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Wedding invitation wording for every kind of host, from parents to the couple themselves, divorced or remarried parents, with formal and casual examples.
Word a wedding invitation in a fixed order: who is hosting, the request ("request the honour of your presence" for a house of worship, "the pleasure of your company" elsewhere), the couple's names, the date and time, the place, and how to reply. The host line changes with who is hosting, whether that's one set of parents, both, the couple, or a blended family. Formal invitations spell everything out; casual ones drop titles and use plain, warm language.
The Emily Post Institute sums up what every invitation must say: who is hosting, what the event is, where and when it takes place, and how the guest should respond. Whatever your style, check your draft against this list:
Formal and casual wording compared: Request, "request the honour of your presence" or "the pleasure of your company", "invite you to celebrate", "hope you'll join us"; Names, Full names with titles and middle names, First and last names, no titles; Date, "Saturday, the tenth of June", "Saturday, June 10"; Time, "at half after four o'clock", "at 4:30pm"; Reply, Reply card or "The favour of a reply is requested", "RSVP by May 1 at our website".
The examples below follow the patterns in the Emily Post Institute's samples of formal wording. Names are placeholders; swap in your own.
Reception: if it follows at the same place, add "Reception to follow" or "Dinner and dancing to follow". If it's somewhere else, use a separate reception card. Reply: a reply card, or a line pointing to your wedding website. Put a clear date; when should wedding RSVPs be due helps you choose one. Dress code: optional, usually on the bottom right or the details card. Registry: leave it off. The Emily Post Institute calls registry inserts in poor taste; put it on your wedding website instead. Who's invited: the names on the envelope say it, not a line on the invitation. See wedding invitation etiquette.
"Honour" and "favour" use the British spelling on formal invitations. Formal wording spells out the date, the time and the numbers ("four o'clock", "half after four"). The year is optional on a formal invitation. Leave out "p.m.": "four o'clock in the afternoon" if you need to distinguish. Use the same style for every card in the suite.
Traditionally, "the honour of your presence" is used for a ceremony in a house of worship and "the pleasure of your company" for any other venue. Many couples now choose whichever they prefer.
The hosts'. If your parents are hosting, their names open the invitation. If you're hosting yourselves, yours do.
No. Only hosts are named in the host line. Many couples use "together with their families" to include everyone without saying who paid.
Etiquette says no. The Emily Post Institute calls it poor taste; put registry details on your wedding website.
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