Although tradition suggests to us the bride’s parents should host or pay for the wedding, this is not always the case. What if the bride’s parents don’t have enough money? Or they have deceased? Or they just don’t have a good relationship with their daughter? Often times, the groom’s side of the family will step up and pay for the wedding. But again, this is not always the case. Or, maybe the bride and groom are older and haven’t depended on or lived with their parents for years. Albeit the reason, the bride and groom may end up paying for and hosting their own wedding. If this is the case for your wedding, how should your wedding invitation be worded to reflect this?

Decorum #1 – Name Position Matters
If the bride and groom are paying for the wedding, their names should be the first to appear in the wedding invitation. Because the bride and groom are not yet married, the bride’s name should appear first, followed by the groom’s name.

Decorum #2 – Wording Should Reflect the Bride and Groom Inviting
Because the bride and groom are hosting, they are doing the inviting. Wording in your wedding invitation should reflect this. For example, it should say something like “We would be delighted if you could join us 
at our ceremony of marriage…” or “Leah Johnson and Bob Powers request the honor of your presence…” 

Decorum #3 – Parent’s Names are Optional
With the bride and groom hosting, parents names are optional on the wedding invitation. If you want to include parents names, the wording would be arranged similar to this:

We would be delighted if you could join us
at our ceremony of marriage

Leah Johnson
and
Bob Powers

daughter of Ted and Martha Johnson
and son of Kramer and Sue Powers
as we begin their journey of
marriage as husband and wife
…

If you want to see full examples of wedding invitation wording, check out our Wedding Invitation Wording page. On there we have a chart pointing you to examples of wedding invite wording based upon your family situation.