Personalised wedding stationery is a great way to let your guests know how valued they are and how much you would like them to attend your big day. When you are first considering your wedding stationery, as well as wedding theme and invite design, you will also have to consider wedding invitation etiquette.

There are many online options when it comes to wedding invitation printing but if you haven’t got you haven’t written your wedding invitations properly you could confuse your guests and delay your RSVPs!

Our quick guide to wedding stationery wording will help you make sure you have covered everything you need to keep your invitees happy and to ensure you get quick responses to firm up those wedding numbers for venues and caterers.

The first section – the hosts of the wedding

The hosts of the wedding traditionally were always both sets of the parents of the bride and groom, in a modern world this can become a little more complex. Should you be hosting the wedding yourselves or be hosting the wedding in conjunction with your parents the wording should be changed slightly. It may be that one or both sets of your parents are divorced and again, the wording should be changed slightly to accommodate all the names of the relevant parties. The bride’s family are always listed first as traditionally, the bride’s family would pay for the wedding.

Here’s some example text:

If your parents are hosting the wedding:

Mr & Mrs A Copsey and Mr & Mrs H Bowes

OR, for parents that are unmarried:

Mr & Mrs A Copsey and Mr H Bowes & Ann Royle

If you are hosting the wedding:

Miss Eloise Copsey & Mr James Bowes

If your parents are divorced:

Mr & Mrs A Copsey and Mr H Bowes & Katherine Haworth and Ms D Rawcliffe & Jonothan Slater

If a parent is deceased:

Miss Eloise Copsey, daughter of Mr Adam Copsey and the late Mrs Patricia Copsey

And

Mr James Bowes, son of Mr & Mrs Harry Bowes

The second section – the request to attend

There are many options here, depending on personal choice. Examples include:

  • Request the pleasure of your company at the wedding of
  • Invite you to join them at the wedding of
  • Request the honour of your presence at the wedding of

The third section – the names of the bridge and groom

If you haven’t already included your names in the host section then it’s important to include the Bride and Groom’s names here.

Traditionally, the woman’s name always appears first:

Miss Eloise Copsey & Mr James Bowes

For same sex weddings, it is personal preference as to whose name appears first:

Miss Juliet Capulet & Miss Katherine Montague

OR

Mr Scott Heathcliff & Mr Kevin Holmes

The fourth section – the date and time of your wedding

Your guests won’t be able to tell you if they can attend if you haven’t included the date and the time of your ceremony!

Traditional

On the 30th September 2020, at one o’clock in the afternoon

Casual

On the 30/09/20, at 1pm

The fifth section – the location of your wedding

Your guests also won’t be able to tell you if they can attend if they don’t know where you are holding your ceremony. If you are following a very traditional route you should provide one invite card for the wedding ceremony and the wedding breakfast and one invite card for the wedding reception.

Church ceremony & wedding breakfast invitation:

Our Lady’s Church

Lancaster, Lancashire, LA1 1AA

With wedding breakfast to follow at 2.30pm

Lancashire County Hotel,

Lancaster, LA1 1AB

Venue ceremony & reception invitation

Lancashire County Hotel,

Lancaster, LA1 1AB

Reception to follow at 6pm

The sixth section – the dress code

Including the dress code in your wedding invitation is entirely down to your choice. Most guests find it helpful to know if you have a specific dress code, if left off the invitation it is likely your guests will presume the dress code is formal – but there are no guarantees!

The RSVP

It is now expected that a separate RSVP card will be included as part of your wedding invitation so it is important to consider this aspect when you are planning your wedding invitation printing needs.

It is easier for your guests to respond with a pre-printed personalised wedding stationery RSVP cards, you may also want to include your wedding website or an email address on the RSVP cards should your guests want to respond digitally.