Guide
Wedding invitation wording, from “the honour of your presence” to “come celebrate”
Updated November 7, 2026
A wedding invitation has a small number of jobs: say who is hosting, ask the guest to come, name the couple, and say when and where. Get those lines right and everything else (directions, the dress code, hotels, the registry) can live on your wedding website, where there is room to explain it.
The lines, in order
- Host line. Who is giving the wedding: “Together with their families”, one or both sets of parents, or the two of you.
- Request line. How the hosts ask: formal (“request the honour of your presence”) or relaxed (“invite you to celebrate with them”).
- Names. Yours, in whichever order you like.
- Date and time.
- Place. The venue and the city and state; the street address can go on the website.
- Reception line (optional): “Reception to follow” or “Dinner and dancing to follow”.
- Reply line. “Kindly reply by May 1” or the formal “The favour of a reply is requested”.
“Honour of your presence” or “pleasure of your company”?
The Emily Post Institute keeps the traditional distinction: “the honour of your presence” is for a ceremony in a house of worship, and “the pleasure of your company” is for any other venue. In that formal line, honour keeps the British “u”. Outside the request line, write the way you normally write. (We spell our own name the American way.)
Mr. and Mrs. Robert Hartley
request the honour of your presence
at the marriage of their daughter
Emma Grace
to
Liam James Cole
Saturday, the twelfth of June
two thousand twenty-seven
at four o’clock in the afternoon
Hollowbrook Chapel · Tarrytown, New York
The same invitation at a vineyard, a loft or a garden simply swaps the request line: “request the pleasure of your company”.
Host lines for every family
Together with their families
The inclusive opener Joy’s wording guide recommends for blended families, or when both families are contributing. It also avoids deciding whose parents go first.
Together with their families
Emma Hart and Liam Cole
request the pleasure of your company
at their wedding
Both sets of parents
Mr. and Mrs. William Lewis
along with
Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Harris
request the pleasure of your company
at the marriage of their children
“The families of Emma Lewis and Liam Harris” is a softer way to say the same thing.
Divorced or remarried parents
Divorced parents never share a line joined by “and”; each parent (with a new spouse, if they have one) gets their own line. Paperlust’s guide gives the same rule.
Ms. Sarah Lewis
Mr. and Mrs. William Lewis
request the pleasure of your company…
Remembering a parent who has died
The usual place is the relationship line, using “the late”:
Emma Grace Hartley
daughter of Mrs. Jane Hartley and the late Mr. Robert Hartley
The two of you as hosts
When the couple hosts, the request line turns passive, because nobody is named above it:
The pleasure of your company is requested
at the wedding of
Emma Hart and Liam Cole
Casual wording that still sounds like you
Not every wedding wants engraved formality. Joy’s guide lists relaxed alternatives such as “would love for you to join them” and “invite you to celebrate with them”. A few more in the same spirit:
Emma and Liam are getting married!
Come celebrate with us
Saturday, June 12, 2027 · 4 pm
Ivy Hollow Gardens · Charlottesville, Virginia
Together with our families
we invite you to celebrate with us
as we say “I do”
What does not go on the invitation
Emily Post’s advice is not to mention gifts or attire on a formal invitation; if necessary, “Black tie” may be written in the lower right corner. The same goes for “adults only”, which is better handled by how the invitation is addressed (see our adults-only guide). Your website is where the details belong: the schedule, attire explained in a sentence, the hotel block, the registry links and the FAQ.
The reply line
The Emily Post form is “The favour of a reply is requested by the first of May”. Rosemood’s samples use the softer “Kindly reply by” and “Please respond by”, which is what most couples choose today. Joy points out that “Please RSVP” repeats itself, since RSVP already means “please reply”. Our RSVP guide covers dates and online replies.
A quick checklist
- Names spelled exactly as the people want them, including accents.
- Request line matches the venue (house of worship or not).
- Day, date, time and year agree with each other.
- Venue and city on the card; street address and directions on the website.
- A reply-by date, and a way to reply that works for everyone.
In the Honored builder, the Wording step asks who is hosting, suggests the request line from your venue, lets you choose honour or honor, and shows how the lines read together before you publish.
Questions couples ask
Is it “honour” or “honor” on a wedding invitation?
Both are correct. Formal invitations traditionally keep the British “honour” in the request line, “request the honour of your presence”. Everywhere else, write the way you normally write.
When do you use “the pleasure of your company”?
For a ceremony anywhere other than a house of worship: a vineyard, a hotel, a garden or a loft. The Emily Post Institute keeps “the honour of your presence” for a ceremony in a house of worship.
How do you word an invitation with divorced parents?
Give each parent their own line, with a new spouse if they have one. Divorced parents never share a line joined by “and”.
Does the dress code go on the invitation?
Not on a formal card, except “Black tie” in the lower right corner if needed. Attire, the registry and hotel details belong on your wedding website.