How to Word Your Wedding Invitations
Shopping for a design with your desired theme or style is just the beginning of creating your wedding invitation. Once you've found a perfectly beautiful and affordable wedding invitation, the next step is personalizing it.
Couples often have questions at this point about how to properly word their wedding invitations and rightfully so. There is a lot to think about, but the truth is wedding invitation wording can be boiled down to answering four basic questions in the following order:
- Who is hosting the wedding? By "hosting" we mean, who's paying for this thing?!
- Who is getting married?
- When is the wedding?
- Where is the wedding?
Once you have the answers to these questions, it's time to decide on your wording style.
A traditional wedding would require formal invitation wording, while a casual wedding can be introduced more informally.
Some couples want to show a little personality with their wedding invitation wording by making it fun, clever, romantic, quirky, etc. You can write your own wording or choose from the many options available when personalizing the invitation.
Here are a few popular options to get you started.
traditional wedding invitation wording
Traditionally, a bride's parents, or ever both parents, pay for the wedding and do the inviting. If you're a couple paying for your wedding yourself, or if everyone is pitching in to help, skip to the next section.
Tip: if your wedding is being held in a church, or any place of worship, you should use the line "request the honour of your presence" in your invite wording. If you're not getting married in a church, this line can be replaced with "request the pleasure of your company". We've included below in this example:
wording if the bride's parents are hosting:
Kenneth and Barbara Peterson
request the honour of your presence OR request the pleasure of your company
at the marriage of their daughter
Lillian Margaret
to
Jonathon James McKinley
on Saturday, the twenty-sixth of June
two thousand twenty-one
at one o'clock in the afternoon
Desert Foothills Lutheran Church
29305 North Scottsdale Road
Scottsdale, Arizona
wording if both parents are hosting:
If both parents are paying for the wedding, they should both be included on the invitation. This example is traditional, but does feel a bit more informal than our example above. It can be blended with the example above to create more formal wording too:
Kenneth and Barbara Peterson
and
Scott and Carla McKinley
invite you to share in the joy
of the marriage uniting their children
Lillian Margaret
to
Jonathon James McKinley
This celebration of love will be
on Saturday, the twenty-sixth of June
two thousand twenty-one
at one o'clock in the afternoon
Desert Foothills Lutheran Church
29305 North Scottsdale Road
Scottsdale, Arizona
casual wedding invitation wording
wording if both parents and the couple are hosting
If you're paying for your own wedding, but your parents are contributing in some way, including them on the wedding invitation is a polite gesture:
Together with our parents
Kenneth and Barbara Peterson
and
Scott and Carla McKinley
we,
Lillian Margaret
and
Jonathon James
invite you to share in the joy
of the beginning of our new life together
when we exchange marriage vows
on Saturday, the twenty-sixth of June
two thousand twenty-one
at one o'clock in the afternoon
Desert Foothills Lutheran Church
29305 North Scottsdale Road
Scottsdale, Arizona
wording if the couple is hosting
This simple wedding invitation wording is perfect for a couple who is paying for their own wedding. This wording is our most popular!
Lillian Margaret Peterson
to
Jonathon James McKinley
invite you to share in the joy
when they exchange marriage vows
on Saturday, the twenty-sixth of June
two thousand twenty-one
at one o'clock in the afternoon
Desert Foothills Lutheran Church
29305 North Scottsdale Road
wedding invitation wording for divorced or deceased parents
wording for divored parents
If your parents are divorced, and you want to include both of them on your invitation, its simple:
Kenneth Peterson and Barbara Moore
request the pleasure of your company
at the marriage of their daughter
Lillian Margaret
to
Jonathon James McKinley
on Saturday, the twenty-sixth of June
two thousand twenty-one
at one o'clock in the afternoon
Desert Foothills Lutheran Church
29305 North Scottsdale Road
Scottsdale, Arizona
wording that includes step-parents
If you'd like to include a stepfather or stepmother, adjust your wording slightly:
Kenneth Peterson
along with
Barbara and Henry Moore
request the pleasure of your company
at the marriage of their daughter
Lillian Margaret
to
Jonathon James McKinley
on Saturday, the twenty-sixth of June
two thousand twenty-one
at one o'clock in the afternoon
Desert Foothills Lutheran Church
29305 North Scottsdale Road
Scottsdale, Arizona
simple wording for divorced families
And if you want to uncomplicated things, simply say:
The families of
Lillian Margaret
and
Jonathon James
invite you to share in the joy
of the beginning of our new life together
when we exchange marriage vows
on Saturday, the twenty-sixth of June
two thousand twenty-one
at one o'clock in the afternoon
Desert Foothills Lutheran Church
29305 North Scottsdale Road
Scottsdale, Arizona
wording for deceased parents
If you'd like to include your deceased parent on your invitation, this wording is lovely:
Lillian Margaret
daughter of
Barbara and the late Kenneth Peterson
and Jonathon James
son of Scott and Carla McKinley
request the honour of your presence
at their marriage
on Saturday, the twenty-sixth of June
two thousand twenty-one
at one o'clock in the afternoon
Desert Foothills Lutheran Church
29305 North Scottsdale Road
Scottsdale, Arizona
Of course there are lots of other ways to word your wedding invites! Here are some examples of our most popular:
romantic wedding invitation wording
Love fills a lifetime
and a lifetime begins this hour
when the two of us
Lillian Margaret Peterson
and
Jonathon James McKinley
begin a new life together
Come celebrate with us
as we exchange marriage vows
on Saturday, the twenty-sixth of June
two thousand twenty-one
at one o'clock in the afternoon
Desert Foothills Lutheran Church
29305 North Scottsdale Road
Scottsdale, Arizona
religious wedding invitation wording
With thanks for
God's bountiful blessings
Lillian Margaret Peterson
and
Jonathon James McKinley
request the honour of your presence
as they exchange vows of marriage
on Saturday, the twenty-sixth of June
two thousand twenty-one
at one o'clock in the afternoon
Desert Foothills Lutheran Church
29305 North Scottsdale Road
Scottsdale, Arizona
seasonal wedding invitation wording
wording for fall weddings
As the trees burst into color
and the autumn season arrives
we pledge our faith, our love, our lives
We, Lillian Margaret Peterson
and Jonathon James McKinley
request the honor of your presence
as we begin a lifetime of love
on Saturday, the twenty-sixth of June
two thousand twenty-one
at one o'clock in the afternoon
Desert Foothills Lutheran Church
29305 North Scottsdale Road
Scottsdale, Arizona
wording for summer weddings
Like a butterfly in a summer breeze,
our hearts are uplifted by love
It is with joy that we,
Lillian Margaret Peterson and
Jonathon James McKinley
pledge our love as one
on Saturday, the twenty-sixth of June
two thousand twenty-one
at one o'clock in the afternoon
Desert Foothills Lutheran Church
29305 North Scottsdale Road
Scottsdale, Arizona
You are invited to share
this day of happy beginnings
We hope you found these example helpful. As always, we're here to help with any questions you have as you customize your invitations. From reception-only celebrations to your post-wedding announcement, we're full of ways to perfectly personalize each piece of wedding stationery till it's perfect for you and your celebration.
