What every wedding invitation should include
Whatever the style, a wedding invitation answers the same handful of questions in a predictable order. Include each of these and nothing is missing:
- The hosts — who is inviting — the couple themselves, or one or both sets of parents.
- The request — a line inviting the guest, e.g. 'request the pleasure of your company' or 'would love you to join us'.
- The couple — both names, traditionally the bride's first (see the FAQ on name order).
- The date & time — spelled out in full for a formal invite, written normally for a casual one.
- The venue — name and, on paper, the full address; a digital invite can link a live map instead.
- Reception & RSVP — whether the reception follows, and exactly how and by when to reply.
The rest of this guide is templates. Every card is a ready-to-use wedding invitation wording example — copy it as a starting point.
Formal & traditional wording
The classic formal template: third person, the date and time spelled out, hosts named with titles. This is the wording for a black-tie or church wedding.
request the pleasure of your company
at the marriage of their daughter
Eleanor Rose
to
Mr William James Carter
on Saturday, the fifth of September
two thousand and twenty-six
at half past two in the afternoon
St Mary’s Church, Oxford
Reception to follow at The Randolph Hotel
Traditionally used when the bride's parents host. Note the date and time written in words — a hallmark of formal wording.
Modern & casual wording
First person, warm, and to the point — the date and time written the way you’d say them. Ideal for a garden, city-hall or destination wedding.
Eleanor & William
would love you to join us
Saturday 5 September 2026 · 2:30pm
The Old Barn, Cotswolds
Dinner, drinks & dancing to follow
Drop the titles, write the date normally, and let the couple's voice come through. This is the most popular style for digital invitations.
When the couple hosts
More couples host their own wedding today. The invitation simply opens with your names rather than your parents’.
Eleanor Hartley
and
William Carter
invite you to celebrate their marriage
Saturday 5 September 2026 · 2:30pm
The Old Barn, Cotswolds
Use 'together with their families' if you'd like to acknowledge both sides without naming parents as formal hosts.
When both families host
When both sets of parents contribute, name them together. List the bride’s parents first by tradition.
and Mr & Mrs Richard Carter
request the pleasure of your company
at the marriage of their children
Eleanor & William
Saturday 5 September 2026 · 2:30pm
The Old Barn, Cotswolds
If a parent has passed or the families are blended, 'together with their families' (above) is the graceful, inclusive alternative.
Religious wording variants
A line of faith at the top sets the tone. Keep the rest of the structure the same as above.
Christian wedding wording
Mr & Mrs Jonathan Hartley
invite you to share in the joy
of the marriage uniting their daughter
Eleanor Rose and William James
Saturday 5 September 2026 · 2:30pm
St Mary’s Church, Oxford
A church wedding often opens with an invocation and names the ceremony as a 'nuptial mass' or 'celebration of marriage'.
Muslim / Nikkah wording
Together with their families
Zayd & Aisha
request the honour of your presence
at their Nikkah
Saturday 5 September 2026 · 2:30pm
followed by the Walima reception
A Nikkah invitation traditionally opens with the Bismillah and may name the walima (reception) as a separate event.
Hindu wedding wording
Mr & Mrs Sharma
joyfully invite you to the wedding
of their daughter
Priya to Arjun
Saturday 5 September 2026
auspicious ceremonies to follow
Hindu invitations often open with an invocation to Lord Ganesha and name the ceremony (e.g. the vivah or pheras).
Civil & non-religious wording
No invocation, no reference to a church — just a warm invitation to a ceremony and celebration.
invite you to celebrate
as they say “I do”
Saturday 5 September 2026 · 2:30pm
Chelsea Old Town Hall, London
Reception immediately following
Perfect for a registry office, town hall or humanist ceremony. 'Marriage' or 'wedding' both read well here.
Reception-only & evening invitation wording
When some guests are invited to the evening celebration rather than the ceremony, the wording makes that clear — kindly, without making anyone feel second-tier.
invite you to join the celebration
of their marriage
Saturday 5 September 2026 · from 7:30pm
The Old Barn, Cotswolds
Drinks, cake & dancing into the night
Send evening invitations with the same design as your day invitation so guests never feel like an afterthought.
Save-the-date wording
A save the date is the short first announcement, sent roughly nine to twelve months out. It carries only names and the date, with a promise that the full invitation is coming.
Eleanor & William
are getting married
5 September 2026 · Cotswolds
Formal invitation to follow
Keep it minimal — venue, timings and RSVP all belong on the invitation that follows, not the save the date.
Announcing early? A digital save-the-date sends the same wording as one link with a live countdown — and it grows into your full invitation later, so you never buy twice. Sending an engagement party invitation first? The same short, celebratory tone works there too.
RSVP wording
An RSVP line needs one deadline and one method. Formal invitations enclose a reply card; casual and digital ones point to a link or number.
Casual: Kindly RSVP by 1 August
Digital: Please RSVP on the invitation by 1 August
Set the deadline three to four weeks before the wedding so you have time to finalise numbers and the seating plan.
Digital invitation wording — how it differs
The words on a digital invitation are the same as on paper, with two small changes. There’s no reply card, so you drop the “reply card enclosed” line and send guests to the RSVP button instead. And because the invitation is a live page, you can add a map link and timings a card could never hold.
invite you to their wedding
Saturday 5 September 2026 · 2:30pm
The Old Barn, Cotswolds
Tap to view the map, timings & RSVP
On paper you'd write 'a reply card is enclosed'. On a digital invitation, that whole line becomes a single tappable button.
That last line is the whole advantage of going digital: everything lives on one page. You can create your digital wedding invitation with any of these wordings already set for you, then edit a word or a time whenever you like — every guest sees the update on the same link.
Wedding invitation wording: UK vs US
The templates above work either side of the Atlantic, with a few small conventions to note. In the UK, “request the pleasure of your company” is standard and dates are written day-first (5 September 2026); “RSVP” and “the favour of a reply” (British spelling, “favour”) are both common. In the US, “request the honor of your presence” (American spelling, “honor”) is traditionally reserved for a religious ceremony, dates are month-first (September 5, 2026), and times often read “half after two o’clock”. Pick one convention and stay consistent across the invitation, the save the date and the RSVP.
When to send
Timing is simple: send save-the-dates about nine to twelve months before the wedding (earlier for a destination or holiday date), then the formal invitations six to eight weeks out, with the RSVP deadline three to four weeks before the day. The digital save-the-date guide covers the announcement timeline in more detail.