Formal Wedding Invitation Wording

We all expect planning a wedding to be a sea of details, but did you expect the tidal wave of etiquette difficulties too? Here are the basics, so you can spend your precious time planning the fun stuff. The standard, formal wording meant for a wedding paid for by the bride’s parents is:

Mr. and Mrs. Robert Smith
request the honor of your presence
at the marriage of their daughter
Ellen Anne
to Theodore Edward Jones
at the Seal Beach Club
Saturday, the Seventeenth of May
At four o’clock

If bride's parents are divorced, the mother's name traditionally goes on the first line and the father's name on the second line separated by the word "and". The same layout fits if both sets of parents will be hosting. If Bride's parents are hosting, but would like to include grooms parents on the invitation, the invitation is generally phrased like this:

Mr. and Mrs. Christopher Jones
request the honor of your presence
at the marriage of their daughter
Anne Catherine
to Theodore Joseph Johnson
son of Mr. and Mrs. Mike Johnson
etc.

A deceased parent may be mentioned using the following form, since they are unable to formally host the wedding.

Maria Louise Jones
daughter of Margaret Elizabeth Jones and the late Mark Allen Jones
and
John Matthew Smith
son of Mr. and Mrs. James Michael Smith
request the honour of your presence
at their marriage
etc

If you are getting married at a place other than a place of worship, then use the phrase “request the pleasure of your company” instead. Formal wedding invitations never use “a.m” or “p.m.”, they use “o’clock”. Jewish weddings use the joining word "and" instead of "to" between the bride and groom's names. Also in Jewish weddings, both the bride and groom's parents always appear on the invitation.