---
title: 'Invitation etiquette'
description: 'Whose name goes first, who has to be invited, plus ones, and how to say no without causing offence.'
source: 'https://envelope.love/blog/etiquette'
guides: '6'
---

# Invitation etiquette.

Whose name goes first, who has to be invited, and how to say no without causing offence. The questions that cause the most arguments, answered plainly.

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

- [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.

## Other subjects

- [Invitation wording](https://envelope.love/blog/wording.md): What to actually write, with lines you can take as they are.
- [Planning the invitations](https://envelope.love/blog/planning.md): When each piece happens, and what has to be decided before it can.
- [Sending the invitations](https://envelope.love/blog/sending.md): Getting it into a hundred hands without a trip to the post office.
- [Replies and head counts](https://envelope.love/blog/replies.md): Head counts, dietary needs, and the guests who never answer.
- [Invitation design](https://envelope.love/blog/design.md): How an invitation looks, and what that is quietly saying.
- [Invitations by occasion](https://envelope.love/blog/occasions.md): The other days that need an invitation, from the engagement to the fiftieth.

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