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 opens with the invocation, and often a panchangam line, before the names; the muhurtham, the auspicious time, is given prominently, because that is what a guest plans the morning around, but it does not come first. The invocation is the community's: "Sri Gurubhyo Namaha" for many families, "Om Namah Shivaya" for Lingayats, "Hari Om" for Madhwas, "Srimathe Ramanujaya Namaha" for Sri Vaishnavas, "Sri Ganeshaya Namah" or a Murugan line in Tamil Nadu, "Srirastu Subhamastu" in Andhra and Telangana. The prefixes before the couple's names differ by state and community. In Tamil Nadu the mainstream forms are Selvan for the groom and Selvi for the bride, and Tamil Brahmin families use Chi. and Sow.; in Karnataka Chi. and Ku., or Chi. Sow.; in Andhra and Telangana Chi. and Chi. La. Sow., Chiranjeevi Lakshmi Soubhagyavathi; Kerala cards lean on the house name rather than a Sanskrit prefix. Grandparents are often named as those whose blessings the wedding has.

Thirumana Azhaippithazh, Amantrana Patrike and Shubhalekha are the names for the invitation itself in Tamil, Kannada and Telugu, not headings to print on it; the card opens with the invocation. When the reception falls differs by state: in Tamil Nadu it is usually the evening before the muhurtham, since the wedding itself is an early-morning ceremony; in Karnataka often the evening of the wedding day; in Andhra and Telangana it follows the wedding; in Kerala it is commonly the same day, after the sadya.

Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, Malayali

The English card is nearly the same across the south, but a few words differ. Tamil families give the muhurtham as a window or a moment, whichever the priest gave, and put the reception the evening before. Kannada families head the card Shubha Vivaha and often hold the reception on the wedding evening. Telugu families name the muhurtham to the minute, with the nakshatram and the lagnam beside it, and hold the reception after. Kerala cards give the Nalla Neram, the auspicious moment, to the minute and give the sadya its own line; conventions differ by community, and Nair cards carry the tharavad name and often name the bride's family first, Ezhava cards follow the reformed rites of Sree Narayana Guru, and Namboothiri cards follow the Vedic form. The card in each language is on our Tamil, Kannada and Telugu pages.

Wording you can copy

Small things that matter

• Give the muhurtham as the priest gave it: a window in much of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, a single moment in Andhra and Telangana. Guests arrive for the start of it. The 10.30 am above is an illustration.
• 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, as in Tamil Nadu, put it first on the card, in the order it happens; if it follows the wedding, as in Andhra and Telangana, it goes after.
• The prefixes are optional now, but if one side uses them the other side should too, and they differ by state: Selvan and Selvi, or Chi. and Sow., in Tamil Nadu; Chi. and Ku. in Karnataka; Chi. and Chi. La. Sow. in Andhra and Telangana; Chi. Sau. Kan. in Maharashtra; Ayushman and Ayushmati on Hindi cards.
• Sri and Smt. take no full stop, and southern cards print both parents' given names rather than folding the wife into the husband's name: "Sri Venkatesh and Smt. Lakshmi". A pan-South card in English does best with given names alone and no community marker, since Tamil initials, Telugu and Kannada surname-first order and Kerala house names all differ.
• Add an R.S.V.P. block with two or three names and phone numbers; cards do not ask guests whether they will come.

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.