Wedding Invitation Wording: Examples & Etiquette for Every Style

Choosing the words for your wedding invitation can feel surprisingly stressful for something so small. It's often the very first thing your guests see from you as a couple — so it's worth getting right. Here's a plain-English guide to the etiquette, plus real examples you can adapt.

The Basic Structure

Most wedding invitations, however formal or casual, follow the same seven building blocks:

  1. The host line — who's inviting guests (the couple, both families, or one family)
  2. The request line — "request the honour of your presence" or "request the pleasure of your company"
  3. The couple's names
  4. Date and time, spelled out for formal invites or numeric for casual ones
  5. Venue and location
  6. Reception details (or "reception to follow")
  7. RSVP instructions — often just a website now

Formal Wording

Formal invitations still lean on traditional phrasing. Use "the honour of your presence" when the ceremony is in a place of worship, and "the pleasure of your company" for a secular venue like a hotel or barn.

Mr. and Mrs. Jonathan Reyes request the honour of your presence at the marriage of their daughter Lena Marie to Leonard Kim, Saturday, the tenth of October, two thousand twenty-six, at half past four o'clock in the afternoon, St. Mary's Cathedral. Reception to follow.

Modern & Casual Wording

Most couples today are moving away from rigid formality — warmth and personality are welcomed, and it's completely normal to write invitations the way you'd actually speak.

Together with their families, Sarah and Tom invite you to celebrate their wedding. Saturday 10 June 2027, 2pm, The Old Barn, Somerset. Reception and dancing to follow. RSVP at sarahandtom.com

A Few Etiquette Notes Worth Knowing

  • If you know a guest's title, use it (Mr., Ms., Dr.) — it signals thoughtfulness and clarifies exactly who's invited.
  • Spelling out the date and time is a formal-invite convention; numerals (10.06.27, 2pm) read as more casual.
  • It's increasingly common to move RSVPs, gift registry info, and travel details to a wedding website, keeping the invitation itself clean and simple — just add a QR code.

Make It Yours

However you word it, your invitation should sound like you. Whether that's classic and traditional or warm and a little playful, the goal is simply that your guests know when, where, and how excited they should be.

Browse our editable wedding invitation templates — fully customisable in Canva, so you can drop in your own wording (formal or not) and have it ready to send in minutes.

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