What should wedding invitations say?

It's interesting:
"'It was two days before the wedding and I finally sat down to write my toast. Low and ... Everyone at the wedding said it was the best toast they had ever heard.' ..."

Weddings are major life events. What a wedding invitation should say depends on how large or intimate you wish for it to be. The guidelines for a traditional wedding should generally follow more formal guidelines, since you are sending invites to a whole family. Yet in the case of a more intimate ceremony, a hand-written note or email may suffice.

1. Formal Weddings Introduction

   • Write the first line of the wedding invitation to identify the hosts of the ceremony, usually the parents or guardians of the bride. As the Southworth.com website states, write out all names in full. Do not use initials. Either spell the full middle name out or omit it.

     Thus the introduction, which identifies the host of the ceremony, should read: "Mr. and Mrs. James Robert Brown III." As Southworth.com points out, if you, the parents or guardians of the bride-to-be, are no longer together, you may write, "Mr. (or Mrs.) James (or if you are the mother of the bride, Mrs. Beatrice) Brown. You may also adjust your invitation to honor a parent who's now deceased.

   Invitation Extension Message

   • Extending the invitation to the wedding is the next part of the message and Southworth.com calls this part a key part of the invitation as a whole. It describes the event you are wishing to invite everyone to. Word this part according to whether you wish for this to be a religious ceremony or a secular event. As Beaucoup.com suggests, for the former, write, "requests the honour (or honor) of your presence." For the latter, write, "requests the pleasure of your company, at the marriage of."

     The second part of the invitation extension part includes the names of the parties who are to marry. Again, you should spell these names out, so that the invitation reads, "their daughter, Janisse Elizabeth, to Cameron Lamar Stone, Jr., on Saturday, the twentieth of April, two thousand and thirteen," as opposed, to "Saturday, April 20, 2013." Note that on a wedding invitation, "two thousand (and) thirteen' is preferable to "twenty thirteen." Also spell out the time- for example, write, "two thirty" instead of "2:30."

     Spell out the entire location. For instance, if it is to take place at the Holiness Church of God in Christ, write out the name of the church, along with the entire street address. Thus, it should read, "100 Anystreet Drive, Anytown, Michigan."

   Handwritten or Email Invites

   • For handwritten or email invites, word these according to how well you know the people you are inviting. As Hitched Ltd. suggests, if the persons you are inviting are close friends with whom you've built a very warm rapport, a handwritten note or email saying, "Todd and I are getting married on Saturday, June 15, at our apartment in Downtown Boston. We would like you to be part of our special day. Love Ashley," may suffice. Be sure to include your address and the directions for getting to the celebration.

Source: www.ehow.com

Tags: wedding invitation, note email, parents guardians, part invitation, should read, should wedding, should wedding invitations