Building Your Perfect Wedding Invitation
Today we’re focusing on invitation content. Your wedding invitation is your guests’ main introduction to your big day. It’s your first chance to set the tone and get your guests excited to celebrate your marriage.
Wedding invitations can be intimidating. You may be asking yourself, “There are so many words and combinations to choose from, does it even matter what words you use?”. Or “Wait, the spelling of the word ‘honor’ makes a difference?”.
By the end of this guide you will know how to word your wedding invitation just the way you want. So grab a glass of wine, download my FREE Guide to Building Your Perfect Wedding Invitation, and let’s check this off your massive to-do list!
What Not To Do
This may be counter intuitive, but let’s get the “no-no’s” out of the way first. Your invitation should simply be inviting guests to the wedding ceremony. Any other information about your wedding such as your reception details, RSVP and accommodations should be saved for separate enclosure cards which complete your invitation suite. Before I go on, I want to state these are my personal opinions of what not to do, but if you disagree then go for it! It’s your big day and don’t let me stop you from doing what you want!
* Don’t say ‘adults only’.
* Don’t specify you only want cash.
* Don’t send your invitations out in ‘rounds’. (Yes, I’ve seen it done and people in the last ‘round’ received the invitation AFTER the RSVP date!!)
These items should be saved for your wedding website, or private conversations between you and your guests. There are classy ways to elude to this, and I’d be happy to provide you with suggestions.
Host
Let’s define the host: they are the individual(s) inviting the guests to attend the ceremony and reception (aka who’s paying for everything). Everyone has a unique situation where some are #blessed as their parents paying and others have to pay for everything themselves #savethatmoney. If you’re eating ramen noodles every night for months leading up to your wedding, do not feel guilty taking the credit for hosting the most amazing party of your life! And vice versa, if your parents are paying, give them the credit here.
Invitation
While it may seem obvious, don’t forget this is an invitation to a wedding, so you need to invite your guests. Remember to provide a ‘call to action’ so your guests know to show up! The whole purpose of this little piece of paper is to ask people to attend your wedding #jessdismountssoapbox.
Names
Ladies first! The bride’s name comes first follow by groom’s. Typically the names are separated with ‘To’, but in the Jewish culture the word ‘And’ is used for religious ceremonies.
For same sex couples you can either list the names by the parents who are hosting or alphabetically (to save you on those late night disagreements).
Ceremony Venue
The invitation is inviting your guests to the ceremony and should specify that location. If the reception is being held at a different location, only the ceremony location should be listed on the invitation. The reception venue can be added on a separate enclosure card.
Provide the venue details including the venue name, city and state. Zip codes are not needed. You can add the street address information if the event is occurring at a private residence or in a building with multiple rooms/units.
Date And Time
Your invitation needs to include the date and time of your ceremony (thanks Captain Obvious), but there are a few tips and tricks I want to share for formatting the date and time. This is where you can keep it traditional or spice it up for a more modern feel.
Closing Action
After you provide all the information for your guests about your ceremony, a few simple words let your guests know more about the celebration.
Piece It All Together
Are you ready to create your perfect invitation? Download my Guide to Building Your Perfect Wedding Invitation here and get started! The guide has tons of different examples of phrases and words to use, a full sample invitation, and ‘To-Do’ checks on the way to put it all together and build your perfect invitation at the end! Also, it’s FREE!