---
title: 'Invitation guides, Love Envelope'
description: 'Guides to wording, sending and replies for engagement, wedding, vow renewal and anniversary invitations.'
source: 'https://envelope.love/blog'
---

# 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.

This is the plain markdown copy of https://envelope.love/blog, published by Love Envelope for machine readers. The page itself carries the same words.

## Wording

What to actually write, with lines you can take as they are.

All of it in one place: https://envelope.love/blog/wording.md

- [Invitation wording when parents are hosting](https://envelope.love/blog/parents-hosting-invitation-wording.md): The 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.
- [Anniversary party invitation wording](https://envelope.love/blog/anniversary-party-invitation-wording.md): Wording 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.
- [Adults only wording that nobody takes badly](https://envelope.love/blog/adults-only-wedding-wording.md): How to say no children without sounding cold, where to put the line, and what to do about the guest who asks anyway.
- [Vow renewal invitation wording](https://envelope.love/blog/vow-renewal-invitation-wording.md): You are not getting married, you are saying it again on purpose. Wording for ten years, twenty five, and the ones that follow something hard.
- [Reception only invitation wording](https://envelope.love/blog/reception-only-invitation-wording.md): Inviting somebody to the party and not the ceremony, without it reading as a second tier. The wordings that work and the ones that sting.
- [Destination wedding invitation wording](https://envelope.love/blog/destination-wedding-invitation-wording.md): You are asking guests for money, time off and a flight. The wording has to do more work, and it has to arrive much earlier.
- [Invitation wording for a second marriage](https://envelope.love/blog/second-marriage-invitation-wording.md): Nothing about a second wedding needs to be smaller or quieter. The wording, the etiquette that no longer applies, and how to include children.
- [Registry office and civil ceremony wording](https://envelope.love/blog/civil-ceremony-invitation-wording.md): A room that holds twelve, a legal appointment, and a party for everybody else. How to word each part without anybody feeling ranked.
- [Elopement announcement wording](https://envelope.love/blog/elopement-announcement-wording.md): You got married without them. How to tell everybody in a way that reads as joy rather than as an apology.
- [Plus one wording, and saying exactly who is invited](https://envelope.love/blog/plus-one-wording.md): Half 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.
- [How to word a change of date or venue](https://envelope.love/blog/change-of-date-or-venue-wording.md): The message nobody wants to write. How to say it clearly, who to tell first, and why the old invitation must stop being true.
- [How to ask for money instead of gifts](https://envelope.love/blog/asking-for-money-instead-of-gifts.md): Nobody wants to write this line, and every couple has to. Wording that asks plainly without sounding like an invoice.
- [Engagement party invitation wording](https://envelope.love/blog/engagement-party-invitation-wording.md): It 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.
- [Dress code wording, and what each one actually means](https://envelope.love/blog/dress-code-wording.md): Black 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.
- [Wedding invitation wording, line by line](https://envelope.love/blog/wedding-invitation-wording.md): The 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.

## Etiquette

Whose name goes where, who has to be invited, and how to say no kindly.

All of it in one place: https://envelope.love/blog/etiquette.md

- [Whose names go on the invitation, and in what order](https://envelope.love/blog/whose-names-go-on-the-invitation.md): Who is named, whose name comes first, titles, surnames, and the small decisions that quietly say something about your family.
- [Divorced and remarried parents on an invitation](https://envelope.love/blog/divorced-parents-on-an-invitation.md): Four parents, two households and one line of text. The wordings that keep everybody named without anybody counting.
- [Children at weddings, and how to say no kindly](https://envelope.love/blog/children-at-weddings.md): Deciding 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.
- [Who you have to invite, and who you really do not](https://envelope.love/blog/who-to-invite-guest-list-etiquette.md): The obligations that are real, the ones that are imagined, and a method for building a guest list that does not take four months.
- [Inviting colleagues, and where to draw the line](https://envelope.love/blog/inviting-colleagues-and-bosses.md): Whether to invite anybody from work, how to avoid inviting the whole floor, and what to say to the people you leave out.
- [Cutting the guest list without losing friends](https://envelope.love/blog/cutting-the-guest-list.md): Where to cut, in what order, and how to handle the two or three conversations that will actually be difficult.

## Planning

When each piece happens, and what has to be decided before it can.

All of it in one place: https://envelope.love/blog/planning.md

- [Writing an order of the day your guests will actually read](https://envelope.love/blog/order-of-the-day.md): Six lines, real times, and the two moments people most need. Plus the difference between the running order you need and the one they need.
- [The invitation checklist, from first draft to last reply](https://envelope.love/blog/invitation-checklist.md): Everything that has to be decided, in the order it has to be decided, so nothing is waiting on anything else.
- [Save the date or invitation: which to send, and when](https://envelope.love/blog/save-the-date-or-invitation.md): They 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.
- [How many guests to invite, and how many will come](https://envelope.love/blog/how-many-guests-to-invite.md): The decline rate nobody tells you about, how to invite more people than you have seats for, and when that goes wrong.
- [When to send your invitations](https://envelope.love/blog/when-to-send-wedding-invitations.md): Save 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.
- [A twelve month invitation timeline](https://envelope.love/blog/invitation-timeline-twelve-months.md): Every stationery decision in the order it has to happen, from the guest list to the last reply, with the deadlines that are real.
- [Wedding website or invitation: what goes where](https://envelope.love/blog/wedding-website-or-invitation.md): Two documents, two jobs. What belongs on the invitation, what belongs somewhere it can be changed, and why most couples only need one of them.
- [Choosing a date, and what it quietly does to your guest list](https://envelope.love/blog/choosing-a-date.md): The 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.
- [Planning a day in three months](https://envelope.love/blog/planning-in-three-months.md): A short engagement changes the order of everything. What to do first, what to drop, and how to get invitations out this week.

## Sending

Getting it into a hundred hands without a trip to the post office.

All of it in one place: https://envelope.love/blog/sending.md

- [QR codes on wedding stationery, and where they help](https://envelope.love/blog/qr-code-invitations.md): Where 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.
- [How to send your invitation on WhatsApp](https://envelope.love/blog/send-invitations-on-whatsapp.md): It 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.
- [Digital or printed invitations: what each one really costs](https://envelope.love/blog/digital-vs-printed-invitations-cost.md): A hundred guests, priced honestly, including the costs nobody puts in the spreadsheet. And the cases where paper still wins.
- [Digital wedding invitations: the complete guide](https://envelope.love/blog/digital-wedding-invitations-guide.md): What they are, what they cost, what they replace, and the three things they do that paper cannot. Written for couples deciding between the two.
- [How to send your invitations by email](https://envelope.love/blog/send-invitations-by-email.md): Getting a hundred invitations into a hundred inboxes without landing in spam, and what to write in the message itself.
- [Should you text your invitation?](https://envelope.love/blog/texting-your-invitation.md): 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.
- [Inviting the guests who are not online](https://envelope.love/blog/guests-who-are-not-online.md): Grandparents, the aunt with no email, the friend who never answers a message. How to include everybody without printing a hundred cards.
- [How to send a save the date](https://envelope.love/blog/how-to-send-a-save-the-date.md): What it has to say, what it must not say, when to send it, and the one job it does that the invitation cannot.
- [Sending invitations to guests abroad](https://envelope.love/blog/sending-invitations-abroad.md): Post that takes three weeks, time zones, addresses in another format, and the practical detail international guests actually need.

## Replies

Head counts, dietary needs, and the guests who never answer.

All of it in one place: https://envelope.love/blog/replies.md

- [Asking guests about dietary requirements](https://envelope.love/blog/dietary-requirements-guests.md): Ask once, at reply time, in one open box. Why the tick list is the wrong shape, and what your caterer actually needs from you.
- [What to do about the guests who never reply](https://envelope.love/blog/guests-who-never-reply.md): Ten 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.
- [How to collect RSVPs online without chasing anyone](https://envelope.love/blog/collect-rsvps-online.md): Reply 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.
- [Setting an RSVP deadline that actually works](https://envelope.love/blog/rsvp-deadline.md): How to pick the date, why the obvious one is too late, and the small wording changes that get people to answer on time.
- [What to do when a guest says no](https://envelope.love/blog/when-a-guest-declines.md): How to reply, whether to ask why, when to offer the seat to somebody else, and how not to take it personally.
- [Reading your invitation statistics](https://envelope.love/blog/reading-your-invitation-statistics.md): Opens, replies, sources and the numbers that mean nothing. What to watch in the first week, and when silence is actually a problem.
- [Collecting guest names for the table plan](https://envelope.love/blog/collecting-guest-names.md): A head count seats nobody. How to get every name in the party, spelled correctly, without a second round of messages.

## Design

How an invitation looks, and what that is quietly saying.

All of it in one place: https://envelope.love/blog/design.md

- [Sending your invitation in two languages](https://envelope.love/blog/invitations-in-two-languages.md): For families who do not share one. What to translate, what to leave alone, and why one invitation works better than two.
- [Choosing an invitation design, in five decisions](https://envelope.love/blog/choosing-an-invitation-design.md): Layout, colour, type, paper and motion. What each one is quietly telling your guests, and the order to decide them in.
- [Do digital invitations look cheap?](https://envelope.love/blog/do-digital-invitations-look-cheap.md): 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.
- [Choosing colours for your invitation](https://envelope.love/blog/invitation-colours.md): Why most invitations are ivory, when to break that, and how to pick a palette that still looks right on a phone screen.
- [Typefaces on an invitation, and what each one says](https://envelope.love/blog/invitation-typefaces.md): Script, serif or sans. Which face to use for the names, which for everything else, and the one mistake that makes an invitation look homemade.
- [Should you put a photograph on your invitation?](https://envelope.love/blog/photograph-on-your-invitation.md): When a picture makes an invitation, when it makes it a postcard, and which photograph to actually use.

## Occasions

The other days that need an invitation, from the engagement to the fiftieth.

All of it in one place: https://envelope.love/blog/occasions.md

- [Planning an engagement party, start to finish](https://envelope.love/blog/engagement-party-planning.md): Whether 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.
- [Rehearsal dinner invitation wording](https://envelope.love/blog/rehearsal-dinner-invitation-wording.md): Who comes, who hosts, when to send it, and how to word an invitation to the smallest and warmest event of the whole weekend.
- [Welcome parties and the morning after](https://envelope.love/blog/welcome-party-and-brunch-invitations.md): A wedding is increasingly a weekend. How to invite people to the other two events without confusing anybody about which is which.
- [Milestone anniversary invitations, from the tenth to the fiftieth](https://envelope.love/blog/milestone-anniversary-invitations.md): Who hosts, what to call it, how to word an invitation for a couple rather than from them, and what changes at each decade.
- [Renewing your vows: how it actually works](https://envelope.love/blog/vow-renewal-planning.md): What a renewal is and is not, who to invite, what happens in the ceremony, and how the invitation differs from a wedding one.

Make yours. Six designs, your own words, and one link to send. Free to build, free for a day once it is live. https://envelope.love/create