One of the most difficult choices for wedding invitations, save the actual design of the invitation, is the wording. There are many different circumstances surrounding weddings, so following the proper etiquette for the wording of the wedding invitation is important. Let’s take a look at the proper wording for common wedding invitations.

Regular wedding invitation with reception card:

Generally speaking, the wedding invitation will give the who, what, when, where and why information. You can choose to have the parents of the bride inviting the guests, the parents of the bride and groom, the groom’s parents if the bride does not have living parents or the bride and groom themselves requesting the invitees to come to the wedding.

Bride’s parents invitation example:

Mr. and Mrs. John Smith request the honor of your presence at the marriage of their daughter Lisa to Mr. Richard Jones on Saturday the tenth of June, two thousand and nine at one o’clock in the afternoon, St. Jude’s Church, Springfield, Arizona (for grooms parent’s switch out "daughter" with "son" and "name of groom" to the name of the bride, "Miss or Ms Rachel Jones").

Bride and groom’s parents invite:

Mr. and Mrs. John Smith and Mr. and Mrs. Richard Jones request the honor of your presence at the marriage of their children, Lisa Smith and Bill Jones on Saturday the tenth of June, two thousand and nine at one o’clock in the afternoon, St. Jude’s Church, Springfield, Arizona.

Bride and groom invite #1:

Miss/Ms Lisa Smith and Mr. Bill Jones request the honor of your presence at their marriage on Saturday the tenth of June, two thousand and nine at one o’clock in the afternoon, St. Jude’s Church, Springfield, Arizona.

Bride and groom invite #2:

The honor of your presence is requested at the marriage of Miss/Ms Lisa Smith and Mr. Bill Jones on Saturday the tenth of June, two thousand and nine at one o’clock in the afternoon, St. Jude’s Church, Springfield, Arizona.

Bride and groom invite #3:

Lisa Marie Rodriquez, daughter of Beth Rodriquez and Joe Rodriquez and Richard Jones, son of Mr. and Mrs. James Jones, request the honor of your presence at their marriage.

Reception card

Reception following the ceremony at seven o’clock in the evening at the Golf and Country Club, 1234 Main Street, Springfield, Arizona.

Wedding where mother has remarried:

Mr. and Mrs. John Smith request the honor of your presence at the marriage of her daughter Lisa Rodriguez to Mr. Richard Jones on Saturday the tenth of June, two thousand and nine at one o’clock in the afternoon, St. Jude’s Church, Springfield, Arizona.

Wedding where mother is remarried, father deceased:

Mr. and Mrs. John Smith request the honor of your presence at the marriage of her daughter Lisa Rodriguez, daughter of Joe Rodriguez to Mr. Richard Jones on Saturday the tenth of June, two thousand and nine at one o’clock in the afternoon, St. Jude’s Church, Springfield, Arizona (for father where mother is deceased, replace the names accordingly and change "her daughter" to "his daughter").

Wording for divorced parents hosting #1:

Mrs. John Smith (or Mrs. Evelyn Smith if mother is unmarried) and Mr. Joe Rodriguez request the pleasure of your company at the wedding of their daughter Lisa Rodriquez to Mr. Richard Jones on Saturday the tenth of June, two thousand and nine at one o’clock in the afternoon, St. Jude’s Church, Springfield, Arizona.

Wording for divorced parents hosting #2:

Mr. and Mrs. John Smith and Mr. and Mrs. Joe Rodriguez request the pleasure of your company at the marriage of Lisa Marie to Mr. Richard Jones on Saturday the tenth of June, two thousand and nine at one o’clock in the afternoon, St. Jude’s Church, Springfield, Arizona.

Wording for when one parent is deceased

Mr. Joe Rodriguez requests the honor of your presence at the marriage of his daughter Lisa Marie to Mr. Richard Jones on Saturday the tenth of June, two thousand and nine at one o’clock in the afternoon, St. Jude’s Church, Springfield, Arizona.

Other etiquette

Wedding invitations tend to be more formally worded, especially for church weddings. Some other etiquette includes:

• Writing out the dates and times in words, rather than numbers.

• Including the full names of the parents of bride and groom (optional)

The choices for wedding invitation wordings are endless…some common phrases used to invite include:

• Request the honor of your presence

• Request the pleasure of your company

• Invite you to share in the celebration

• Join the celebration of

• Joining in the celebration of

Etiquette for reply card

The wording of your reply card should also be formal, choices include:

• RSVP – this tends to be quite informal

• Respondez Si’l Vous Plait – more formal

• Please reply by

• The favor of a reply is requested by,

• Please respond by