Typestyles

 

We offer a wide range of typestyles, from traditional to contemporary.  These can be downloaded as a PDF file 

 

 

Invitation Wording

 

Your wedding day is a totally unique and very special occasion.  It is appropriate, therefore, that your wedding stationery reflects your style, taste and personality.  As your wedding stationery will be the first impression that your guests will receive regarding the tone and style of your forthcoming celebration, most couples want to ensure that their choice of stationery leaves a lasting impression on the recipients.

 

The “correct” etiquette for wording an invitation can cause couples hours and hours of angst, and in today’s modern world, it can cause arguments and heartache at what should be a joyous time.  Whilst it is true that there are some time-honoured and traditional guidelines that can be followed, they should just be that, guidelines to help and advise, not to be a straight-jacket restraining your own style and individuality.  Ideally, you want to strike a balance between practicality and charm for every component of your invitation.

 

Your invitation can reveal how formal or informal your wedding will be, the type of ceremony you will be having (along with any pre or post wedding activities) and who is hosting the event.

 

Typically, an invitation includes the following elements:
* the host line,
* the request line
* the bride and groom line
* the date and time lines
* the location line
* the reception line
* and, finally, the R.S.V.P. lines.

 

To ensure that your guests know what to expect and to avoid possible confusion, your  invitation should have all these lines, but they can be worded and arranged in any number of ways to reflect your style and circumstances.

 

The element of the invitation that has been most affected by changing times is the host line. It used to be that couples married quite young, without having previously moved from their parents' homes.  In those days, the bride's mother and father paid for the wedding and were the wedding hosts. Over the years, it has become acceptable for the groom's parents to contribute to the event, and added to this, there may be now additional the complication of step-parents also playing a role.  Finally, as more and more couples marry later in life, it is not unusual for the couple themselves to be the hosts of the wedding.  In all cases, formal invitations are usually written in third-person, eg “Mr. and Mrs. George Smith” not “We”.

 

Examples of these different situations and how to word them can be found in our downloadable “Invitation Wording Guide” (a PDF document).  To download click here.

 

The next line of your wedding invitation should tell guests what type of ceremony to expect. A traditional church or religious ceremony would read “Request the honour of your presence” whilst a civil ceremony would usually state “Request the pleasure of your company.”

 

In a formal style, it is traditional to include the title (eg Mr & Mrs) and full names but
prefixes and decorations (eg Hon, MBE)are not included (but they should be included on the envelope). In an informal style (and if you have excluded titles from the rest of the
invitation), then it is usual to omit a salutation (eg Mr & Mrs) on the invitation.

 

You will want to consider how you would like your names to be presented and whether just your names will suffice or whether you also want to include your titles; traditionally, the groom's name is preceded by "Mr." while the bride's name (including any middle names) stands alone and without title.

 

For the time and date line, the format is to start with the day, date, month and year, followed by the time.  For formal invitations, it is traditional to spell out the numbers in both the date and time, and for the time, to state whether it is in the morning, afternoon or evening (rather than using “am” or “pm).  So this style would see the date and time of “5th May 2007 at 2.30pm” spelled out as “Saturday fifth May Two thousand and seven
at half after two o'clock in the afternoon”.

 

The next line states the venue of the wedding ceremony.  Again, it is best to avoid abbreviating the name of the location and list the full address, spelling out road types, like Avenue although it is acceptable to use St. for Saint (St.).

 

The reception line follows.  If the ceremony and reception are being held at the same venue, then the wording “Reception to follow” will suffice.  Otherwise, provide the full address, or, if also including a Reception Details insert, then just provide the name of the reception venue.  Similarly, the RSVP details should either be included as the final line of the invitation, or you may choose to include a RSVP and pre-addressed envelope in your invitation ensemble.

 

In terms of punctuation, there are no full stops (.) at the end of a line or sentence and line breaks take the place of commas.  The first letter of each line is not capitalized, unless it is a proper noun, but the first word of the year is capitalised (eg “Saturday, the fifth of May Two thousand and seven).  There should be no abbreviations other than Mr, Mrs, Dr, St and RSVP.

 

There is a great deal of debate regarding mentioning gift registry information.  If you have decided to include information, then should only be included on a separate insert and it should never be mentioned on the face of the actual invitation.  

 

Finally, the time will come when you actually need to post your invitations.   Traditionally, envelopes are hand-written, although if you may wish to make use of your designer’s mailing preparation service.  Irrespective of the method, you should use both first and last names on the envelopes and avoid abbreviating titles, suffixes, and road names. 

 

Finally, after bearing all of this in mind, don’t lose sight of the fact that the purpose of the invitation is to herald the lovely news of a couple's intention to marry and to ask its recipient to join in the celebration of that event.  So, do consider the guidance offered here but make sure that whatever wording you choose, it reflects the joy of your forthcoming marriage.