How to Word a Wedding Invitation

Every wedding invitation carries the same handful of facts. What trips people up is not the facts themselves but the order and the phrasing around them — lines that sound like a rule because they've always been printed that way, when most of them are just custom.

The six things an invitation says

In order, top to bottom:

Who's hosting. Traditionally the bride's parents; today just as often the couple themselves, both sets of parents together, or no host line at all.
The request. A fixed phrase — "request the honour of your presence" for a religious ceremony, "request the pleasure of your company" for anything else. "Honour" keeps its British spelling here regardless of house style; it's one of the few genuinely fixed conventions left.
The couple's names. Full names, no titles, in the order that reads best to the couple — there's no rule about whose name goes first anymore.
The date and time. Written out ("Saturday, the twelfth of September, two thousand twenty-six") on a formal invitation, numerals on anything less formal. Pick one register and use it everywhere on the piece — a written-out date beside a numeral time reads as an oversight.
The venue. Name first, then the city — the street address belongs on the details card or the site, not here.
Reply-by date, if the invitation itself carries the request line rather than pointing to a separate RSVP card or site.

Who's hosting, when it isn't obvious

Three phrasings cover most real situations:

Both families, jointly: "Together with their families" — the couple hosts, both sides are named without picking an order that implies precedence.
A parent hosting alone, after a divorce or loss: name that parent only. Adding a stepparent's name is a personal choice, not an etiquette rule — do what's true for the family.
No host line at all: perfectly normal when the couple is paying and neither side wants top billing. Start directly with the request line.

What doesn't belong on the invitation

The dress code, registry, and transportation details traditionally go on a separate details card, not because etiquette says so but because they change more often than the invitation itself — a couple finalizing transportation two months out shouldn't have to reprint the invitation to add it. The same is true of meal choices: those belong on the RSVP, where a guest is already answering a question, not on the invitation, where they're reading one.

A working example

Together with their families
Emily Harper and James Caldwell
request the pleasure of your company
at the celebration of their marriage
Saturday, the twelfth of September, two thousand twenty-six
at four o'clock in the afternoon
The Willow Barn, Austin, Texas

Nothing here is unusual — it's the six pieces above, in order, with a phrasing that fits a family with no single obvious host.

If you're at the point of actually setting this text rather than just wording it, Promuse turns it straight into a matching invitation, RSVP card, and the rest of the suite — one design, and the wording you write here is the wording that prints.

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