Wedding Invitation Q&As

Composing wedding invitations involves complex-and beautiful-etiquette guidelines. We RSVP to your urgent questions.

 

Destination Wedding with Later Home Reception

Q: My fiancé and I are planning a destination wedding with only our immediate families in attendance. Upon our return, my parents will host a reception for our other relatives and friends. How should the invitation be worded? —Rutherford, New Jersey

A: It's certainly a nice gesture for your parents to host a dinner for the happy couple. I'm sure that those who weren't at the wedding will love having this opportunity to celebrate and wish them well. Here's one way to word the invites:

Mr. and Mrs. Robert Brown
invite you to join us
as we celebrate the

marriage of our daughter
Hillary
to
Liam Waterson
on Saturday, (date/time)
(location)

Another option:

Mr. and Mrs. Robert Brown
request the pleasure of your company
at a reception
in honor of
Mr. and Mrs. (your married name), etc.

If your choose not to be referred to as “Mr. and Mrs.,” then the invitation can read “at a reception to celebrate the marriage of (your name) and (your husband’s name).”
 

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I have a few friends who included a Save the Date magnet in their wedding announcements. It was pretty helpful - I attached the invitation to my fridge using the magnet provided, and then on the day of the wedding, when I was scrambling to get out the door on time, I was able to quickly locate the invitation for directions. For my Save the Dates, I did a postcard. However, I still like the idea of including a magnet in the actual invitations. My invitations will have a pocket for the RSVP card, and I was thinking of including a magnet of my fiance and I there. Would this be OK, and if so, what would be the proper wording on the magnet at this point - would "Save the Date" still be OK?