Wedding invitation wording is complicated, so read these tips to keep things straight.
Wedding invitation wording is part of a centuries long tradition that continues to this day. While there have been many variations on wedding invitation wording and the evolution of today’s family structure certainly has had an effect, the basics remain the same. The wedding invitation must answer questions. It must serve its purpose of communicating all of the salient facts to the event. BUT, it must also follow the delicate protocols we’ll outline for you here.
Keep in mind that what we mention here are just the traditional structures for wedding invitation wording. It will be different for different couples, and the wedding invitation wording is often a very personal choice that couples make together.
Tip #1: Get rid of your grammar book. We’re kickin’ things old school.
The words honor is now honour and favor is now favour. The spelling of these words include the “u” as a tradition. Now don’t you feel stupid for all of those times you thought your friends had a typo on their wedding invites!
Tip #2: The year is spelled out.
“The year of two thousand and nine.”
Tip #3: Don’t punctuate.
Only use punctuation is for Mr. or Mrs. There are no official sentences, so no need for periods and certainly no exclamation points!
Tip #4: When to use RSVP.
If you’re getting married in a church and there’s no reception, you do NOT print RSVP on your invitations. If you’re getting married at a home or other reception site and/or are having a reception, print RSVP on the bottom.
Tip #5: Whose parents names go on the invitation?
This is the trickiest of them all. Strictly speaking, if the bride’s parents are funding close to all of the expenses, it’s their party, so it should be their names on the invitations. If the expenses are being split between two sets of parents, then it’s customary to include their names on the invitations as well. Basically, you pay to play here. But we’ve noticed that as the costs of weddings has gone up, more and more couples receive financial contribution from both sets of parents which means two sets of parents names appearing is more common than ever before.
Is your head spinning yet? Good! Now, let’s address specific wedding invitiation wording tips.
If following tradition, under almost no circumstances, should the invitations have more than two sets of parents names on them. If you step-parents, remarried parents, widowed parents, or any other situation that might complicate this tradition, it’s better to get this issue addressed in the beginning, rather than hurting someone’s feelings by making a decision that was not communicated beforehand.
Traditional parents of the bride wedding invitation wording:
"Mr. and Mrs. Christopher Smith request the honour of your presence at the marriage of their daughter Cynthia Anne Smith to Robert Patrick Henry on Saturday the second of June two thousand and nine at five o’clock Grace Church St. Louis, Missouri”
Parents of the bride AND groom:
“Mr. and Mrs. Christopher Smith and Mr. and Mrs. Jonathan Elliott Henry request the honour of your presence at the marriage of Cynthia Anne Smith to Robert Patrick Henry”
If the bride’s father has passed away:
“Mrs. Christopher Smith requests the honour of your presence at the marriage of her daughter”
If the bride’s mother is divorced:
“Mrs. Joyce Smith requests the honour of your presence at the marriage of her daughter”
If the bride’s mother is remarried:
“Mr. and Mrs. Todd Brown request the honour of your presence at the marriage of her daughter”
If the bride’s parents are both divorced and are cohosting the wedding:
“Mr. and Mrs. Christopher Smith and Mr. and Mrs. Todd Brown requests the honour of your presence at the marriage of Cynthina Anne Smith”
If the bride’s mother has passed away:
“Mr. Christopher Smith requests the honour of your presence at the marriage of his daughter”
If the bride’s father is a remarried widower:
“Mr. and Mrs. Christopher Smith request the honour of your presence at the marriage of his daughter”
If the groom’s family hosts the wedding:
“Mr. and Mrs. Jonathan Elliott Henry requests the honour of your presence at the marriage of Miss Cynthia Anne Smith to their son Robert Patrick Henry”
