Guide

South Indian wedding invitation wording

Muhurtham, reception, the prefixes before the names, and three wordings you can copy.

What is different in the south

A South Indian card leads with the muhurtham, the auspicious time, because that is what a guest plans the morning around. The couple's names carry prefixes: Chiranjeevi (Chi.) for the groom, Sowbhagyavathi (Sow.) or Chi. La. Sow. for the bride, and grandparents are often named as those whose blessings the wedding has. Tamil families call the card a Thirumana Azhaippithazh, Kannada families a Shubha Vivaha Aahvana, Telugu families a Subha Vivaha Aahvanam; the English card usually keeps one of these as a heading.

The reception is nearly always the evening before or the evening of, and in Tamil Nadu the two are often on separate cards. Kerala weddings tend to be shorter on functions and longer on the feast, and the sadya deserves its own line.

Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, Malayali

The English card is nearly the same across the south, but the heading and a few words differ. Tamil families write Thirumana Azhaippithazh and give the muhurtham as a window, and the reception is often the evening before. Kannada families head the card Shubha Vivaha and often hold the reception on the wedding evening. Telugu families write Subha Vivaha Aahvanam and frequently name the muhurtam to the minute, with the nakshatram beside it. Malayali cards are the plainest of the four, and the sadya, the feast, is the line guests look for. Our Pattu card carries all four languages in the guest's own script, so the English card can stay English and the elders can switch.

Wording you can copy

Small things that matter

• Give the muhurtham as a window if the priest gave a window, and as a time if he gave a time. Guests arrive for the start of it.
• Say when the meal is. "Lunch follows the muhurtham" or "Sadya at 12.30" is the most useful line on the card.
• If the reception is the evening before, put it first on the card, in the order it happens.
• The prefixes are optional now, but if one side uses them the other side should too. They differ by region: Sow. in the south, Chi. Sau. Kan. in Maharashtra, Ayushmati or Saubhagyakankshini in Hindi cards.

The card that fits

Pattu is silk, kuchu and zari, built for a South Indian wedding, with the muhurtham and the reception as separate functions, each with its own map.

Make it with Pattu See it first

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