Wedding Invitation Wording Guide
How To Say ‘It’s a Child-Free Wedding’ And More
Writing your wedding invitations sounds like it should be a simple task, doesn’t it, my wonderfuls? If you’re sitting down to actually do it, though, you might be getting stuck in certain places. Besides the basic information about where people should be and at what time, you might want to let your guests know about specific requirements or requests you have for your wedding - telling them it’s to be a child-free wedding, for example, or asking for contributions to your honeymoon. Luckily, as a wedding stationery designer, I’m well practiced in helping my couples say these things politely, graciously but definitely on their pretty paperwork. This is my wedding invitation wording guide, so absolutely no more guesswork or worrying about coming across wrongly when your special card lands on their doormat or in their inbox!
Your Wedding Invitation Wording Guide: The Basics
There are some things you have to include in your wedding invitation wording; the basics, but even these can be easy to forget when it’s your first time doing this job! So let me summarise for you…
The venue (or, if your venue is a secret, details of time & location of arranged transport to take people there!)
The date!
What time people should arrive, meet or can gain access
An idea of the schedule for the day i.e. ‘ceremony followed by dinner and dancing’
It’s also traditional to include parents’ names, particularly if they are hosting/paying for the wedding, and an indication of the dress code e.g. black tie, summer garden party…
Once you’ve ticked all these essentials off, it’s time to turn your attention to particular things you need your guests to know about your wedding day. Having helped write my fair share of wedding invitations, I’ve got you covered with this easy guide:
How to say ‘it’s a child-free wedding’ on your invitations:
There are many reasons you might want to request that guests don’t bring their children to your wedding, and you’re totally within your rights to do so. It can be a touchy subject though, so I’ve come up with lots of lovely ways you can say it to reframe it into something sweet, not spiteful. Here are four different ways to say ‘we’re having a child free wedding’ on your invitations:
“As much as we love your little ones, our wedding will be an adults-only celebration.”
“We hope you’ll take this opportunity to let your hair down and enjoy an adults-only evening with us!”
“We respectfully respect that no children attend our wedding, to allow everyone to relax and party all night.”
“We are hosting a child-free wedding. We thank you for being present without your little ones, though we fully understand if this makes your attendance difficult.”
How to say ‘no plus-ones’ on your invitations:
Sometimes guests just assume they’re allowed to bring a plus one to your wedding, not realising that you’ve carefully planned for a specific guest list and certain numbers. So, here are a few different ways you can let your loved ones know that it won’t be possible to accommodate boyfriends, dancing partners or ‘just one more’ on your big day.
“We kindly request that only those named on the invitation attend.”
“Due to limited space at our venue, we are only able to welcome guests who were formally invited and have RSVP’d ‘yes’.”
"We are keeping our celebration intimate and have carefully chosen those we love for our guest list; we hope you understand this means we are unable to extend additional invitations.”
“No plus-ones please; we only have room for those named on the invitations!”
Requesting that guests do or don’t wear specific colours:
Many cultures and religions have specific views or connotations for certain colours, or you may just have a colour scheme or theme you’d like your guests to adhere to on your wedding day. These wedding invitation wording ideas are to help you let your loved ones know which colours you would or would not like them to wear on your big day.
“Dress code: formal/semi formal in [colour scheme] tones to match our wedding vibe.”
“We’d love for our guests to dress in [colour] - feel free to have fun with it!”
“Out of respect for the bride, we kindly ask guests to avoid wearing [colour].”
“Our bridesmaids will be wearing [colour], so unless you’d like to be given a job to do please choose a different colour for your outfit!”
Asking for money, gifts, honeymoon and house contributions:
This can be a tricky subject to broach, especially with your loved ones. But remember many of your guests would really like to give you some sort of gift, so putting something on your wedding invitation to guide them can actually make them feel much more assured that they’re doing the right thing. Spend some time thinking about what you’d like to ask for, and if possible make it specific - rather than just broadly requesting money, let your guests know what it will be for. If you would like gifts, consider creating a registry online to give people ideas about what to get. Here are some wedding invitation wording ideas for asking for money or contributions:
“Your presence is the greatest gift of all, however if you wish to get us a gift we’d really appreciate a contribution to our honeymoon fund.”
“We have everything we need for our home, so instead of a traditional gift we’d be grateful for a small contribution to [our honeymoon adventures/the newest member of our family etc]
“Gifts are not expected, but if you do wish to get us something we have put together a registry of items we’d find useful here.”
“If you’d like to give us a gift, we are saving for our future home and would greatly appreciate your help in building our life together.”
Asking guests to put their phones away in the ceremony: on the day wording
Finally, many of my couples want to have an ‘unplugged’ ceremony and request that guests keep their phones away. After all, you didn’t hire a professional photographer only for them to capture an array of hands holding iPhones in the air for the entirety of your vows! While this one probably doesn’t belong on your wedding invitation wording, it is a good one to put on a sign when people arrive on the big day.
Part of my wedding stationery design service includes on the day signage, from welcome signs and seating charts to ‘unplugged ceremony’ notifications. If you’d like to ask your guests to be as present as possible while you say your I dos, just let me know and we can easily add this to your stationery suite - and, better yet, it’ll match beautifully with all your other on-the-day bits and bobs!
Bookmark this blog to refer back to when you need an easy way to say what you need to say on your wedding invitations, and don’t forget to grab my other useful advice pieces;
How to use the colour red in your wedding stationery.
Stationery for all your life events beyond the wedding.
Get in touch for beautifully designed modern vintage wedding stationery, and remember I’m here to help with what goes on it as well as how it looks!
MUCH LOVE,
sophie
x
