Dream Weddings Magazine - Dorset & Hampshire

Planning Makes Perfect
The traditional invitation, with the bride’s
parents as hosts is worded as follows:
Mr and Mrs Simon Hayes request the pleasure
of your company at the marriage of their
daughter Jennifer Anne to Mr Michael Jones at
St Benedict’s Church, Bournemouth on Saturday
August 19th at 2pm followed by a reception at
The County Hotel, Bournemouth
RSVP 10 Marigold Gardens, Bournemouth
In this form, the names of the guests are
handwritten in the top left hand corner
of the invitation.
Alternatively a space is left in the invitation
for the guests’ names:
Mr and Mrs Simon Hayes request the
pleasure of the company of
........................................................
at the marriage of their daughter Jennifer Anne (etc)
Make it clear precisely who is being invited.
For a married couple, Mr and Mrs John
Jeffries; for a family, Mr and Mrs John Jeffries,
Jeremy and Jemima.
The invitations...
Invitations should be sent out six weeks
before the wedding, so you will need to
order them from the printer about
three months in advance of the event.
It’s worth taking time to choose wedding
stationery which matches the style of your
wedding, whether it’s romantic and
traditional, chic and classical or off-the-wall
and bang-up-to-the -minute.
Then the rest of your wedding stationery can
be ordered in the same style, including maps to
help guests find their way easily, order of
service sheets (you’ll need one for each guest
plus a few spares), menus for the reception,
place cards and so on. The exact wording on
your invitations can be extremely complicated if
parents are divorced or you are hosting the
wedding yourselves.
...and what they should say
Bride’s mother as host,
if she is widowed:
Mrs David Jones requests the pleasure of your
company at the marriage of her daughter (etc)
Bride’s mother as host if
she is divorced:
Mrs Margaret Jones requests the pleasure of your
company (etc)
Bride’s mother if she has remarried and is
hosting the wedding with the bride’s
stepfather:
Mr and Mrs George Simpson request the
pleasure of your company at the marriage of her
daughter Jennifer Anne (etc)
Bride’s father as host:
Mr David Jones requests the pleasure of your
company at the marriage of his daughter
Jennifer Anne (etc)
See the panel for examples.
As well as a map detailing how to get there, it’s
useful to include with the invitation details of
where guests can park and, for those who
are coming long distances, a selection of
recommended accommodation.
For guests of the groom’s family, the groom’s
mother should send a list of names and addresses
to the bride’s mother so she can issue the
invitations. According to strict wedding etiquette,
envelopes should be addressed only to the wife of
a couple or family: Mrs Samuel Johnson. As a
matter of courtesy, an invitation should be sent to
the groom’s parents and to the minister and his
wife. When ordering your invitations, remember
you’ll only need one for each family, plus a few
spares for emergencies.
According to strict
wedding etiquette,
envelopes should
be addressed only
to the wife of a
couple or family
Where the bridal couple are the hosts, the
invitations should be worded:
Miss Jennifer Hayes and Mr Michael Jones
request the pleasure of your company
at their marriage (etc)
Divorced parents, if the bride’s
mother has remarried
Mr David Jones and Mrs Margaret Simpson
request the pleasure of your company at the
marriage of their daughter Jennifer Anne (etc)
Divorced parents, if the bride’s mother
has not remarried:
Mr David Jones and Mrs Margaret Jones request
the pleasure of your company at the marriage of
their daughter (etc)
3 0 • D R E A M W E D D I N G S I N D O R S E T & H A M P S H I R E
Bride’s father remarried and hosting the wedding
with the bride’s stepmother:
Mr and Mrs David Jones request the pleasure of
your company at the marriage of his daughter
Jennifer Anne (etc)
Invitations to civil weddings follow the same
format, substituting the name of the register
office or approved venue for the church in
the examples above.
Where space at the wedding ceremony is
limited, guests can be invited to the reception
only. For these invitations, the wording
(depending on the host) is:
Mr and Mrs Simon Hayes request the pleasure
of your company at a reception at the County
Hotel, Bournemouth on Saturday, 19th August
at 3pm following the marriage of their daughter
Jennifer Anne to Mr Michael Jones.
The same wording can be used to invite extra guests to
an evening party following the
main reception.
cut out and keep