floral concertina wedding invitation

Wedding invitation wording ideas for UK weddings

Whatever style of wedding you are planning, I have you covered with a host of wedding invitation wording ideas. Your wedding invite will help to set the tone for the big day to come. The design, style and colour scheme are important, but top of the list to get right will be the wording you choose. Your wedding invitation wording needs to include all the important details but there are lots of ways you can put your own stamp on how this is worded. In this blog I’ll briefly outline those ‘must not forget’ details and then give you some different ways to word your invites.

First up – some those details that you absolutely must include in your wedding invite wording

Host names
Who is doing the inviting?

Date, time & venue for the wedding ceremony
It’s surprising how many times parts of this get missed!

Details of what will follow the ceremony
e.g. Reception to follow at The New House Country Hotel

RSVP
How to reply (either include a card to be returned or a website, email or phone number) and when by

If you want to read more about the key details to include, head over to my other blog post:

7 key details to include in your wedding invites

The wording you choose for your wedding invites will largely depend on the type of wedding you are planning. Is it a traditional, formal occasion with the parents of the bride hosting? Or is it a relaxed, casual celebration and you as a couple are doing the inviting? Let’s look at some different options.

Traditional, formal wedding invitation wording

Traditionally, the bride’s parents would host the wedding and therefore the invitation would come from them. A formal style of wording would be used:

Dr & Mrs T R Thomas
request the pleasure of the company of

………………………………………
at the marriage of their daughter
Joanne
to
Mr Richard Shaddick
at Castell Coch, Tongwynlais,
on Friday, 24th August 2023
at 3.00pm

and afterwards at
The Manor Parc, Thornhill, Cardiff

Carriages at midnight

RSVP by 25th May 2023

If this suits you and your wedding, great – go ahead and use it. But don’t feel that it’s the only ‘right’ way to word your wedding invites. Feel free to add in the names of all parents if you want to, but beware of making your invitation too cluttered. Replace the formal, traditional wording with something more relaxed if you like, see the example below.

What does carriages at midnight mean on a wedding invitation?

How about some more contemporary wedding invitation wording ideas?

It’s very likely that you as a couple will be hosting the wedding yourselves. In which case you can use something like this for your wedding invitation wording.

Thomas & Richard
would be delighted if
………………………………..
would join them
to celebrate their marriage
at Castell Coch, Tongwynlais,
on Friday, 24th August 2001
at 3.00pm

Followed by dinner
and an evening of music & dancing

RSVP
Address, Phone & Email

Now, this wording is for an informal, relaxed wedding celebration. If you are hosting as a couple but would prefer a more formal feel to your invites, mix and match with the ‘request please pleasure’ wording I mentioned earlier.

12 things you didn’t know about wedding RSVP cards

My most popular wedding invitation wording

What the traditional formal, and contemporary casual wedding invitation wording ideas don’t really suit? A really popular alternative is something a little different. I really like this format for wording as it’s nice and inclusive. It doesn’t name everyone who may have contributed to the celebration, but it doesn’t leave anyone out either. It’s a great option where you as a couple are the hosts, but parents, step-parents or other family members have contributed too.

Together with their parents,
(or together with their families)

Joanne Thomas & Richard Shaddick
request the pleasure of the company of

…………………………………………………
to celebrate their marriage at
The Manor Parc Country Hotel, Thornhill
on Friday, 24th August 2001
at 3.00pm

Reception to follow

RSVP by 25th May

With this example, I have used the more traditional ‘request the pleasure’ wording, but it can be easily adapted to use the more informal ‘would be delighted if’ wording used above.

Now I know that one of the questions you’re bound to have while reading this post is which name goes first. It’s OK – I’ve got you covered, all in my blog here:

Which name goes first on a wedding invitation?

So that’s my quick roundup of some of my favourite wedding invitation wording ideas. When you’re deciding how to word your wedding invitations don’t get bogged down. Make sure that you include all the important details and then choose a wording that best suits the style and formality of the occasion. You should also take into account who is hosting the wedding, be that the parents of the bride or groom, you as a couple or a combination of both. Most importantly you should remember that your wedding invitation wording should suit you. It’s likely to be the glimpse your guests have into the celebration you have planned. Set the right tone, give them all the essential details and leave them to await the big day with excitement and anticipation! 

I hope you’ve found this blog useful. If you have, head over to my Insta drop me a DM to let me know. If you’d like to save this post for later, pin it to your wedding planning Pinterest board (and don’t forget to pop over there and give me a follow too). And finally, if you’d like to chat more about your wedding invites and stationery, and how I could help you create the perfect design, get in touch and let’s have a chat!

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