The first thing the guest notices about your wedding is going to be the invitation they have received. It’s necessary therefore to make use of the right words and the acceptable format. This article here is to guide you in making a perfectly worded invitation for a wedding that you are planning.
Firstly, the words used in the invitation need to have a level of formality of the wedding stationery itself, which in turn should again be proportionately formal to the style of the wedding. Let me give you an example. If the wedding was to be a formal black-tie affair with the bridegroom wearing a ball gown, would you send an invite by e-mail? In the same way, if it was a low-key affair, then it wouldn’t warrant to send an engraved notice. What is required here is harmony. The wording of the invitation will convey as much meaning to the guests as the look of the invitation itself does.
Arguably, the most important thing to know about the wording is that “pleasure of your company” means the ceremony is taking place in a secular place where as “honor of your company” would mean the ceremony is being held in a religious place of worship. The use of the correct phrase will give your guests an idea about what kind of wedding service to expect.
There is a traditional form of wording the wedding invitation where the parents of the bride are showed as the hosts of the wedding. In such cases, the invitation can start with “Mr. & Mrs. Brown / request the pleasure of your company/honor of your company at the marriage of their daughter”. It will then mention who is getting married to who in the fashion “Mary Kate / to Mr. Clive Parsons”. Next would come the date and time followed by the place of the wedding in the following fashion “Tuesday, the third of December at 8 o’clock in the morning, Kensington Square gardens”.
In case the parents of the bride are separated, the names of the mother and father can be printed in two separate lines. New spouses can also be added with the names of the bride’s parent’s names.
It is important to note that, being shown as the host does not necessarily mean the bride’s parents are bearing the costs of the wedding. However, nowadays its commonplace for the couple to be the hosts of their own wedding in which case the following wording could be followed “The honor/pleasure of your presence/company is requested at the marriage of Miss Mary Kate to Mr. Clive Parsons”. This form is most appropriate when the couples have too many parents, step parents and so on between them, which make it hard to fit them all in an invitation. This can also be a great compromise when the wedding bills are being shared by both the families as it can avoid unnecessary squabbling as to who has to get top priority.
Lastly, it is required to add a message at the bottom left hand corner, requesting response. It could be r.s.v.p or “Favor of a reply is requested”. You can then be sure who is turning up at the wedding and who is not which will also help you plan it accordingly.
