Guide

Wedding invitation wording in Marathi

The traditional card in Marathi, from the parents, and a short message for WhatsApp, reviewed line by line, with an English gloss beneath.

How a Marathi card is worded

A Marathi wedding invitation opens with an invocation in double dandas, most often ॥ श्री गणेशाय नमः ॥, sometimes the minimal ॥ श्री ॥ or the family deity, then the heading शुभविवाह (one word; शुभमंगल is the most Marathi of the alternatives). Then the grandparents whose blessings the wedding has, the parents who invite, the groom with चि. before his name, the bride with चि.सौ.कां. before hers and her parents named, then the day and date, the auspicious time as a single moment, the venue, and a request that the guest come with the whole family and bless the couple, signed by the inviting families. Married women carry सौ., men श्री. with a full stop, and a departed elder is कै., never स्व. The English gloss under the first sample says what each line does.

Which convention this follows

हे नमुने प्रमाण (पुणेरी) मराठीत असून सर्व महाराष्ट्रीय हिंदू कुटुंबांना चालतील असे तयार केले आहेत. सुरुवातीचे मंगलाचरण (॥ श्री ॥ / ॥ श्री गणेशाय नमः ॥ / कुलदैवत / गुरु), कुलदैवताचा उल्लेख, पंचांग तपशील व आडनाव आपापल्या कुटुंबाप्रमाणे बदला. मुहूर्ताची वेळ एकच नेमकी लिहा.

Warkari families and devotees of Swami Samarth, Gajanan Maharaj or Sai Baba often add or substitute their own line at the top. The dialects of Vidarbha, Marathwada and the Konkan live in the songs, not in the printed card, which follows standard Marathi everywhere.

नमुने

What each part of the first sample does, in order:

1. The invocation, in double dandas
2. The heading, one word
3. The grandparents, mother first is idiomatic, "with whose blessings"
4. The parents who invite
5. "their son"
6. The groom, with चि. before his name
7. "whose wedding"
8. The bride, with चि.सौ.कां. before her name
9. Her parents
10. "daughter of"
11. "with her"
12. Day and date, with दि.
13. The auspicious time, a single moment, "at this muhurta"
14. The venue, a मंगल कार्यालय
15. "will take place at"
16. The request to attend with the whole family and bless the couple
17. The inviting families, signing off

Small things that matter

• नावांपुढील मानाचे शब्द (श्री., सौ., चि., चि.सौ.कां.) वधू व वर दोन्ही बाजूंना एकाच पद्धतीने वापरा. एका बाजूला "श्रीमती" व दुसरीकडे "सौ." असे मिसळू नका.
• मुहूर्ताची वेळ गुरुजींनी सांगितली तशीच, एकच नेमकी वेळ लिहा (उदा. स. ११.२० वा.). अंदाजे वेळ किंवा "सकाळचा मुहूर्त" असे मोघम लिहू नका.
• हळद, विवाह व स्वागतसमारंभ या प्रत्येक कार्यक्रमाला स्वतंत्र ओळ, स्वतंत्र पत्ता आणि स्वतंत्र नकाशा-लिंक (लोकेशन) द्या.
• पाहुण्यांना "याल का?" असे विचारू नका. त्यांच्या उपस्थितीची व आशीर्वादाची नम्र विनंती करा. गरज असल्यास फक्त संपर्क क्रमांक द्या.
• The traditional, more formal frame replaces "याचा शुभविवाह ... हिच्याशी ... येथे होणार आहे" with "... हिच्याशी ... या शुभमुहूर्तावर संपन्न करण्याचे योजिले आहे", which older cards print word for word. Either is right; "संपन्न होत आहे" is not Marathi.
• चि.सौ.कां. (चिरंजीव सौभाग्यकांक्षिणी, "she who aspires to marital good fortune") is what nearly every printed card carries; some families now write चि. for both or कु. for the bride. One system, on both sides. A departed elder is कै. श्री. or कै. सौ., never स्व.
• Traditional and Brahmin families print a panchang line above the date in this shape: मिती [मास] [शुद्ध/कृष्ण] [तिथी], शके [वर्ष], [वार] दि. [तारीख] रोजी. Devanagari numerals are usual for the ritual lines; the inviters' block often lists the grandparents, uncles and aunts, and leaving a relative out can give offence.

The card that fits

Bandhan carries this wording in Marathi, in the guest's own script, with the haldi, the wedding and the reception as separate functions, each with its own map.

Make it with Bandhan See it first

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