BASIC WEDDING
INVITATION  FORMAT

 
by Carol Reed-Jones


You can be as creative with your invitations as you like, but be sure to communicate effectively.  An invitation should contain wording that clearly informs your guests that a wedding (to which they are invited) will take place.

Include the following:

• Bride and groom's names
• Parents' names (optional)
• Wording that makes it clear that the guests are invited, and clearly states whether they are invited to the wedding, the reception, or both
• Date, time, and place of wedding
• Information about the time and location of the reception, possibly also the type, for example:
  
  Brunch reception immediately following (or the exact time if not right away)
  The Clearview Hall
  2727 Recycle Lane
  Any-town, Any-state
  
• Optionally--a map and/or written directions to the wedding and reception sites, particularly if they are hard to find. This is especially helpful to out-of-town guests.
• Response card and envelope-- optional, but very useful in getting a commitment from guests so that you can plan reception food, seating arrangements for the ceremony and reception, and possible lodging for out-of-town guests. It is helpful if you stamp the envelope. Evidently, many people today seem to have trouble interpreting this
  standard response card:

  
  M_________  will_____ attend.
  
  Number in party_______.
  
  Some couples have received response cards back with no name, or no number in party, or both.   For our wedding invitation, we devised the following response card:

  
  ________________     will_____    will not______ attend.
     (name)
  
  Number in party______.
  
  For those guests who sent their response cards back, everyone completed them correctly.

• Optional--sentiment appropriate to the occasion (short line of poetry, or a quote about love, commitment, marriage)--when present, usually on the cover of the invitation.

© 1999 Carol Reed-Jones

Questions and Answers?