Wedding Invitations

Wedding Invitations & Wording

Back in the medieval ages, people from lower social ranks were issuing out loud the wedding invitations or to put it simple, they were verbalized, because they didn’t had the proper education to read and to write them. The members from the aristocracy and royal families, especially the English and French aristocracies, often used the wedding invitations as a form of entertainment and they are the ones responsible for making them popular; so popular that by the beginning of the twentieth century almost all people from all social ranks could afford sending wedding invitations or use the cheapest alternative: making the wedding announcement in a newspaper.




Today, the simple wording and wedding invitation cards of white color with hand written text, even though it still has its adepts, was mostly replaced by the colorful and patterned wedding invitation designs with a printed text. The hand written text with an intricate calligraphy style is an expensive method but it has a cheaper alternative: the thermography, a printing method with a raised letter effect.

The designs, shapes, sizes and color combinations are so numerous that you might find it hard to choose one single favorite design for you wedding; you have two options: to purchase the invitation directly from online manufacturers or the choose for a personalized wedding invitations. The first option is cheaper and faster because the samples are already available for order on the internet but with the personalized invitation you can be sure that they will be unique and one-of-a-kind.

The wording etiquette demands the use of a formal wording to issue the wedding invitations but you can also be creative with words and issue them by using an informal, non-traditional wording.

No matter what is you choice, remember that the invitation must contain the basic information about the wedding ceremony and reception or party, such as the names of the bride and groom, the names of the wedding hosts or the couple’s families, the location and address of the ceremony and reception, the date and time, an RSVP for attendance responses or the expression “Regrets Only” if you are expecting only for the non-attendance responses, and other details such as some directional signs or a printed map for the wedding location, the theme of the wedding and some suggestions about the wedding attire, etc.

Making any suggestion about how your guests should dress up is considered socially incorrect and impolite but if a wedding has a theme and you would like to maintain that atmosphere, it is preferably to make that suggestion; it is considered as sign of disrespect to mention about gifts on invitations or in any part of them, for that matter, because the general theory is that you should never expect something from your friends apart from their presence.

If you would prefer no children to attend your wedding reception it is best to share this information by word via the family members, before the actual wedding day. It is socially impolite and considered as a sign of disrespect to write “no children please” on the invitations; the alternative is to write “Adults Only Reception” or simply “Adults only”, on a separate card with details about the location of the reception, the time and date.

For the informal wedding invitations and wording it is not necessary to mention the names of the wedding hosts, usually being the bride’s parents, because there are cases when the bride and groom decide to pay for their own wedding or receive just a small financial support from both their families.

Some of the most popular wording examples for wedding invitations, are the following: “Sarah Benson and Lucian Johnson, together with their parents, request the honour of your presence at their marriage, on Saturday, the seventh of July, two thousand eleven, at six o’clock in the evening, St. Mary’s Chapel, New Orleans, Louisiana” or “The pleasure of your company is requested at the marriage uniting Sarah Benson and Lucian Johnson on Saturday, the seventh of July, two thousand eleven, at six o’clock in the evening, St. Mary’s Chapel, New Orleans, Louisiana”.