Recommended by Damien's Ireland Weddings

Invitations always go out from the person hosting the wedding, but the wording becomes more complicated if parents are divorced or the couple are hosting the event themselves.

Below is a list of the examples provided.

Who is hosting your wedding?
the bride’s parents
both sets of parents
someone other than the bride’s parents
the wedding’s going to be a joint one
you’re hosting your own
you with both sets of parents
a single parent
a divorced parent with their spouse bride or groom’s step parent
jointly hosted by divorced parents
a traditional invitation
bride and groom line
date and time lines
location line

Who is hosting your wedding?
the bride’s parents?
both sets of parents?
you’re hosting your own wedding?
you with both sets of parents?
a single parent?
a divorced parent with their spouse/bride or groom’s step parent?
jointly hosted by divorced parents?
someone other than the bride’s parents?
the wedding’s going to be a joint one?

the bride’s parents
Mr & Mrs Adams
Request the honour of your presence
at the marriage of their daughter
Laura-Jayne Elizabeth
to Adam Brook Austin
son of
Mr & Mrs Austin
on date, month, year
at, time
St. Patricks Church
Dublin

both sets of parents
Mr & Mrs Adams
and
Mr & Mrs Austin
request the pleasure of your company
at the marriage of their daughter
Laura-Jayne Elizabeth
to Adam Brook
on date, month, year
at, time
St. Patricks Church
Dublin

someone other than the bride’s parents
If the host of the wedding is neither the bride nor the groom’s parents, but another relation, you should word the invitation submitting the word daughter/son and adding the hosts’ relationship.

* grandparents = granddaughter/grandson
* aunt and uncle = niece/nephew
* godparents = goddaughter/godson
* foster parents = foster daughter/foster son
* brother = sister/brother
* sister = sister/brother

the wedding’s going to be a joint one
If two sisters are getting married, the name of the older sister and her future husband should go first.

you’re hosting your own
Ms Laura-Jayne Elizabeth Adams
and
Mr Adam Brook Austin
request the pleasure of your company
at their marriage
on date, month, year
at, time
St. Patricks Church
Dublin

you with both sets of parents
Mr & Mrs Smith
and their daughter
Laura-Jayne Elizabeth
together with
Mr & Mrs Austin
and their son
Adam Brook
request the honour of your presence
at the wedding of
Laura-Jayne Elizabeth
and
Adam Brook
on date, month, year
at, time
St. Patricks Church
Dublin

a single parent
Mr Smith
requests the pleasure of your company
at the marriage of his daughter
Laura-Jayne Elizabeth
to
Adam Brook Austin
on date, month, year
at, time
St. Patricks Church
Dublin

a divorced parent with their spouse bride or groom’s step parent
Jane & Tom Brown
request the pleasure of your company
at the marriage of Jane Brown’s daughter
Laura-Jayne Elizabeth Wakefield
to
Adam Brook Austin
son of Mr & Mrs Austin
on date, month, year
at, time
St. Patricks Church
Dublin

jointly hosted by divorced parents
Mr Wakefield
and
Mrs Brown
request the pleasure of your company
at the marriage of their daughter
Laura-Jayne Elizabeth Adams
to
Adam Brook Austin
son of
Mr & Mrs Austin
on date, month, year
at, time
St. Patricks Church
Dublin

a traditional invitation
Mr and Mrs James Jones request the pleasure of your company (or: request the honour of your presence) at the marriage of their daughter Susan to Mr Neil Wood at St Mary's Church, Milton, on date, month, year, at, time and afterwards at (reception location) RSVP (hosts’ address).

The wording can be adapted to accommodate a change of circumstances due to death, divorce, and re-marriage on the bride's side. For example:

If either parent is widowed: Mr James Jones; Mrs Pamela Jones, requests the pleasure

Parents are divorced: Mr James Jones and Mrs Pamela Jones request the pleasure

Parents divorced, mother re-married: Mr James Jones and Mrs Pamela Matthews

Continental Europeans and members of the practising Jewish community send cards including the names of both sets of parents, so: Mr and Mrs James Jones request the pleasure of your company at the marriage of their daughter Susan to Neil, son of Mr and Mrs Simonberg.

If children are invited, this can be made clear by including their name on their parents’ invitation. Parents should assume that the invitation is for them alone if their children's names are not specified. It might be tactful to enclose a short note to parents, such as: 'Much as we would like to invite all the children of our friends, it is only possible to accommodate the children of close family'. Or 'We are sorry we are unable to accommodate children.' Let parents know up front if you have made special arrangements for their children: 'We have arranged child-minding facilities for the duration of the service and/or reception'.

Family and close friends are usually addressed informally as, say, Alan and Anne; otherwise guests are given their usual prefixes such as Mr and Mrs, Captain and Mrs etc.

bride and groom line
Traditionally, a bride takes no title before her name.
Another option is to include titles for both
the bride and groom; this is useful when one
of you has an occupation that carries
an official title, such as Dr.
One way to put yourselves on equal footing is to
leave titles off altogether. This is also appropriate if
both sets of parents are serving as hosts.

date and time lines
Spelling out the day, date, and year lends sophistication,
but you can also use a numeral for the year. Similarly, although
“half after six o’clock” is classic, it may not be right for a
less formal wedding. When stating the time, only the hour
is necessary; there’s no need to note A.M. or P.M.
Where time of day may be unclear use
“in the morning” or “in the evening”

location line
Make sure you have the proper name of your church.
As with everything else, spell out “Saint” or any other abbreviations (except R.S.V.P.).
Direction cards have become a common way to direct your guests to both
the ceremony and reception site. Invitations are typically written without punctuation;
line breaks take the place of commas, except to separate city and state, or to avoid confusion.