Once upon a time, pretty much everyone subscribed to standard wedding invitation wordings. As the bride’s parents typically paid for the occasion, invites usually said that “they requested the honor of your presence at the marriage of their daughter”. These days, with divorce, blended families, and other nontraditional family dynamics helping to put together your special day, figuring out appropriate invitation phrasing has gotten complicated!
Here are a few common tricky situations, and the fitting invitation wording for each. Keep in mind that you can always adapt the following language to suit your event
The bride’s parents are hosting, but would like to include groom’s parents on the invitation:
Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Abbet
request the honor of your presence
at the marriage of their daughter
Samantha Marie
to Jason Christopher Smith
son of Mr. and Mrs. John Smith
etc.
Both sets of parents are funding the wedding:
Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Abbet
and
Mr. and Mrs. John Smith
request the honor of your presence
at the marriage of their children
Samantha and Jason
etc.
The bride and groom are paying for the wedding themselves:
The honor of your presence
is requested at the marriage of
Miss Samantha Marie Abbet
to
Mr. Jason Christopher Smith
etc.
OR, including their parents
Together with their families
Miss Samantha Marie Abbet
and
Mr. Jason Christopher Smith
request the honor of your presence
at their marriage
etc.
Widowed Parents: Bride’s Mother has not Remarried
Mrs. Thomas Abbet
requests the honor of your presence
at the wedding of her daughter
Samantha Marie
to Jason Christopher Smith
etc.
Divorced Parents- The Bride’s Mother has Remarried
Mrs. Jacob Henderson
Mr. Thomas Abbet
request the honor of your presence
at the wedding of their daughter
Samantha Marie
to Jason Christopher Smith
etc.
Separated Parents have two options:
Option One
Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Abbet
request the honor of your presence
at the marriage of their daughter
Samantha Marie
to Jason Christopher Smith
OR
Option Two
Mrs. Jacob Henderson
Mr. Thomas Abbet
request the honor of your presence
at the wedding of their daughter
Samantha Marie
to Jason Christopher Smith
Etiquette formatting information is provided by Crane’s Blue Book of Stationery and Sambla.se.