Invitation Wording Etiquette

The way you word your invitations and address your envelopes will say a lot about the style of your wedding. Whether you choose a formal wording or an informal or fun wording that matches your theme, just be sure you stay consistent throughout all the elements of your invitation. 

 For formally worded invitations, use the following suggestions: 

• Use the British spelling of “honour” when requesting the honour of their presence.
• Use formal names (no nicknames) including middle names for the bride and groom. 
• When wording your invitations, be sure to use full names and formal titles (only abbreviate Mr., Mrs., Ms. and Jr.).   
• Also use the full spellings of addresses (First Street), dates (Saturday, the twentieth of February) and years (two thousand ten).
• Spell out abbreviations (e.g., Court, Street, Avenue and Road). 
• Spell out all numbers except house numbers and apartment numbers.  
• Spell out times. For example, 4:00 PM would be four o’clock in the afternoon.  
• Use line breaks instead of commas. 

For informally worded invitations, use the following guidelines:  

• Have fun with your wording and tie it into your theme. For example, an invitation to a Western wedding could say, “Rounding up all friends and family,” or an invitation to a destination wedding could say, “Join us in an escape to paradise.”
• Carry through the fun wording style on your reception and respond cards.
• Incorporate your favorite verse, quotation or poem into your wording.
• Feel free to omit formal titles or even Mr. and Mrs. from your wording.

Invitation mailing etiquette

• To avoid confusion (and too many unexpected guests attending your wedding), everyone invited should receive a printed invitation. For instance, avoid placing an invitation on the bulletin board at work; this opens you up to every single coworker and his or her spouse and perhaps children attending and could lead to an impossible situation when trying to arrive at an accurate guest count. 
• Only one invitation should be mailed to a couple. 
• Children under the age of 18 may be included on the invitation mailed to their parents; children older than 18 should receive their own invitations, even if they are living with their parents. 
• Be sure to send an invitation to your parents, grandparents and bridal party members.
• Invitations should be mailed six to eight weeks before the ceremony to allow guests plenty of time to make travel arrangements and plans for your wedding.

Addressing etiquette

• When addressing your invitation envelopes, use your most elegant penmanship for formal invitations and perhaps a colorful pen for informal invitations. 
• For formal invitations, follow the same spelling rules for formally worded invitations, spelling out abbreviations and using numbers only for house numbers and zip codes.
• For informal invitations, you may address your envelopes as you would any other correspondence.
• Ann’s Bridal Bargains can also provide to you a time savings option when it comes to envelope addressing.  For professionally printed envelope addressing, please call customer service at 1-800-821-7011.