The names in the samples below are made up so you can see the shape of a card. Swap in your own names, city, and venue. The job of the main card is small: who is inviting, who is getting married, what the event is, and when and where it happens.
If you are ordering from the invitation catalog, the ceremony card is the piece guests open first. Cards for the other events live with RSVP cards and inserts. A longer note on splitting those events is in invitations for mehndi, sangeet, and the reception.
What every main card needs
Photo coming soon
Write these before you worry about a blessing line or a monogram.
- The hosts, named. "Together with their families" is fine when both families are hosting and you do not want four parent names on a small card. If only one set of parents is hosting, say that.
- The couple's full names.
- The name of the event. "Wedding ceremony," "Anand Karaj," "nikah," or "wedding celebration" tells guests what they are walking into.
- The day of the week, the date, and the start time. Add a time zone when many guests are flying.
- The venue name, the city, and the state. A street address can go on a details insert if the front of the card is getting crowded.
- A reply line only if you are not using a separate RSVP card or an online list. If you are, keep the reply off the ceremony card.
"Reception to follow" belongs on the ceremony card only when the same guests continue in the same place. If the reception list is larger, or the party is on another day, give the reception its own card.
Hindu ceremony
Parents often host. The ceremony card names the wedding itself. Haldi, mehndi, and sangeet are separate cards when those rooms are smaller.
A sample you can adapt, when both families are hosting:
Together with their families
Priya Shah and Arjun Mehta
request the pleasure of your company
at their wedding ceremony
Saturday, the twelfth of June
two thousand twenty-seven
at half past four in the afternoon
The Grand Oak, Edison, New Jersey
If the couple is hosting and the parents are named as a courtesy, lead with the couple and add a line such as "Daughter of Meera and Raj Shah" and "Son of Anita and Vikram Mehta." Use that only when those parents are happy to be named that way.
A short blessing is optional. If your family wants a line in Sanskrit, Hindi, or Gujarati, confirm the spelling with the person who reads it in that script. Do not add a verse you cannot check. Dress, a multi-day schedule, and the hotel block belong on a details insert, not under the host line.
Sikh Anand Karaj
Name the Anand Karaj, and name the gurdwara. Guests who have never been to one need the building, the city, and the start time more than they need a decorated border.
A sample you can adapt:
The families of
Simran Kaur and Harpreet Singh
request your presence
at their Anand Karaj
Sunday, the twentieth of June
two thousand twenty-seven
at ten o'clock in the morning
Gurdwara Sahib, Fremont, California
Ask the gurdwara what to tell guests about covering the head, where to leave shoes, and whether phones stay away from the Guru Granth Sahib. Put those notes on the details card. The ceremony card stays the invitation. If a reception or a lunch follows for a different group of people, print it as its own card.
Muslim nikah and walima
The nikah and the walima are often different days, different rooms, and different lists. Print them as two cards. A household invited only to the walima should not receive a nikah card, and the reverse is just as true.
Many couples open the nikah card with Bismillah. Use it if your families want it. Skip it if they do not. Do not add a Quranic line unless someone who reads Arabic has checked it.
A sample you can adapt for the nikah:
Bismillah ir-Rahman ir-Rahim
The families of
Ayesha Khan and Yusuf Rahman
request the honor of your presence
at the nikah of their children
Friday, the fourth of June
two thousand twenty-seven
at one o'clock in the afternoon
Islamic Center of Naperville
Naperville, Illinois
A walima card can be warmer and still specific:
Ayesha Khan and Yusuf Rahman
together with their families
invite you to their walima
Saturday, the fifth of June
two thousand twenty-seven
at seven o'clock in the evening
The Ballroom at Hotel Arden
Chicago, Illinois
If women and men will be seated apart, or if the walima is family-only while coworkers are invited to a later reception, say that on the card for that event. Guests should not have to guess which door is theirs.
Fusion weddings
A fusion wedding in the US often means two ceremonies, or one civil ceremony and one religious one, plus a party everyone shares. Name each event. "Wedding weekend" on its own does not tell a guest from either family where to be.
A sample you can adapt when the couple is hosting both days:
Priya Shah and Daniel Brooks
together with their families
invite you to their wedding weekend
in Austin, Texas
Hindu wedding ceremony
Saturday, the fourteenth of August
two thousand twenty-seven
at four o'clock in the afternoon
The courtyard at Laguna Gloria
Dinner and dancing
Sunday, the fifteenth of August
at six o'clock in the evening
Hotel Magdalena
If Sunday dinner includes people who were not at the ceremony, do not print both events on one card and mail it to everyone. Mail the ceremony card to the ceremony list. Mail the dinner card to the dinner list. Households invited to both can receive both cards in one envelope. That count is covered in how many invitations to order.
What to leave off the front
The front of the card is not the weekend manual. Move these to an insert or to the page you link from the card:
- Hotel names, booking codes, and shuttle times
- The full mehndi or sangeet schedule, unless that event is the only thing this card is for
- A registry
- A long note about gifts
- Every relative's honorific
When the wording is settled, the stationery timeline is the order to proof, print, and mail.