Wedding Invitation Wording

There is SO much information out there about invitation wording and so many different scenarios to consider when choosing the right wedding invitation wording.  Examples range from: who's paying? are your parents divorced?  Are step parents involved? How traditional or casual is the ceremony?  Is the ceremony separate from the reception?  (and on, and on..)

The beauty about living in today's age is there are much fewer formal restrictions on etiquette (also depending on your family and how traditional they are) so there's a lot more flexibility to say what feels right for you.

First the necessities:

These THREE items MUST be communicated on every invitation:
1 - Names of the couple
2 - Date and time
3 - address / place

If the above three things aren't communicated guests won't know Who, When or Where - those are the basics, right?

The rest is just details.

Traditionally, if it is the bride’s parents throwing the party (or at least paying for it) her name comes first, proceeded by her parents’:

Mr. and Mrs. Johnathon Price
request the honor of your presence
at the marriage of their daughter
Mia Jane
to
William Daniel
Son of Mr and Mrs. Smith

*   *   *   *   *   *   *

These days the cost of the wedding is often split between families in which case a different heading is used: (this is most common on the invitations I work on)

Together with their families/ Together with their parents
Mia Jane Price
and
William Daniel Smith
request the pleasure/honor of your company
at the celebration of their wedding/marriage

"Request the honour of your presence" is used for wedding ceremonies taking place in religious spaces.  "Request the pleasure of your company" is used for secular events along with many other alternatives. * For formal invitations the British spelling of "honour" is still used.

*   *   *   *   *   *   *

Sometimes balancing families can get complicated and it's easier to only list the names of the couple getting married:

Mia Jane Price
and
William Daniel Smith
invite you to a celebration of their wedding/marriage

*   *   *   *   *   *   *

Next is date, time and year which traditionally is spelled out, but can also be listed as numbers.

Saturday the twenty-sixth of January
Two thousand thirteen
At five o'clock in the evening

vs.

Saturday, January 26, 2013
At 5 o'clock in the evening

Another rule of thumb is to capitalize the first letter of every sentence and all proper nouns.

*   *   *   *   *   *   *

Finally is the ceremony and reception in the same place? If so the most common wording is:

Reception to follow

Other variations include:
Dinner and dancing to follow // Dinner merriment to follow // reception & rock 'n' roll to follow

Or are you getting married in a church/temple/back yard and then celebrating elsewhere?  Some people choose to add an additional reception card, while other include that information on the formal invitation:

Reception to follow at
Gallery 1028
1028 N Hooker St, Chicago, IL

*   *   *   *   *   *   *

If you need more guidance and more inspiration there is TONS of information online. Here are links to a few great, resources:
Real Simple
The Knot
Paper Source
Invitation Consultants
LCI
Michaels
Bella Figura
Offbeat bride, Reception only

I hope this helps get you started!

Please feel free to contact me any time with any questions you may have regarding your invitations, wording, etiquette or anything else at all! Shayna (at) Steelpetalpress (dot) com

See my full wedding invitation collection here: http://steelpetalpress.com/wedding-invitations/

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