When a parent and step-parent are hosting

A parent and their spouse host together on one line, as any married couple would. The step-parent is named because they are hosting, not because of their relationship to the couple. If they are not hosting, they are not on the card.

Traditional Warm Modern

Traditional

Mr and Mrs James Hart
request the pleasure of your company
at the marriage of Mrs Hart’s daughter
Priya to Etienne Moreau
Saturday, the twelfth of June
at four o’clock

“Mrs Hart’s daughter” is the formal way to be exact without saying “stepdaughter” on an invitation.

Warm

Anita and James Hart
would love you to join them
for the wedding of their daughter
Priya & Etienne
Saturday 12 June 2027
at 4pm

Many families simply say “their daughter”. If that is true in your house, it is true on the card.

Modern

Anita and James Hart
invite you to the wedding of
Priya & Etienne
Saturday 12 June 2027
at 4pm

No relationship stated at all: the cleanest answer when the right word is a matter of opinion.

What people ask

My other parent is hosting too. Where do they go?: On their own line, as on the divorced-parents page: each household separately, joined by “and”.
Should we write “stepdaughter”?: Rarely. “Mrs Hart’s daughter”, “their daughter” or no relationship at all are correct, and kinder.
Does the order of households matter?: Tradition puts the mother’s household first. Hosting more, or simply asking both, settles it better than tradition.

Last checked 4 October 2026.

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