So
many of the details about weddings are now open to much more creative
interpretation than they were not so very many years ago. After setting
the date and location of the service, the next issue to be addressed is
the wedding invitation. There is a very wide variety of invitations
available from the very casual to the formal and elegant. The wording
of the invitation has changed over the years as well. The 'Net is a
wonderful place to find a lot of wedding invitation wording samples
that can give a couple some creative ideas as well as some idea of what
is considered acceptable and proper.For the traditional ceremony with the family of the bride carrying the main financial load, the traditional wedding invitation wording samples show the classic "Mr. and Mrs. Who request the honor of your presence at the marriage of their daughter Mary to John Smith, son of Mr. and Mrs. What". For a ceremony where both families are sharing the financial load, the names of the parents of the groom would appear at the beginning of the sentence, along with the name of the bride's parents. For the very modern couple who are funding their own wedding, parents names are not part of the wording at all. The invitation is simply issued from Mary and John (the engaged couple).
One of the most interesting, if confusing, areas of wording a wedding invitation comes from cases where parents are divorced, possibly re-married, or deceased. Some of the wedding invitation wording samples online suggest that a surviving parent who is hosting the wedding be named alone as such. In addition, an event hosted by divorced parents may read "Mr. John Parent and Mrs. Fred Newname request ..." In families where there is a friendly relationship, the names of the step-parents might be listed as well.
There are additional considerations that may come about with more modern marriages. In these hard economic times, it is often the case that the parents of either the bride and or groom may host the wedding, while parents, step parents, or the couple themselves may well host the dinner or reception. In that case, most wedding invitation wording samples suggest that the ceremony invitation and the reception invitation have different wording entirely. This clearly indicates who is hosting which event and to whom the RSVP or regrets should be directed.