This page is intended to illustrate the proper way to respond to wedding invitations, including how to fill out response cards.
This is the most formal way to respond to a wedding invitation. Most people today do not use this form, and I do not really recommend it, because it provides more opportunity for confusion if the host is unfamiliar with the formal conventions. Notice that our guests are accepting the invitation to the reception. Traditionally in the United States, it was impossible to accept an invitation to the ceremony, because they took place in a house of God, which requires no invitation for entry.
Note that the location of the reception is optional, and both the location and the time are omitted when declining.Mr. and Mrs. Mark Jones
accept with pleasure
the kind invitation of
Mr. and Mrs. Smith
to the wedding reception of their daughter
Maria Louise
and
Mr. John Matthew Smith
on Saturday, the twenty-third of March
at three o'clock in the afternoon
128 North Main Street
If more than one person has been invited, but not all are able to attend, the following form is used:
If you and your children are invited on one invitation, their names should have been written on the inner envelope along with yours. You would respond the same way:
A response card usually looks like this:
Fill in the names of the people on the longer line. Notice that the M of your title is already printed, so you would actually write something like r. and Mrs. Mark Jones
If you have a title that does not begin with M, you may strike out the M and put down your proper title.
Then, if you are accepting, do not put anything on the second line. If you are declining, write the word not on that line.
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