Guide

Hindu wedding invitation wording in English

The invocation, the hosts, the couple, the functions and the muhurat, in the order they go, with four wordings to copy.

The shape of a Hindu wedding card

A Hindu wedding invitation opens with an invocation, and the invocation is the family's community's. Smarta and most North Indian families write "Shri Ganeshaya Namah" or "Om Shri Ganeshaya Namah". Many communities open differently and do not invoke Ganesha first: Lingayat families write "Om Namah Shivaya" or a line of Basavanna; Madhwa families "Hari Om" or "Shri Gurubhyo Namah"; Sri Vaishnava and Iyengar families "Srimathe Ramanujaya Namaha"; Pushtimarg families "Shri Krishnah Sharanam Mama" or "Jai Shri Krishna"; Swaminarayan families "Jai Shree Swaminarayan"; Jain families the Navkar Mantra, "Namo Arihantanam". Use your own family's line. Then the hosts: "With the blessings of" the grandparents if they are living, followed by the parents who "solicit your gracious presence" or "request the pleasure of your company". Then the couple, often with the traditional prefixes, which differ by region: in the north Ayushman before the groom's name and Ayushmati before the bride's; in Maharashtra and Rajasthan Chi. for the groom and Chi. Sau. Kan. for the bride; the southern forms are on the South Indian page. Many couples now leave the prefixes out. Then the functions, each with its own date, time and venue, and the muhurat, the auspicious time, exactly as the priest gave it.

Families in the north tend to list haldi, mehndi, sangeet and the baraat; in the south the muhurtham, the reception, sometimes the nalangu. Only the wedding needs a muhurat; the haldi, the mehndi and the sangeet do not. A single card can carry all of them, and a good digital card lets each function have its own map and its own calendar entry.

Wording you can copy

Small things that matter

• The invocation is one line, at the top, on its own, and it is your community's line, not necessarily Ganesha's; the list is above. Families with a kuldevi put her name beneath it.
• Print the muhurat exactly as the priest gave it. In most North Indian and Telugu practice it is a single moment given to the minute; in Kannada and often Tamil practice it is a short window. Print the moment or the window you were given, never a vague "morning". The 11.45 am above is an illustration.
• Name the parents in the order your family uses. Father first and mother first are both correct and both common on real cards; keep the same order on both sides.
• Shri and Smt. are honorific words, not abbreviations, so Shri takes no full stop in the north; Sri is the southern spelling. Keep one register through the card, and do not mix Shri on one line with "Mr. and Mrs." on the next.
• One venue per function, with a map pin for each. The single most common question on the phone is "where is the sangeet".
• "Shubh Vivah" is the general northern word for the occasion; "Shubh Lagna" is Gujarati. On an English card the invocation usually stands alone at the top, and a "Shubh Vivah" heading is optional.
• Add an R.S.V.P. block with the names and phone numbers of two or three family members. That is normal and expected on Indian cards, and it is not a reply form; cards do not ask guests whether they will come.

The card that fits

Bandhan has the marigold curtain, a haveli courtyard and a running order for the functions. Pattu is the South Indian one, in silk.

Make it with Bandhan See it first

More guides: Nikah invitation wording, Walima invitation wording, Mangni invitation wording, South Indian wedding invitation wording, Engagement invitation wording, A digital wedding invitation in India: how it works.