15 Classic Wedding Invitation Wording Examples

It’s finally that time to start working on your wedding invitations – yay!

I don’t know about you guys, but I loved the process of finding the perfect invitations and figuring out the proper wording for them. I know, I know, invitation wording doesn’t exactly scream fun haha, but that’s where I come in!

The beauty about invitation wording is that there are a ton of different ways you can word your wedding invitations, whether you’re having a casual wedding or a formal wedding or even a semi-formal wedding, there’s proper wording for each!

First, before I officially dive in, I think it’s important to note a few things:

1. It’s proper etiquette to write out the full date without numbers and to not abbreviate any words, except when necessary in some addresses.
2. Ceremony detail should always be on the invitation, even if the ceremony and reception are in different locations (Scroll down to the “Ceremony and reception are at different locations” section)
3. It’s also proper etiquette to write out the full name of each person. This goes for the invitation itself as well as guest addressing.
4. These are by no means the only ways to word your invitations. These are just some examples you could use as a template!

So, with that said, here are the different ways you can word your invitations to suit your wedding the best  – and I’m giving you guys a couple of little bonus at the end on how to word your RSVP cards (especially if you want your guests to RSVP online), what that darn ‘M’ stands for 😉, and how to address guests on the envelopes.

Bride’s Parents are Hosting (What we chose for our own invitations)

“Mr. and Mrs. Charles Gilmore
request the honor of your presence
at the marriage of their daughter

Isabella Marie
to
Michael William Rhodes

October twentieth
two thousand twenty
four o’clock in the afternoon

St. Patrick’s Cathedral
5th avenue
New York, New York

Reception to follow”

So, because the bride’s last name has been used on the host line, you only need to write out the bride’s first and middle names.

Couple is hosting their own wedding

“You are cordially invited to attend
the marriage of

Isabella Marie
to
Michael William Rhodes

October twentieth
two thousand twenty
four o’clock in the afternoon

St. Patrick’s Cathedral
5th avenue
New York, New York

Reception to follow”

Groom’s parents are hosting the couple’s wedding

There are two ways you could write out the wording for this scenario. One option would put focus on the groom, where the other keeps the focus on the bride.

Focus on the groom:

“Mr. and Mrs. Henry Rhodes
request the honor of your presence
at the marriage of their son

Michael William
to
Isabella Marie Gilmore

October twentieth
two thousand twenty
four o’clock in the afternoon

St. Patrick’s Cathedral
5th avenue
New York, New York

Reception to follow”

Focus on the bride:

“Mr. and Mrs. Henry Rhodes
request the pleasure of your company
at the marriage of

Isabella Marie Gilmore
to
Michael William

The Park Savoy Estate
236 Ridgedale Avenue
Florham Park, New Jersey

Reception to follow”

Both groom and bride’s parents are hosting

“Mr. and Mrs. Charles Gilmore
along with Mr. and Mrs. Henry Rhodes
cordially invite you to attend the
marriage of their children

Isabella Marie
to
Michael William

October twentieth
two thousand twenty
four o’clock in the afternoon

Oxford Exchange
420 West Kennedy Boulevard
Tampa, Florida

Reception to follow”

or

“Mr. and Mrs. Charles Gilmore
cordially invite you to attend
the marriage of their daughter

Isabella Marie
to
Michael William

son of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Rhodes

October twentieth
two thousand twenty
four o’clock in the afternoon

Oxford Exchange
420 West Kennedy Boulevard
Tampa, Florida

Reception to follow”

Bride, Groom and both bride and groom’s parents are hosting

In the case that everyone is pulling their weight in hosting the wedding, here’s what you could say:

“Together with their families

Isabella Marie Gilmore
and
Michael William Rhodes

cordially invite you
to attend their marriage

October twentieth
two thousand twenty
four o’clock in the afternoon

Oxford Exchange
420 West Kennedy Boulevard
Tampa, Florida

Reception to follow”

Ceremony and reception are at different locations

A lot of weddings have the ceremony in one location and the reception at another. The wording on this can seem a little tricky, but what I recommend is to put your ceremony details on the invitation and your reception details on a small enclosure card. That way your invitation doesn’t become overwhelming with too many details.

Invitation wording:

“Mr. and Mrs. Charles Gilmore
request the honor of your presence
at the marriage of their daughter

Isabella Marie
to
Michael William Rhodes

October twentieth
two thousand twenty
four o’clock in the afternoon

Tribeca Rooftop
2 Desbrosses Street
New York, New York

Reception to follow”

Reception enclosure card:

“Reception

Please join us
for cocktails, dinner and dancing

Oxford Exchange

420 West Kennedy Boulevard
Tampa, Florida

Six o’clock in the evening”

Casual/Semi-formal Weddings

If your wedding is more casual or semi-formal, the following wording may suit what you’re going for better – but don’t be afraid to change the wording to really match the vibe you’re going for! These are just guidelines to help you get an idea.

“Mr. and Mrs. Charles Gilmore
cordially invite you to attend
the marriage of their daughter

Isabella Marie
to
Michael William Rhodes

October twentieth
two thousand twenty
four o’clock in the afternoon

Oxford Exchange
420 West Kennedy Boulevard
Tampa, Florida

Reception to follow”

or

“Mr. and Mrs. Charles Gilmore
request the pleasure of your company
at the marriage of their daughter

Isabella Marie
to
Michael William Rhodes

October twentieth
two thousand twenty
four o’clock in the afternoon

Oxford Exchange
420 West Kennedy Boulevard
Tampa, Florida

Reception to follow”

Traditional RSVP wording

Alright, before I get into the wording… what does that darn ‘M’ mean?? The ‘M’ is meant to signify the first letter of your title. The choices are Mr., Mrs., Ms., and Miss.

“Reply

by the first of June

M_________

____ Yes! Can’t wait.
____ Number attending

____ Sorry, can’t make it”

or

“Reply by

the first of June

M_________

___ Accepts ___ Regrets

Initial each guest’s entree

___ Chicken ___ Beef ___ Vegan”

or

“Response

Please reply by

the first of June

M_________

Circle your attendance below:

Accepts | Regrets”

Online RSVP wording

Nowadays a lot of people, including us, are requesting guests to RSVP online. I personally love this idea because it’s a lot easier to keep track of. So, if you’re like us and would like to request guests to RSVP online, here’s the wording we chose:

“RSVP

The favor of your reply
is requested by

June twenty-first

We have reserved __ seats
in your honor

To RSVP and for more information
please visit our wedding website

www.isabellaandmichael.com”

Guest addressing wording

Guest addressing is pretty easy, but there are a few tips I have to ensure you maintain proper etiquette:

1. Always write out the person’s full name. Even if you call someone by Mike all the time, you should address them as Michael. Although, I think there are situations where this “rule” can be broken. For example, Matlock and I have a friend named Bob. Usually, Bob is short for Robert, but I’ve never heard him say his name was Robert the entire time I’ve known him and no one knows him as Robert. So, for us, we left it as Bob when we addressed his name.
2. Streets, boulevards, avenues, cities and states should all be spelled out without abbreviation. For example, if an address is “123 W 50th St. New York, NY,” you’d write it out as “123 West 50th Street New York, New York.” However, here’s another example of when you would keep the abbreviation: “123 NW 23rd Ave. Apt. 5 New York, NY,” would be written out as, “123 NW 23rd Avenue, Apartment 5, New York, New York.” Because the ‘NW’ is part of the street name, it should be kept the same… I hope that makes sense!
3. Apartment numbers should also be written out on the line below the street number. If they live in a condo or duplex, you can just put the number. Here are a couple examples:Apartment:
   “Mr. Michael Van Der Woodsen and Guest
   123 Apple Street
   Apartment 301
   New York, New York 10010”Condo:
   “Mr. and Mrs. Henry Waldorf
   123 West Apple Circle
   #321
   New York, New York 10010”
4. Titles such as Dr., Mr., Mrs. and Ms. remain abbreviated.
5. Middle names should not be abbreviated. They should either be written out or left out.
6. If you decide to use an inner and outer envelope, the outer envelope addresses guests as usual and the inner envelope gives you the opportunity to specify who exactly is invited. This is also a great way to tastefully tell your guests if their children are invited or not. Parents are listed first with their children listed below them. Here’s an example:Outer envelope:
   “The Van De Woodsen Family”Inner envelope:
   “Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Van Der Woodsen
   Sarah Van De Woodson”

Here a few more examples of specific situations:

Addressing an unmarried couple living together:

“Ms. Sarah Dean and Mr. Jacob Smith”

Addressing a married couple:

You should always address both members of the married couple – even if you know one of them won’t be able to make it.

“Mr. and Mrs. Jonathan Michaels”

Addressing a married couple where one is a doctor:

“Dr. Jacob and Mrs. Laura Smith” or “Dr. Laura and Mr. Jacob Smith” or if she uses her maiden name: “Dr. Laura Fields and Mr. Jacob Smith”

Addressing a married couple where both are doctors:

“The Drs. Johnson” or “Drs. Harriett and Mark Johnson”

I hope this helps you! Words are powerful and how we use them on our wedding invitations, along with the design, sets the mood for the big day.

If you have any questions at all, just comment below and I’ll reply back!

xoxo,
Matlock and Kelly

 

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