When the couple is hosting

More couples pay for and host their own wedding now, and the wording gets simpler for it. With nobody else named, your names lead and the request follows them. Leaving parents off the card is not a slight. It says who is hosting, nothing more.

Traditional Warm Modern

Traditional

Priya & Etienne
request the pleasure of your company
at their marriage
Saturday, the twelfth of June
at four o’clock

The classic form with the couple as hosts: third person, no parents, nothing to argue about. Reads correctly on the most formal paper.

Warm

Priya & Etienne
invite you to share their joy
as they marry
Saturday 12 June 2027
at 4pm

Still in the third person, so it sits well on a card, but it says what the day is for. A good middle ground when grandparents will read it.

Modern

Priya & Etienne
are getting married.
We’d love you to be there.
Saturday 12 June 2027
at 4pm

Two short sentences in your own voice. The full stops are deliberate. On a card they read as calm, not curt.

What people ask

Is it rude to leave our parents off the invitation?: No. The host line says who is hosting, not who matters. If you want them on the card anyway, “Together with their families” does it without making anyone a host.
Should we use our full names?: On a formal card, full names read better: “Priya Rao and Etienne Moreau”. On a warm or modern card, first names are enough: your guests know who you are.
Can we mention who is paying?: Never on the invitation. Hosting is implied by the wording; money is not something a card talks about.
What goes on the reply line?: A date and how to reply: “The favour of a reply is requested by the first of May” on a formal card, “Please reply by 1 May” on any other. On deckle.page, guests reply on your page.

Last checked 4 October 2026.

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