Choosing a wedding invitation is usually the first thing couples do when planning for their big day.
Wedding invitations bear great significance as they set the tone for the wedding, i.e. they give a glimpse of the theme you picked out for the most important day of your life.
Also, invitations create excitement and anticipation while providing information about your wedding.
Yes, they do a lot of things. Wedding invitations aren't just a decorated piece of paper.
And they symbolize love and new beginnings while showing respect for the invitee with whom you want to share your big day.
In terms of appearance and design, laser cut wedding invitations 1 are the absolute hit thanks to their extreme precision, elegance, and different styles. But, it’s not just about design.
Beautiful design doesn’t do much if the wording isn’t okay. To help you, here are some useful tips and tricks that you can use to write your wedding invitations.
Information to Be Included
How many times have you started working on your wedding invitation only to realize you don’t know where to start and what to include?
That happens to everyone, don’t worry. We have all sorts of ideas but when it’s time to put them on the paper they dissipate.
That’s why the best thing to do is to follow a certain structure when writing your wedding invitation.
Generally speaking, wedding invitations should contain the following information or elements:
- Host line, i.e. who is hosting the wedding
- Request line
- Bride and groom names
- Date and time of the wedding
- Location
- Information about the wedding reception
- Dress code (if there is any)
- RSVP card in addition to the wedding invitation
Host line
The first piece of information included on the wedding invitation is host line.
In most cases, this section features the names of the bride’s parents, but sometimes groom's parents are also involved, and hence their names should be presented. Mr and Mrs Cedric L. Neville Request the pleasure of your presence
At the marriage of their daughter Emily Claire To John S. Jones
Casual and modern
Cedric and Katherine Neville Invite you to share in their joy at the marriage of their daughter Emily Claire To John S. Jones.
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Both sets of parents
Mr and Mrs Cedric L. Neville & Mr and Mrs Daniel D. Jones Request the honour of your presence At the marriage of their children Emily Claire And John Sebastian If the bride's parents are hosting the wedding, the practice is to leave out the bride’s surname unless it is different from her parents'.
When both sets of parents are hosting, their names are written on separate lines starting with the brides. Since names of the parents are included above, there is no need to include surnames of bride and groom.
However, if you are the ones who are hosting the wedding then just skip this step and move on to the request line.
In instances when both sets of parents and bride and groom pay for the wedding then host like starts with the bride’s full name followed by the groom’s name and then their parents’ names.
If the bride's or groom's parents are divorced or remarried, you can still include them all, but keep your parents on separate lines.
Request Line
This is the section where you ask for the pleasure of your guests’ company or the honor of their presence depending on whether you’re going for a civil and casual or religious and formal wedding.
Typically, “honor of your presence” is used for religious weddings and places of worship. Informal wording is becoming very popular lately so if it suits your overall tone of the wedding feel free to go for it.
Make sure the guest who receives invitation knows exactly whether he or she is invited to a wedding ceremony or reception only. Useful request lines: 2
- Request the honor of your presence
- Invite you to share in their joy at the marriage of
- Request the pleasure of your company
- Invite you to celebrate their wedding ceremony
- Would love for you to join them
Bride and Groom Names
If you're paying/hosting the wedding and names of bride and groom appear in the host line, it's not necessary to repeat it again.
However, if only parents' names are included in the host line, then the names of future newlyweds need to be mentioned clearly.
The practice is that a bride's name precedes the groom's name. As seen above, the bride’s surname isn’t necessary if it’s the same as her parents’.
This section doesn’t feature courtesy lines such as Ms. and Miss. Groom’s name is written in first name + middle name + surname fashion.
Same-sex marriages are different; since the rule bride’s name precedes the grooms doesn’t apply here you can arrange this section in alphabetical order or based on any other criteria.
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Date and Time Of the Wedding
Traditionally, the date and time of the wedding are usually written in full, without numbers. The year is usually omitted, but many couples decide to include it for keepsake value.
It is not mandatory to use "am" or "pm." Keep in mind that noon through 4 pm is considered afternoon while 5 pm and later is considered evening.
On Saturday, the fifteenth of May, two thousand nineteen At six o’clock in the evening Contemporary wedding invitations do contain numerals, it's not against the rules, but it's considered a more casual form.
Saturday, May 15, 2019, at 6 pm At the end of the day, it all depends on the overall vibe a couple chooses for their wedding.
Location
It is traditional not to include the street address of the wedding venue.
But, in cases when omitting this information would confuse guests then it’s perfectly okay to include street address too (no need to write ZIP code).
The name of the city (and state if you live in the United States) should be written in full, no abbreviations.
Reception Line
If the wedding ceremony and reception are held in the same venue, they can be on a single invitation. On the flip side, if the reception is held somewhere else, it may be practical to include a separate card.
This gives couples more freedom as there is no rule which demands them to invite some guests to both ceremony and the reception.
Adding a separate card makes it easier to keep things organized, and it simplifies the process of informing some one they're visiting one event only.
In cases when ceremony and reception are in the same venue, you may write "reception immediately following” or “and afterward at the reception."
That being said, when reception isn’t in the same venue as the ceremony the location of the event goes in a separate line.
Don’t forget to include the time if the reception isn’t held immediately after the wedding ceremony.
Dress code
Some couples don’t have a specific dress code for their wedding, but others do.
According to the wedding invitation, the etiquette dress code 2 is to be included in the lower right-hand corner of the invitation.
The wedding invitation itself can dictate dress code in the case when one is missing.
How? As mentioned above in the post invitations give a glimpse of the theme of the wedding.
Fancy invitations send a message that elegant attires are necessary while rustic and casual wedding invites require a more casual style.
This is why it’s important to make sure the choice of the wedding invitation perfectly matches the tone of the wedding and atmosphere you want to create on your big day.
RSVP Card When sending a wedding invitation, you also need to include RSVP card separately. But, it's not entirely wrong to include RSVP on the same card.
In this case, you need to bear in mind the guest won't be able to keep the invitation, i.e. it’s not for keepsake value then.
These cards are of huge help for the organization of your wedding day as you'll know exactly how many people to expect.
Catering, the number of seats and chairs as well as other factors depend on this number.
Of course, if you have a wedding website, your guests can RSVP there, but you still need to include a separate card with the site address.
To encourage guests to respond to the invitation in a timely manner many brides include a paper, envelope, and a stamp with the invite although the wedding invitation etiquette doesn’t require them.
Separate RSVP cards are relatively small and include simple text such as “Please let us know whether you will join us” with a space for writing where a guest will respond “Yes” or “No”.
Conclusion
You set the date and chose the theme of your wedding, so the next thing to do is to send out wedding invitations.
As seen throughout this post, wedding invitations depict the atmosphere you've chosen for the big day.
So it's important to pay a lot of attention to the wording. Keep things simple with necessary information only.
The style depends on your personality and wedding vibe. If you're going for a more modern approach, you can break a rule or two.
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