand new home — we need to get it done. As wedding gifts are bulky and we’re a little short on space,
Some money would be the ideal gift to help us buy our place!

The most important thing is that you’re there to share in our day. However, if you’d like to give us a gift, a monetary donation would be gratefully received, as we can put this towards furniture and renovations in our forever home.

We’ve been together quite a while, with all our pots and pans. And as we don’t need homely gifts, we have another plan! We know it’s not traditional, and not the way it’s done. But rather than a wedding list, We’d love a bit of sun! So if you would like to give a gift, and send us on our way. A donation to our honeymoon, Would really make our day!

We made a commitment, some time ago, together through life, we were destined to go.
To save you looking, shopping and buying, here is an idea, we hope you’ll like trying!
Come to our wedding, to wish us both well, and please make a donation to our wishing well.

We do not have a gift list,
and we’ll know you’ll understand. Our house and contents are complete, with pots and plates and pans!
But should you really want to give, this is what we’ll say.
A gift of money would be lovely, to put aside for a rainy day.

We’d love your well wishes and congratulations too, no gifts are necessary, we just would like to celebrate with you!
If you feel inclined and gift us you must, please direct your affection to your favourite charitable trust.

Children

This is always a difficult one to word as many brides, including myself when I got married, would prefer adults only or the children of immediate family only, how to word this without causing upset can be tricky.

We are very sorry, but due to restrictions at our venue, we cannot accommodate children.

Due to safety reasons and / or limited space, we are unable to extend this invitation to children.

In order to keep numbers to a minimum, we can only invite a small number of children.
We also thought you might like a day off!

With respect, we would like our special day to be an adult only occasion.

In order to allow all guests, including parents, a day of relaxation we have chosen for our wedding day to be an adult-only occasion. We hope this advance notice means you are still able to share our big day and will enjoy having the day off!

Children outside of the bridal party are unfortunately not invited for the ceremony, but are more than welcome to attend the reception.

Unfortunately, as much as we’d love to invite all of our friends’ children, we can only accommodate a few close family children. We hope that you will understand this decision and we very much hope you will still be able to join us on our special day.

We would like our special day to be an adult only occasion,
however we would like to extend the invitation to your children at the evening reception.

Wedding Menus

There are several ways of presenting guests with a menu from which they can choose their meal options.

One of the most popular ways is to include a menu card, with a key next to each option, so that it is easy to select and write choices on the rsvp, alternatively the menu can be part of the rsvp with a line to write choices or boxes to tick.

Starters

• A – Leek and potato soup with home made bread
• B – Chicken liver parfait with homemade red onion chutney and focaccia soldiers

Mains

• C – Classic roast chicken with roast potatoes,
  seasonal vegetables and pan gravy
• D – Slow braised feather blade steak in local ale, champ mash, honey glazed whole carrot and a rich beef and ale sauce

Desserts

• E – Apple crumble with custard
• F – Triple chocolate brownie with a warm
  chocolate sauce and vanilla ice cream

Also we suggest a dietary requirements section incase any guests have allergies etc.

RSVP

Traditionally your RSVP would have been sent via post which is still popular, especially using pre-printed RSVP envelopes, which we can provide. However a lot of couples are now opting for either reply via email or text and if you have setup a wedding website with RSVP option we can print a QR code to guide guests straight to your website.

Other Information

Lastly try and think what information your guest will actually need for the day, lots of extra information can be included in your invitations, but it’s not always necessary. Some examples of other information to include are below:

• Accommodation (is your venue providing rooms or will guests from further afield need a list of local accommodation)
• Taxis (if your guests are not from the area a list of taxi firms may be useful)
• Directions to the venue (especially if it’s a remote location)
• Order of the day
• Dress code
• Transport (some couples provide transport from the venue to the church)