Reading
Invitation guides.
How to word it, when to send it, and how to get an answer out of everybody. Written for engagements, marriages, vow renewals and anniversaries alike.
Wording
What to actually write, with lines you can take as they are.
- Invitation wording when parents are hostingThe host line is the first sentence of an invitation and the one that causes the most family conversation. Every version of it, including the awkward ones.6 min read
- Anniversary party invitation wordingWording for a fortieth, a sixtieth, one thrown by the children, and a quiet one for two. Including the line that gets the older guests to reply.5 min read
- Adults only wording that nobody takes badlyHow to say no children without sounding cold, where to put the line, and what to do about the guest who asks anyway.5 min read
- Vow renewal invitation wordingYou are not getting married, you are saying it again on purpose. Wording for ten years, twenty five, and the ones that follow something hard.5 min read
- Reception only invitation wordingInviting somebody to the party and not the ceremony, without it reading as a second tier. The wordings that work and the ones that sting.5 min read
- Destination wedding invitation wordingYou are asking guests for money, time off and a flight. The wording has to do more work, and it has to arrive much earlier.6 min read
- Invitation wording for a second marriageNothing about a second wedding needs to be smaller or quieter. The wording, the etiquette that no longer applies, and how to include children.5 min read
- Registry office and civil ceremony wordingA room that holds twelve, a legal appointment, and a party for everybody else. How to word each part without anybody feeling ranked.5 min read
- Elopement announcement wordingYou got married without them. How to tell everybody in a way that reads as joy rather than as an apology.5 min read
- Plus one wording, and saying exactly who is invitedHalf of all guest list arguments come from an invitation that was vague about who it meant. How to be precise without sounding like a bouncer.6 min read
- How to word a change of date or venueThe message nobody wants to write. How to say it clearly, who to tell first, and why the old invitation must stop being true.5 min read
- How to ask for money instead of giftsNobody wants to write this line, and every couple has to. Wording that asks plainly without sounding like an invoice.6 min read
- Engagement party invitation wordingIt is the first thing you will send as a couple, and it sets the tone for everything after it. Wording for a dinner, a garden, a pub, and a surprise.5 min read
- Dress code wording, and what each one actually meansBlack tie, cocktail, festive, garden party. What guests hear when they read each one, and the sentence to add when the two words are not enough.6 min read
- Wedding invitation wording, line by lineThe six lines every invitation needs, in the order a guest reads them, with wording you can lift for a cathedral or a Tuesday in a garden.7 min read
Etiquette
Whose name goes where, who has to be invited, and how to say no kindly.
- Whose names go on the invitation, and in what orderWho is named, whose name comes first, titles, surnames, and the small decisions that quietly say something about your family.5 min read
- Divorced and remarried parents on an invitationFour parents, two households and one line of text. The wordings that keep everybody named without anybody counting.5 min read
- Children at weddings, and how to say no kindlyDeciding is the easy part. This is how to hold the line, handle the family who takes it badly, and make it work if you say yes.6 min read
- Who you have to invite, and who you really do notThe obligations that are real, the ones that are imagined, and a method for building a guest list that does not take four months.6 min read
- Inviting colleagues, and where to draw the lineWhether to invite anybody from work, how to avoid inviting the whole floor, and what to say to the people you leave out.4 min read
- Cutting the guest list without losing friendsWhere to cut, in what order, and how to handle the two or three conversations that will actually be difficult.5 min read
Planning
When each piece happens, and what has to be decided before it can.
- Writing an order of the day your guests will actually readSix lines, real times, and the two moments people most need. Plus the difference between the running order you need and the one they need.5 min read
- The invitation checklist, from first draft to last replyEverything that has to be decided, in the order it has to be decided, so nothing is waiting on anything else.6 min read
- Save the date or invitation: which to send, and whenThey do different jobs and only one of them is compulsory. When a save the date is worth it, when it is a wasted send, and what goes on each.5 min read
- How many guests to invite, and how many will comeThe decline rate nobody tells you about, how to invite more people than you have seats for, and when that goes wrong.6 min read
- When to send your invitationsSave the date at twelve months, invitations at three, replies at six weeks. What each deadline is actually protecting, and how to fix a late start.6 min read
- A twelve month invitation timelineEvery stationery decision in the order it has to happen, from the guest list to the last reply, with the deadlines that are real.6 min read
- Wedding website or invitation: what goes whereTwo documents, two jobs. What belongs on the invitation, what belongs somewhere it can be changed, and why most couples only need one of them.5 min read
- Choosing a date, and what it quietly does to your guest listThe day of the week, the month and the weekend you pick change who can come, what it costs and how early you have to tell people.5 min read
- Planning a day in three monthsA short engagement changes the order of everything. What to do first, what to drop, and how to get invitations out this week.6 min read
Sending
Getting it into a hundred hands without a trip to the post office.
- QR codes on wedding stationery, and where they helpWhere a code earns its place, where it is clutter, and how to make one that does not look like a parcel label on a table setting.5 min read
- How to send your invitation on WhatsAppIt is where most guests will actually open it. How to make the preview look right, what to write in the message, and why the link should be yours.5 min read
- Digital or printed invitations: what each one really costsA hundred guests, priced honestly, including the costs nobody puts in the spreadsheet. And the cases where paper still wins.6 min read
- Digital wedding invitations: the complete guideWhat they are, what they cost, what they replace, and the three things they do that paper cannot. Written for couples deciding between the two.7 min read
- How to send your invitations by emailGetting a hundred invitations into a hundred inboxes without landing in spam, and what to write in the message itself.6 min read
- Should you text your invitation?It is the fastest way to reach everybody and the easiest to get wrong. When a message is right, and what to send with it.4 min read
- Inviting the guests who are not onlineGrandparents, the aunt with no email, the friend who never answers a message. How to include everybody without printing a hundred cards.5 min read
- How to send a save the dateWhat it has to say, what it must not say, when to send it, and the one job it does that the invitation cannot.5 min read
- Sending invitations to guests abroadPost that takes three weeks, time zones, addresses in another format, and the practical detail international guests actually need.5 min read
Replies
Head counts, dietary needs, and the guests who never answer.
- Asking guests about dietary requirementsAsk once, at reply time, in one open box. Why the tick list is the wrong shape, and what your caterer actually needs from you.4 min read
- What to do about the guests who never replyTen percent of any guest list goes quiet. How to tell the ignorers from the ones who never got it, and the message that actually works.5 min read
- How to collect RSVPs online without chasing anyoneReply cards lose a third of your answers. What to ask, what to never ask, and the two changes that get most of a guest list to answer in a week.6 min read
- Setting an RSVP deadline that actually worksHow to pick the date, why the obvious one is too late, and the small wording changes that get people to answer on time.5 min read
- What to do when a guest says noHow to reply, whether to ask why, when to offer the seat to somebody else, and how not to take it personally.4 min read
- Reading your invitation statisticsOpens, replies, sources and the numbers that mean nothing. What to watch in the first week, and when silence is actually a problem.5 min read
- Collecting guest names for the table planA head count seats nobody. How to get every name in the party, spelled correctly, without a second round of messages.4 min read
Design
How an invitation looks, and what that is quietly saying.
- Sending your invitation in two languagesFor families who do not share one. What to translate, what to leave alone, and why one invitation works better than two.5 min read
- Choosing an invitation design, in five decisionsLayout, colour, type, paper and motion. What each one is quietly telling your guests, and the order to decide them in.5 min read
- Do digital invitations look cheap?The honest answer, and the four things that actually make one look it. Every one of them is a design decision rather than a fact about screens.5 min read
- Choosing colours for your invitationWhy most invitations are ivory, when to break that, and how to pick a palette that still looks right on a phone screen.5 min read
- Typefaces on an invitation, and what each one saysScript, serif or sans. Which face to use for the names, which for everything else, and the one mistake that makes an invitation look homemade.5 min read
- Should you put a photograph on your invitation?When a picture makes an invitation, when it makes it a postcard, and which photograph to actually use.5 min read
Occasions
The other days that need an invitation, from the engagement to the fiftieth.
- Planning an engagement party, start to finishWhether to have one, who pays, who to invite, when to hold it and how it differs from every other party you will throw this year.6 min read
- Rehearsal dinner invitation wordingWho comes, who hosts, when to send it, and how to word an invitation to the smallest and warmest event of the whole weekend.4 min read
- Welcome parties and the morning afterA wedding is increasingly a weekend. How to invite people to the other two events without confusing anybody about which is which.5 min read
- Milestone anniversary invitations, from the tenth to the fiftiethWho hosts, what to call it, how to word an invitation for a couple rather than from them, and what changes at each decade.5 min read
- Renewing your vows: how it actually worksWhat a renewal is and is not, who to invite, what happens in the ceremony, and how the invitation differs from a wedding one.5 min read
Make yours.
Six designs, your own words, and one link to send. Free to build, free for a day once it is live.
