Wedding invitation wording
Wedding invitation wording is mostly a question of who is hosting, and how formal you want to sound. These are the versions couples use most, with the wording written out so it can be adapted rather than started from nothing.
Start with who is hosting
Traditionally the hosts are whoever is paying, and they are named first. In practice most couples now host themselves or share it with both families, and the wording follows whatever is actually true rather than what used to be expected.
Everything else on the invitation is the same regardless. Only the opening lines change.
Hosted by the bride's parents (traditional)
Mr and Mrs John Whitfield
request the pleasure of your company
at the marriage of their daughter
Eleanor Grace
to
Thomas James Bennett
Saturday the fourteenth of September
two thousand and twenty six
at half past one o'clock
St Mary's Church, Cheltenham
and afterwards at Lypiatt Manor
This is the most formal version. Dates and times are written out in full, and titles are used throughout.
Hosted by both families
Together with their families
Eleanor Whitfield
and
Thomas Bennett
invite you to celebrate their marriage
Saturday 14th September 2026 at 1.30pm
St Mary's Church, Cheltenham
Reception to follow at Lypiatt Manor
This is the most common wording now. It avoids naming who paid for what, which suits most families.
Hosted by the couple
Eleanor Whitfield and Thomas Bennett
request the pleasure of your company
at their wedding
Saturday 14th September 2026
St Mary's Church, Cheltenham at 1.30pm
Reception at Lypiatt Manor
Where the couple are hosting, the invitation can be considerably less formal. Requesting the pleasure of your company can become simply would love you to join them.
Where parents are divorced or remarried
Name each parent on their own line, mother first, and do not join them with and:
Mrs Sarah Whitfield
Mr John Whitfield
request the pleasure of your company
at the marriage of their daughter
Where a parent has remarried and the step-parent is hosting too, both are named on one line: Mr and Mrs John Whitfield. Where the relationship is difficult, together with their families avoids the question entirely, and nobody reads anything into it.
Where a parent has died
There is no fixed convention, and families do this differently. Some name the surviving parent only. Others acknowledge the parent who has died:
Eleanor Grace Whitfield
daughter of Mrs Sarah Whitfield
and the late Mr John Whitfield
A line in the order of service is another way to do it, and keeps the invitation itself simple.
What goes below the names
The date, the time and the venue, in that order. A second venue for the reception follows underneath where the two are different.
Dress code sits at the foot of the card where there is one, in smaller type. It is the question hosts are asked most, so it is worth including rather than leaving to a wedding website.
RSVP details belong on the RSVP Cards rather than the invitation itself, and travel, parking and accommodation belong on a wedding website. An invitation that tries to carry everything becomes hard to read.
