In comparison to all your other wedding planning tasks, your wedding invitation seems like the simplest task. While that may be true, there are still lots of details to consider and you may have a number of questions. Your wedding invitations set the tone for the type of wedding you’re going to have and give your friends and family a taste of what’s to come. Aside from the design and feel of the invitation, you’ve also got to share important information, like when and where you’re having your wedding.
To make sure you don’t forget anything, we’ve created a list of everything you should include in your wedding invitation…
Who’s hosting
Traditionally, a wedding is hosted by the bride’s parents, so their names would be at the top of the invitation.
Example: “Rory and Catherine Smith request the honour of your presence…”
Lots of couples choose to host their own wedding or do so together with their parents.
Example: “Together with their parents, Glen and Kelly request the honour of your presence…”
There are a few other, slightly more complicated ways of beginning your wedding invitation. A few scenarios include wanting to note a deceased parent or wanting to name divorced parents and step-parents.
Example: “Kelly Smith, daughter of Mr. Rory Smith and the late Catherine Smith…”
To make things even more simple and less traditional, you could leave out the names of parents and hosts altogether and just put your own names there. This is a great idea for a relaxed wedding or one where the couple is fitting the bill entirely.
Example: “Glen and Kelly are getting married!”
The request to attend
There are lots of lovely ways to ask your guests to attend your wedding.
Here are some examples:
“…the pleasure of your company.”
“…would love for you to join them.”
“…invite you to celebrate with them.”
Your names
This seems pretty obvious to include your own names, but we’re saying it anyway. What you might be thinking is whose name goes first? For a heterosexual couple, you’d have the bride’s name first, followed by the groom’s name. If you’re keeping it formal, be sure to include your title and those of your parents. For a more relaxed wedding invitation, you could omit the titles.
Same-sex couples don’t have to worry about which name goes first. You could go alphabetical or with the option that sounds best.
The date and time
You’d be surprised at how many couples accidentally leave the date and time off their wedding invitation. It’s a pretty key detail so we’re here to remind you to remember it.
Formal wedding invitations require the date and time to be written in full, without numerals. You’ll use the word “o’clock” when writing out the time, and ‘am’ or ‘pm’ is optional.
Numerals are totally acceptable for a less formal approach.
The location
You should write out the name of the venue, the city and county. You won’t need to include the first line of the address unless it would be confusing otherwise or if the wedding venue is somebody’s home.
Reception details
If your wedding reception is taking place at a different location, name the venue on a separate line. For weddings where the ceremony and reception are at the same venue, include something like “reception immediately following”.
Tip: if your reception isn’t taking place immediately after your ceremony, then include the reception time here too.
Dress code
This is an optional detail. If you don’t include your dress code in your wedding invitation, you could instead include this on your website (details below). Alternatively, the style of your invitation will dictate the dress code. If your invitation is quite fancy, guests will anticipate a formal dress code. A simple invitation implies a more relaxed dress code.
RSVP information
You could simply include where to RSVP and when to do it.
Website
If you are creating a wedding website, include the URL at the bottom of the invitation. If this is where you would like guests to RSVP, you can include this on the same line as the RSVP details.
