Wedding Invitation Wording: Rules of Style and Etiquette in the Invitation Inform Your Guests About the Wedding and Reception

The style of your wedding invitation wording is very important for even the most casual and informal wedding and reception. As the wedding plans become more complex and formal, the exact details of the wording become clues to your guests and family as to their attire, possible gifts that would be appropriate, and to the theme and atmosphere of the celebrations. A church wedding requires more formality than a private home ceremony which is generally more formal than outdoors at a private estate, a well manicured garden, or a beach wedding in Hawaii.

The guest list for who will receive invitations should be agreed upon by both the bride and groom, though they need not know all the people the other wishes to include. A very practical consideration is the size of the venue where the ceremony and reception will be held. It is entirely proper that the guest list for the ceremony be smaller than that for the reception, but that needs to be clearly articulated in the wedding invitation wording so no one will feel slighted.

For a church wedding, the most formal of ceremonies, it is proper to "request the honor of your presence" rather than the less formal "request the pleasure of your company". Some schools of etiquette say "pleasure of your company" is never appropriate, but you decide.

Whoever is hosting the celebration, whether the parents, grandparents, or the bride and groom themselves needs to be reflected in the opening words of the invitation. All proper names need to be spelled out in full, but may include a nickname in quotations if it is the sort of moniker everyone who knows the person is completely familiar with. For instance, here the parents of the bride are hosting (paying the bills for) the wedding:

Mr. and Mrs. James "Butch" Brown request the honor of your presence at the marriage of their daughter Ella Mae and Robert Allen Johnson

(Note: there are no periods at the end of phrases because there are no sentences.)

Spell out all words and numbers used for the date and location in full (except for Mr., Mrs., Jr. or Ms.). Thus:

Sunday afternoon, July the fourth at twelve o'clock noon
Four hundred-forty four West Thirty Second Street
Chicago, Illinois

Your guests will actually appreciate a level of formality in the wedding invitation wording because it will inform them as to the proper etiquette for their participation in your grand celebration.