Friday, the thirteenth

day of June, two thousand and eight.




If you've recently placed an invitation order, this line should look all too familiar.

I'm often asked by couples for the etiquette "appropriate" way to word their invitations. Here are some basics to remember:

1. date, year and time are always written in its entirety. Abbreviations are a no-no.

2. 4:00 pm is afternoon, 5:00pm begins evening

3. If your startt ime is on a half-hour interval, i.e. 4:30 pm, your invitation reads "half past..."

4. City and state are included with the address of the ceremony location. Zip codes are not!

Below I've included wording for scenarios often encountered:

Both Parents Inviting:

(Bride's Parents)
and
(Groom's Parents)
request the honor of your
presence at the marriage of
their children
(Bride first, middle name)
and
(Groom first, middle name)
as they happily unite their
hearts their lives and their
cultures through marriage on
(weekday), the (date)
of (month)
Two thousand and eight
at half past five in the evening
xxxx Church
City, State


Bride & Groom Paying for the wedding:
Two lives, two hearts
joined together in friendship
united forever in love.
It is with joy that we,
(Bride)
and
(Groom)
invite you to share
in a celebration of love
as we exchange our marriage
vows
on the fifth day of June
two thousand eight
at four in the afternoon
xxx Church
1 Main Street
City, State

Divorced Parents, Mother of the Bride paying

Mr. and Mrs. xxx
request the honour of your
presence
at the marriage of her daughter
(Bride)
to
(Groom)
on the fifth day of May
two thousand and eight
at six o'clock in the evening
xxx Church
xxxx
City, State

Deceased Parents (Parent of Groom)

(Bride's parents)
request the honour of your
presence at the marriage
of their daughter
(Bride first, middle)
to
(Groom first, middle)
son of (father of Groom)
and late
(Mother of Groom
on Saturday, the twenty-second of December
two thousand and eight
xxx Hotel
1 Main Street
City, State

Happy Friday!