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I just got engaged, and I'm already freaking out about invitation wording.
The wedding is being hosted by the groom and I, and it would be completely unlike us to just include the traditional “First-name Middle-name Last-name and First-name Middle-name Last-name request the pleasure of your blah blah blah.”
All that old fashioned formal invitations wording makes me want to barf — it's just not us! We need more fun, more personality, and less stodgyness.
Help? —Lisette
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First, congratulations on your engagement, and welcome to Offbeat Bride! We're all about celebrating folks who venture off the beaten aisle, and we're super excited to help you scheme.
If you feel like other wedding websites feel white-washed and bland, we're your alternative with unique, unexpected, and inclusive wedding planning advice for nontraditional folks. Informal weddings? We gotchoo.
Let's dork out about this: how DO you write unique wedding invitation wording?
If you think using your full names is traditional, I hate to think what you'd think of ye olde “Mr. and Mr. Smith invite you to join them at the marriage of their daughter, Jane to John, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Last Names.”
You're probably relatively familiar with this standard wedding invitation etiquette, right? It looks sorta like this:
Doctor and Mr. Ryan Richard Smith, Jr.
and Mr. and Mrs. Bob Jonesrequest the honor of your presence
at the marriage of their children
Robin Smith to
Casey Brown
[ARE YOU STILL AWAKE? CUZ THERE'S MORE]
Sunday, the tenth of September
two thousand nineteen
at half after four o’clock
Happy Friends Church
Tampa, Florida
and afterward at the reception
Hilton Hotel
347 Main Street
Your cheatsheet for what to include on wedding invitation
When it comes to invitation wording, we've got you covered. But what if you just need a cheatsheet for what to include on wedding invitation?... Read more
That's the traditional wedding invitation wording etiquette… and for couples planning formal weddings, that kind of traditional wording, “pleasure of your company”-style totally makes sense — but for the rest of us? It feels like putting on someone else's coat: a little stiff and a lot uncomfortable.
But never fret. I've got some quick tips and examples of wedding invitation wording that feels like your favorite old t-shirt — but, you know, a little fancier. Here are our tips…
Unique wedding invitation wording tip #1:
Keep your wedding invitation wording CLEAR & BASIC!
Your best bet with wedding invitation wording is to stay basic — not necessarily formal, but simple and easy to understand. Guests often skim invites, and if you get too cutesy, clever, or longwinded, you increase the likelihood that someone will get confused.
Remember: especially if you're having a nontraditional wedding, your nontraditional wedding invitation's wording needs to focus on minimizing confusion… because you're going to be maximizing disorientation. I vote for straightforward wording, with maybe one little piece of flair tossed in. Your wedding might confuse more traditional guests — don't let your invitation wording be confusing too!
Unique wedding invitation wording tip #2:
Always tell them what to do next!
The biggest mistake most couples make is forgetting to help their guests know what to do next. Always make sure you end with a call to action, telling your guests to RSVP or go to your wedding website.
(Ooh, speaking of which — did you know we can help you find wedding websites with cool, totally non-froofy templates? Yeah, we can do that too.)
Ok, so now for specific unique wedding invitation wording examples!
We've collected some of our favorite offbeat wedding invitation wording examples from our readers. Along the way, we'll share some cute wedding stationery and wedding invitation designs that we love.
Most of these lkean towards more informal wedding invitation. And we've divided them by who's paying for the wedding celebration since much of the “choose your own adventure” of wedding invitation wording comes down to finances…
Unique wedding invitation wording with family included
These are great if it's a wedding with parents hosting, but you still want wording that's more fun that the usual formal wedding invitations.
Because you have believed in them,
Celebrated with them
Loved and encouraged them,
We, ParentName and ParentName LastName
And OtherParentName and OtherParentName LastName
Ask you to join us in honoring our children
[partner 1]
And
[partner 2]
As they celebrate the beginning of their adventures together
Date and locationBring your dancing shoes
dinner and music immediately following ceremony
[Names of both sets of parents]
call for the contentment of your company
at the marriage of
[Partner 1]
and
[Partner 2]
Saturday, the eleventh of July,
two-thousand & twenty one
at half-past five in the evening
Location
Dress as you wish, dine as you like, dance as you please
further details & a few cute photos at wedding websiteRSVP postcard wording:
Please join us for dinner, dancing & dalliance!
Kindly RSVP by dateattending: name(s): _______
attending: name(s): _______
Please choose one:
_ accept with pleasure _ decline with regret
_ accept with regret _ decline with pleasure
Your love and friendship have
helped us become who we are.
Together with our parents,
we invite you to share our joy
and support our love,
as we exchange vows and
celebrate our marriage.
her
and
him
Sunday 23rd August at 2 o'clock
The Ashes, Endon, Staffordshire
A celebration with dinner, drinks
and dancing will follow.
Becca Middle Last
Daughter of [bride's parents] and [partner],
Son of [their parents]
Are Gettin' Hitched!
Please join us
For a celebration of love, friendship,
Laughter and family
Date
Time
Place
Fabulous food, fun, and festivities to follow
This blended family wedding invitation wording example includes the children of the engaged:
Warm ocean waves will do the clapping,
as our vows we say.
The bright, blue sky will be our canopy,
on our wedding day.
Please join Duane & Valarie
Along with their lovely daughters,
Katherine, Elizabeth, Isabelle & Cheyenne
as we continue our life journey together
a blended family,
uniting legally & lawfully.
Date
Time
Address
You're the echoes of my everything… you're the reason why I burst and why I bloom.” ~Motion City Soundtrack,
[Partners] along with their families,
invite you to their garden party wedding
for a whimsically reverent celebration of love
Saturday, June 27, 2022
Noon
Location
food, drink, and merriment to follow
Humorous and funny wedding invitation wording
You are totally invited to the wedding of
Partner & Partner
Sunday, the twenty-seventh of September
two thousand and nine
at five in the evening
Location
Address
Ceremony followed by dinner, cocktails, and awkward but enthusiastic dancing[rsvp card:]
we will be attending your awesome wedding
[ ] True
[ ] False{_} guests will be attending
[enclosure card:]
Need more info?
Are you wondering…
where to stay?
what to do in town?
whats on the menu?
where the wedding is?
who are these people?Please visit
wedding website
Partner & Partner
Invite you to join the fun
As they stand togetherwith sweaty hands & open hearts
extending their friendship to include the vows of marriage.location and timeDinner, dancing, and merriment to followCostumes encouragedWedding website
L&W
Sittin' inna tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G
First came love,
Now comes marriage.
So…
They are goin to the chapel,
and are gonna get ma-a-arried.Put your glad rags on and join us
We'll have fun when the clock strikes two.
Our hands are shakey and our knees are weak,
Who do you thank when you have such luck?Bells will ring, the sun will shine.
I'll be his and he'll be mine.
From the day we say I do,
We'll love until the end of time,And we'll never be lonely anymore.Please join us on
Saturday June 25th, 2021
The Farmer's Museum
First comes love, now comes marriage!
Come celebrate with us as we tie the knot on Sunday, October 10th, 2021.
Festivities will begin at 1:00 with dinner, dancing, and happily-ever-afters to follow.And this is what the RSVP cards said:Who's In?_ Will be there with bells on!
_ Will attend, no bells.
_ Will not attend, has bell phobia. Sends regrets.
Casual wedding invitation wording
Because your love and friendship have made us who we are,
And because you enjoy good beer and barbecue as much as we do,
Ms.
and
Mr.
Invite you to join them at their wedding
Date
Local Brewery
AddressDoors open for guests to arrive at 6:30 p.m.
Wedding ceremony begins at 7 p.m.
Barbecue/reception continues at 7:15 p.m.
For you I know I'd even try to turn the tide. – Johnny Cash
With joyous hearts we invite you to share in our weekend of celebration
as best friends become husband & wife, wife & wife, husband & husband, etc.(insert your preferred pronouns)Friday, the Twenty-Third of January
Two Thousand and Eleven
At Five o'clockThe Inn at
Woodloch Pines ResortStay with us for a weekend
of hot cocoa and warm company
January 23-25, 2019Wedding website link
Partner met partner
For the rest of the story join us on
June 20, 2019
Celebration will begin
at 4 o'clock
in the afternoon.
Ceremony at dusk.
Shenandoah, IowaFor directions, accommodations, events of the day, R.S.V.P, and much more, please visit our wedding website.
photostrip of four photos of the couple, holding up cards that read:we're getting married!
you should totally come!
it's in Hobart on Saturday 17th December.head to mywedding.com/ournames
for more info.we can't wait
to see you there!
no house of worship, no aisle, no chairs…
just two crazy people in a field
vowing to each other a lifetime
of dirty jokes and random misadventures
please join us as we commit ourselves!
SOMETIME
SOMEDAY
SOMEPLACE
Visit our website for more information!
SOME WEBSITE
Invitation wording with special requests
Groom's Name and Bride's Name joyfully invite you to share in our celebration of love and commitment.Please join us
Date
at the LocationCeremony on the back lawn at 5:00 pm
to be followed by an evening of food, music, dancing, and laughterGuests are encouraged to dress creatively and comfortably.Please keep in mind that we are planning an outdoor ceremony.High heels and uncomfortable formal wear are not recommended.[on a separate card:]About Gifts:
The very best present we can receive is your presence at our wedding and your love and support as we embark on this adventure together.We recognize that especially for those of you coming from far away, simply attending our wedding will already entail spending money on travel and hotel accommodations.Homemade, handmade, and second hand gifts are welcomed and appreciated.Many of you are contributing your time and energy to this event, and for the gift of your participation we thank you.To make it easier for the more traditional gift givers among you, we have set up a registry on amazon.com
Reception-only wedding invitation wording
You're invited to the post-ceremony celebration
of Ell and Eff
on July 16, 2019.
Cook-out, yard games, and swimming
begin at noon!
At the home of Dubbleyou and Effy
on 2206 Road Lane Court
in Jeffersonville, INWe are fortunate enough to have all of the customary
items needed to start a home.If you wish to contribute in some way,we are asking for Lowe's gift cards to
renovate and update our home.
No family mentions
Punch & Judy
are tying the knotcelebrate with us:
sing, cry, drink, dance, play, and eatceremony & reception:
date
location
timeplease bring an instrument if you have onei'd rather sleep in a box like a bum on the street
than a fine feathered bed without your little cold feet
– guy clarke, magnolia wind
Geeky weddings
They've earned enough EXP.
The princess isn't in another castle.
He is her One.She is his Constant.
Their power level, it's OVER NINE THOUSAND!!!1!ahem… So… Not long from now, in a venue relatively close by,
J and H will be getting married!Woot!Sunday, October 10, 2021at 2:10 pm[Venue info here]Pizza, Cupcakes, Dancing, Guitar Hero, and other Festivities to follow!Got it memorized?————————————————Formal wear? Inconceivable!
Seriously, we're geeks, people. Okay… so for our wedding we might look a bit more spiffy than usual, but we encourage all our guests to dress in whatever they feel is comfortable. Bright colors FTW! Oh, but we're not responsible for what happens if you decide to wear a red shirt.All Your Gifts Are Belong to Us
We already have a hatch-load of stuff. However, if you're feeling particularly generous we're registered at Bed, Bath & Beyond, Target, and Amazon.com. Gil, Munny, or Rupees are also acceptable.We Can Haz Guest List Nao?
If you're planning to celebrate with us, that would be awesomesauce! Let us know soon, though, mmmmkay? You can RVSP by phone at [number], via teh Interwebs, or by owl post. By the way, those not in attendance may be subject to burnination.We're in UR mail, blowin' UR mind
WTF, right? Wondering what we're talking about? Don't panic. If you need some help decoding this L337 invitation, check out our site at wedding website.
Las Vegas wedding invitation wording
Gambling man & High rolling chick
Take a gamble on forever
Date
Time
Viva Las Vegas Wedding Chapel
Address
Las Vegas, Nevada
Bowling and merriment to follow
The Orleans Hotel Bowling Alley
Address
3:30 pm
Halloween wedding invitation wording (and other assorted creepiness)
Fall, Halloween, Zombies, Movie Monsters. Spooky!
As crisp Autumn colors her leaves
Love is entwined on All Hallow's Eve
When the sun drops out of the sky of blue
There will be a Halloween Party
with a wedding skewJoin Spooky Bride and Scary Groom
along with their families
as they join as one
in a night filled with funDate, time, location
Reception to follow
Delightfully Dark Wedding Invitations
“With this hand,
I will lift your sorrows.
Your cup will never empty,
for I will be your wine.
With this candle,
I will light your way in darkness.
With this ring,
I ask you to be mine”
– The Corpse Bride, Tim BurtonFH & Mewould like you to join them
as they exchange vows.
date, time, locationSmart, casual dress is preferred.
lastname/lastname presentsA Casual Attire Wedding
The Bride The Groom
“Creatures in Wedlock”Wedding and Reception: 95416 Hwy 101RSVP by July 22Event Premiers On August 22, 2021 at 6:00pm
GirlFace
and
NerdFaceinvite you to join them
as they commit to
survive the zombie apocalypse
together.July 27, 2021
at
Passenger Station
2310 Montana Avenue
at XX:XXpm
“When we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall into
mutually satisfying weirdness and call it love , true love.” – Robert Fulghumfor all the gory details please visit our wedsite:
wedding websiteLady & Dude
Request that you partake in the mayhem at their
Monster Mash Wedding Bash
Saturday October 30, 2021 at 6:00 pm1300 Hanover St Hanover, Md 21076Adult reception immediately following the tying of the knot.Food, candy, desserts, dancing & drunken debauchery to be had by all.Costumes & creative attire highly encouraged.
Renaissance and Medieval wedding invitation wording
Lady Dutchess of NorthSouthShire
&
Sir Duke of NorthWestVilleHereby request the honour of thy presence
at their wedding ceremony
on Saturday, the thirteenth of December,
Two thousand and EightThe ceremony shall commence at
four o'clock in the afternoon
at
LocationThey therefore extend their warmest greetings
to all ye Lords and Ladies with an invitation
to an evening of music and revelry
following immediately thereafter
A. N.
&
L. E.Most humbly request the magnificent
honour of thine incomparable presence
to bear witness to the grand spectacle
of marriage between their two housesDate
Time
Location
AddressFeasting, merriment and combat to follow.
Want to see which invitations are trending with our readers?
Now that we've taken care of wedding invitation wording ideas, how about some more cute invitation designs? In our curated Offbeat Wed Shop, we share all the alternative wedding invitations that our readers are buying. New designs are added DAILY, with unique invitations for microweddings, Halloween weddings, and more!
Offbeat Wed Vendor
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Just to add to the mix, this is our wedding invite preamble:
A romantic story
When Sonia was young, a very long time ago, she asked her Dad whether he thought she’d ever find someone to love and settle down with, to which her fabulously witty and poetic father replied,
Every mouldy biscuit has a funky cheese
Luckily for Sonia she met her funky cheese, Ben, just in the nick of time before the fungi completely took a hold of her and she was naught but a blue musty dust in the back of the bread bin.
So careful not to let each other out of their sight and desirous of experiencing what’s left on the cheese
board of life together, whether it be a wilted stick of celery or a delicious pickle…
They’re jumping the broomstick!
Ours was a poly wedding with three people, and I was anxious about calling it a “wedding” officially for a long time because it wasn’t legally binding, just a celebration ceremony for us. So our invitations don’t actually mention “wedding” or “marriage” at all. Of course, I was also anxious people wouldn’t realise it WAS a wedding, so we included a little FAQ sheet with a few clarifications. So our invitation wording was:
Bride’s first name, Groom’s first name and Bride’s first name
invite you to join us for afternoon tea and champagne in celebration of our love and commitment to one another.
Location, time and date details
Please respond by RSVP date
And in the questions slip (which was titled “Handy Reference Guide” because our wedding had a library theme):
Is this a wedding?
By Australian law we can’t legally get married, but as far as we’re concerned, yes, this is our wedding! We’re celebrating our love for each other and our ongoing commitment to the family we want to build together, and we want to share it with the people closest to us who have loved and supported us for so many years.
I agonised over this wording for ages since it can be hard to find examples of this sort of stuff for poly weddings (and it’s especially hard to find examples that are specifically relevant to your own family because poly families are perhaps even more varied in structure than mono ones) so hopefully someone else might find it useful 🙂
Beautiful! Congrats to the three of you…
I’m having a problem figuring out the wording for my invites for a few reasons:
* Our wedding is offbeat lite, so I’d like fun, but a little more traditional wording
* My parents are contributing financially to the wedding, so we would like to include them in the invites
* His mom is bipolar, so including my parents and NOT including her would cause issues
* His dad passed away, but he would still like to include him somehow
* This is a second marriage for me, and I kept my married last name. However, because I’ll be changing it to my man’s last name, I don’t feel it’s appropriate to have my ex-husband’s last name on my wedding invites. Should go with our first and middle names?
* I have a daughter, and we would like to include her on the invites somehow too!
So you can see how this would be a HUGE struggle! However, these are some great ideas, and hopefully I’ll be able to take some of them and mix them together to create something that works for us!
What a brilliant post! I really didn’t want to have to follow the boring wording seen in so many invites so this is fantastic inspiration! Also gives me the courage to write as I wish! 🙂
I absolutely love this! Thank you for this post! This is extremely helpful! As soon as I finalize our wording I’ll add it here. <3
So, my boyfriend and I are hosting, we chose a casual invite with a bit of a party feeling to it to reflect the atmosphere we hope to have at the actual wedding & reception. And it’s just the invite, no inserts or rsvp cards – the invites direct guests to a wedding website. But now am I struggling just to get the ADDRESS wording right. It seems so formal to address envelopes to Mr. and Mrs. Jones. Is it ok to use just first & last names, such as Jeremy and Melissa Jones and leave off the Mr./Mrs./Ms. titles altogether? My concern is that the more formal makes me a little uncomfortable and seems too fancy considering how casual the invitations are, but I also don’t want to bypass all traditions and rules of etiquette so that I come off as flippant or tacky. Suggestions, please!!
Thank you for this! My fiance and I are paying for the wedding ourselves so we’ve been trying to figure out how we want to word our invitations for our wedding ski weekend. HUGE help!
My fiancee is a drummer and I am a concert photographer… so of course this needs to show in the invitations somehow.
We are going to have backstage-pass invitations and this sure gave me some ideas in terms of wording 🙂
Hey there,
Cruising through this with my fiancée, and we’re definitely getting inspired by some of the creativity of these invitations… Love your catchy title 🙂
Almost 5 years together now, it’s almost time to get to get cracking on some invitations!
My parents are hosting the wedding and we would like to include them on the invitation. However, I am keeping my maiden name after we get married. Will putting just my first and middle name on the invitation come across as if I’m taking his name? Can I put my full name on the invitation or would that look weird since my parents full names are above..
“Mr. and Mrs. Brides parents request the pleasure of your company at the marriage of their daughter”
“Brides full name”
to
“Grooms full name”
From someone who’s been there (as far as not-taking-names goes), there is nothing I have found that will make it look decisively like you are or aren’t taking your spouse’s name — people will either assume, ask, or pay attention. We’re getting invitations done by a local artist who had a bunch of beautiful samples around, and some of them were just first-name and first-name! They still were able to be gorgeous and semiformal.
Use whatever names on the invitations you like, though! It will be fine. 🙂
I’m super disappointed by the strong heteronormativity in these examples…”Boy name Girl Name” “Lady First Name” “Gent First Name”. Is your invitation advice only for hetero couples? Why not make it gender neutral?
Hey, Naomi, you’re absolutely right. This post is pretty old relative to our newer posts (circa 2007), and we’ve gotten WAY better at being gender non-specific. I’m editing this post now to better match that. Thank you so much for calling it out!!
I am planning our tie dye wedding for June 2019. I plan on wearing a tie dye dress. I need help on decor, ideas, wedding invitation wording (i would like to ask everyone to wear tie dye or bright colors). Any ideas or help with wording would be appreciated. Thank you.
Thanks for sharing this post. I just love everything about this post.