By Alyssa Napier Design 08/30/2022
Wedding Invitations: What to Say and How to Make Them
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Traditionally, the name of the bride always goes first.
For Formal Weddings:
Everything is written out in full with no numerals. The time of day is spelled out using “o’clock”. Evening begins at five o’clock, with noon until four o’clock being the afternoon.
For Casual Weddings:
Use of numerals and a.m. or p.m. is fine.
Include the name of the venue, city, and state written out in full.. The street address is not necessary, unless your wedding is taking place at a host’s home or you believe it will be confusing for your guests.
Include this on a separate card for formal invitations. Otherwise, include a line saying “reception to follow” if you are having a reception at the same location as the ceremony. For full details, including the location and time of the reception, it is best to include this on a separate card, especially if your reception is at a different location.
Dresscode
The Bride’s Parents:
“Mr. and Mrs. Henry Williams request the honor of your presence at the marriage of their daughter Christine to Nathaniel Johnson…”
You can use this same format if the groom’s parents are paying, just replace the parents’ names and “daughter” with “son”.
Both Parents:
“Mr. and Mrs. Henry Williams & Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Johnson request the honor of your presence at the marriage of their children Christine Williams and Nathaniel Johnson…”
Both Parents & The Couple:
“Christine Williams and Nathaniel Johnson together with their parents…”
The Couple:
If the couple themselves are paying for the wedding, you can omit this line.
What to Say ?
- Who’s hosting
- The request to attend
- The couple’s names
- The hosts’ names
- Date and time
- Venue location
- Reception details
- Dress code, if applicable
The Names of the Couple
The Date and Time
The Location
Reception Details
About the Writer Alyssa,
Alyssa is the founder and stationery designer of Alyssa Napier Design, a template studio that empowers brides-to-be to create beautiful invitations and signage at an affordable price point.
What began as a hobby for Alyssa to keep busy and creative in 2020 quickly turned into a business to help brides on a budget. Having planned her own wedding, she resonated with the many pain points brides-to-be planning their own weddings were experiencing, specifically finding the “right” invitations.
Now, Alyssa Napier Design has branched out into more life milestones, with a specific focus on weddings, because we just love love. We continue to strive to stand out as the warm, inviting, and soulful studio that really cares about helping our customers.
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Here’s What to Include:
Here’s How to Say It
Who’s Hosting
The Request to Attend
“request the pleasure of your company”
“invite you to share in their joy at the marriage of…”
“request the honor of your presence”
“invite you to share and celebrate the marriage of”
If you’d like to request a dress code, include this information at the bottom right-hand corner of the invitation, or include a separate card to indicate the dress code.
How to Make Them
Start With a Template
A template can help you save time and money! Rather than trying to totally DIY (buying your own fonts & graphics, designing the invitation from scratch, etc.), a template allows you to choose a style you like and simply plug in your own info. That's it! Wondering where to get templates? Check out our for designs you'll love.
Customize Your Invitations
We use Canva, a free online graphic design tool that allows you to fully customize your invitations without having to download any software or need high-level design skills. If you've never used Canva before, check out this we made with step-by-step instructions on how to personalize your invitations.
When you're happy with your invitations, click download. You can download as JPG, PNG, or PDF. We recommend selecting the "PDF-PRINT" option, as this will be the highest quality for printing at 300 DPI.
Download & Print
Don't know where to print? We recommend Prints of Love. They offer fast, free 2-3 day U.S. shipping + free envelopes! Plus they'll plant a tree for every order you place. Head to to upload your files and enter coupon code: alyssanapierdesign for 10% off your order.