Titles and Decoration
To follow formal convention titles should be spelt out in full, i.e ‘The Earl and Countess of Stradbroke’ rather than the ‘Lord and Lady Stradbroke’. The title ‘The Honourable’ occupies a curious position in that while it is not supposed to be usedby hosts to describe themselves, it can be used by them to describe the groom, though in the past many honourable hosts have tended to disagree with this.
‘Dr’ is customarily used when decribing doctors of medicine, not so much with doctors of philosophy. Academic qualifications are never used, and it is unusual to use decorations such as ‘OBE’, ‘CMG’ etc after the names of host, bride or groom.

Armed Services
It is normal to include the name of the regiment or service the groom may belong to as follows:

to
Captain James Hamilton (Scots Guards)
at St Mary’s Church, Ampney Crucis

Continental Invitations
It is common in Europe for the text to be printed on the inside of the folded card and for the invitation to be repeated on one side for the groom’s family and on the other for that of the bride.  Most wedding stationery suppliers can print any Eurpoean language from copy supplied but there may be an extra profing charge.

Faire Part
A practice much used in Europe, the faire part is an announcement of the wedding, which can also be used as invitation.

Punctuation
As a general rule it is best to use the minimum of punctuation. For abbreviations we recommend following Fowler’s Modern English Usage so that where the abbreviation ends with the last letter of the word – Mr, Mrs or St – no full stop is used; while if the abbreviation ends with a letter in the middle of the word – for example, Rev. – a full stop is used.

That is the end of this short guide to Wedding Invitation etiquette and thank goes again to the Letterpress of Cirencester for letting us reproduce information from their wedding guide. If you missed the previous installments please click on the links below.
Part 1
Part 2

Different Styles of Wording

There are two main styles to the traditional wedding invitation.  The first leaves room for the guests ‘ name to be hand written in the top left hand corner of the invitation as follows :

A more common alternative is to the add the guest’s name on a dotted line, as follows :

Divorced, Separated or Widowed Parents
In the case of divorced or separated parents, whether the mother has not remaried, the wording is :

Mr John Smith and Mrs Anne Smith.

If the mother has remarried her new married name is used:

Mr John Smith and Mrs Peter Jones

A widow (in contrast to divorcee) continues to use her husband’s Christian name.  Where only one parent is hosting the wedding, the bride is described as his or her daughter.  This also applies where a divorced or widowed parent has remarried and the wedding is being hosted by a parent or step-parent.

Other Hosts
If the host is not the parent of the bride, their relationship and her full name should be given, thus:

Mr and Mrs John Smith
request the pleasure of
your company at the marriage
of their niece
Miss Katherine Wright

If bride and groom are hosts the wording would be:

Miss Katherine Wright and
Mr Nicholas Gillingham
request the pleasure of your company
at their marriage
at St Mary’s Church, Ampney Crucis…

In both these cases the Mr or Miss may be dropped from the names of bride and groom for a less formal effect.

Service and Reception in same location
How do you explain to guests that they are expected to stay on for dinner and dancing in the evening? You do not want half your guests to drive off at six if you have laid on marquee, band and caterers! In situations where the same guests are coming to both the afternoon reception and the evening party, and you do want to have to print a separate invitation, we suggest this solution :

                                 and afterwards at
                                        Field Barn

R.S.V.P.
Field Barn                               Dinner and Dancing
Ampney Crucis                                          8 o’clock
Gloucestershire GL7 5PY            Carriages 12.30

In the case of civil ceremonies in licenced venues, also hosting the reception, we suggest :

to
Mr Nicholas Gillingham
at Tutbury Castle, Tutbury, Staffordshire
on Saturday, 25th October, 2008
at 12 noon
and afterwards for a Reception

Services of Blessing
The common wording is :

Mr and Mrs James Wright
request the pleasure of your company
at a Service of Blessing following the marriage
of their daughter
Katherine

Grooms’ Names
Whether or not all the Christian names are used is a matter of personal preference; they are not all strictly neccesary, and one might wonder whether the appearance of ‘Archibald Hannibal Lascelles’ in the middle of a name is going to be informative or help the guests identify the groom. Mr is normally used but may be omitted if prefered.
If the groom is foreign it is normal to spell out the full title in the foreign language, for example Monsieur Marcel Dupont.

In the next instalment of this series on wedding invitation etiquette we will look at Titles and Decorations and Punctuation

This article is the first in a series on wedding stationery etiquette and special thanks goes to The Letter Press of Cirencester for letting us reproduce their guide.  All the images in the articles are Letter press of Cirencester designs which are available from their website.

The Etiquette of Wedding Stationery
The etiquette of wedding stationery should combine convention with convenience. The Letter Press of Cirencester have found that their customers want “to do it the right way”, at the same time as communicating clearly the information guests need. There are, however, different conventions you can choose to follow, as well as different ideas about styles of wording adopted. As a general rule, keep it simple.

Wording of Invitations
What is “correct” wording? There is no black or white answer. Taste is more important than dogma: ‘o’ clock’ is as correct as ‘pm’, but ’3.30 o’clock’ sounds clumsy. ‘To’ and ‘with’ mean the same, but nowadays ‘with’ may sound old-fashioned. ‘At All Saints’, Stanton Fitzwarren’ is as clear as ‘at All Saints’ Church, Stanton Fitzwarren’ and probably looks neater on the page.
Clarity and simplicity are important. There should be no doubt in guests’ minds as the what, where and when of the invitation. However, avoid repetition, such as the following:

at the Church of St Mary, Ampney Crucis,
Cirencester, Gloucestershire
on Saturday, 13th June 2009
at 3 o’clock
and afterwarsd at
Field Barn, Ampney Crucis,
Cirencester, Gloucestershire

R.S.V.P. Field Barn, Ampney Crucis, Cirencester

It is not necessary to repeat the address three times: your guests are intelligent enough to understand the following, simpler in wording and more pleasing in design:

at the Church of St Mary, Ampney Crucis,
on Saturday, 13th June 2009
at 3 o’clock
and afterwards at
Field Barn

R.S.V.P. Field Barn, Ampney Crucis, Cirencester

In Part 2 of this series we will look at the different styles of wording and options available depending on who will be hosting the wedding