Thirty wedding invitation wordings
Good invitation wording is short and sounds like you. Here are thirty lines grouped by register — to take, to cut, to mix. They work because none of them is trying to sound ceremonial.
Direct and contemporary
"We said yes. All that is missing is you." · "It's official: we're getting married." · "Our next chapter starts here, and you're in it." · "Come and celebrate our best decision." · "After all this time: yes." · "We have a date. We have a place. We want you." — This register works because it says one thing. Resist adding a second explanatory sentence.
Restrained and elegant
"We would be glad to have you with us." · "A promise, a party, a memory to make together." · "Join us as we begin our life together." · "We're getting married, and we would love you there." · "On the day we say yes, we would like to see you." · "Your presence matters to us that day." — The safest register for an invitation spanning several generations.
Warm and personal
"You have mattered in our story; we want you in this chapter." · "Come laugh, dance and celebrate with us." · "We want to mark this with the people who count. You're one of them." · "There will be music, people, and a great deal of feeling. Come." · "That day, we would like to be surrounded. By you." — Best when the guest list is short and every name counts.
Minimal
"Us. You. A date. A party." · "One answer: yes." · "To the two of us, and with you." · "Two names, one date, one place." · "Yes." · "The date is set." — These need a layout that carries them: plenty of white space, one strong typeface. On a busy composition they read as an oversight.
Written for a digital invitation
"Scroll down, it's all here." · "Your invitation starts here." · "The schedule, the venue, and your reply: below." · "Everything you need to know, on one page." · "Welcome to our day." · "Give us thirty seconds and we'll explain everything." — These use what a web page allows: announcing there is more, and guiding towards the reply.
How to choose and adapt
Write the sentence you would say to a friend, without thinking about it. Compare it to the examples above: yours is probably better, just slightly too long. Cut the opening. Then check it works out loud and leaves no doubt about who is marrying. One last test: if the line could belong to any couple, it is too generic for yours.
Worth knowing
Should the parents be named in the wording?
It is a traditional usage that remains common, and sometimes expected by families. Nothing requires it in the announcing line itself: a digital invitation can name the parents in a section of its own, which honours the convention without weighing down the opening.