Guide
Walima invitation wording
The walima is the groom's family's feast, so the card speaks in their voice. Three wordings to copy.
What makes a walima card different
The nikah is a contract before witnesses; the walima is the celebration the groom's family gives afterwards, and it is a sunnah, which is why it gets a card of its own in so many households. Because the hosts are the groom's parents, the invitation is written from them, and the bride's family are honoured guests. Everything else follows the nikah card: Bismillah, hosts, the couple, date, time, venue, a dua.
Walima cards are the ones most often sent to the wider circle, colleagues, neighbours, the whole mohalla, so the wording tends to be warmer and less formal than the nikah's, and the venue line matters more than anything else on it.
When the walima is held
The walima follows the nikah: the same evening, the next day, or within the week. The card should say which, because guests from out of town plan their travel around it, and because a walima on the same evening as the nikah is a single long day for the groom's family and a very different one for the guests. If the couple's rukhsati is on the same day, some families mention it, most do not; it is the family's moment, not the guests'.
Wording you can copy
Bismillah ir-Rahman ir-Raheem
Janab Rashid Qureshi and Begum Farhana Qureshi
request the pleasure of your company at the Walima
in honour of their son
Imran
and his bride
Ayesha
Tuesday, the 23rd of March 2027
14 Shawwal 1448
at 8 o'clock in the evening, Inshallah
Rose Garden Convention Hall, Bangalore
Your presence is our honou
Bismillah
Imran has brought Ayesha home.
The Qureshi family invites you to celebrate with us
at the Walima
Tuesday, 23 March 2027, 8 pm, Inshallah
Rose Garden Convention Hall, Bangalore
Alhamdulillah, Imran and Ayesha are married. Join us for the Walima on Tuesday 23 March at 8 pm, Rose Garden Convention Hall. Your invitation:
Small things that matter
- Say who is hosting in the first line after the Bismillah. A walima card that does not name the hosts reads as a reception card.
- Dinner timings in India run late; if food is served from a particular time, say "dinner from 9 pm" on the card and spare yourself two hundred calls.
- If the nikah was private and this is the only card most people receive, add one line about it: "The Nikah was solemnised on 21 March in the presence of family".
- A Hijri date is still customary even though the walima is a feast, not a rite.
The card that fits
Chiraghaan lights lamp after lamp down a marble arcade, which is the right mood for a feast. Sheesh Mahal, the room of mirrors, suits a grander one.
Make it with Chiraghaan See it firstMore guides: Nikah invitation wording, Mangni invitation wording, Hindu wedding invitation wording in English, South Indian wedding invitation wording, Engagement invitation wording, A digital wedding invitation in India: how it works.