The Only Marriage Card Format Guide You Need to Look at Before Designing Yours

Once the dates and venues of the wedding functions have been finalised, the next big and immediate task is the finalisation of the wedding card. With innovations in marriage card designs catching up as the hot trend nowadays, this first impression needs to match the extravaganze which are to follow during the wedding ceremonies.

We are talking not just about the design, but words as well. It is important that the marriage card format should be in the rightful order, with zero tolerance for mistakes. Having said that, we all feel the need to put a personal touch to everything that is a part of the wedding, including editing the basic marriage card format that is being offered by the marriage card designers and printers. But in order to play around with words and formats, it is essential that you know the meaning of what all is involved in the marriage card format and understanding the scope of altering it as per your wishes; rightfully!

With every detail on a marriage card format, here’s everything you should know about what goes in your marriage card along with suggestions on customising it to call it your own.

Beginning The Invitation With A Symbol Of Lord Ganesha

In Hindu traditions, praying and seeking blessings of Lord Ganesha before the commencement of any work is considered to bring in opulence, luck and prosperity. The symbol holds importance in the Indian marriage card format as well, wherein a creative figurine of Lord Ganesha is placed first, before writing anything else. It is considered to be a blessing for the couple to lead a healthy, happy and prosperous married life.

The Usage of Mangal Ghat Symbol

Mangal Ghat is another auspicious symbol used in marriage card format, which consists of a pot of water covered with a full-coconut and mango leaves. The presence of Mangal Ghat during Saptapadi and other puja ceremonies among Hindus is prominent. The symbol or the pot in itself is considered to purify the space and ward off the evil from the place as well. For couples, it is a symbol that protects them from Buri Nazar/evil eye.

The Meaningful Shlokas

Now that blessings from Lord Ganesh have been sought and the evil warded off, we move on to the addition of meaningful Shlokas to the invitation. While most of the cards come with pre-planned Shlokas, you can always look up for many Sanskrit Shlokas available online and pick the one that touches you the most or means the most to you. Some of the most famous Shlokas that you will find in marriage card format are as follows :

वक्र तुंड महाकाय, सूर्य कोटि समप्रभ:। निर्विघ्नं कुरु मे देव शुभ कार्येषु सर्वदा ॥

Meaning: Mighty lord with the curved trunk, emitting the brightness of a million suns, I pray for your blessings, to ward off all obstacles from the task I intend to perform next.

एकदन्तं महाकायं लम्बोदरगजाननम्ं। विध्ननाशकरं देवं हेरम्बं प्रणमाम्यहम्॥

Meaning: I pray to you, the lord with a tusk and strong body, the banisher of obstacles and the lord of the lords.

The Hosts

Generally, the names under the host list either consist of the grand-parents or that of the parents. Whichever couple’s names are printed as the host, the other couple’s names come right under the names of the couple, along with their relationship with the bride and the groom. Since the host holds utmost respect and importance in the marriage, their names should always be addressed respectfully. You can either select Mr. and Mrs. as their abbreviation, or you can go with the Indian ‘Shreeman and Shreemati’ to stay true to the method of addressing in Hindi.

Make sure the font you use to print their names are strong, non-italics and bold so as to highlight their presence in the marriage card format.

The Invitation Message

Invitation messages are short and crisp, giving a gist to what this invite extension leads to. You can either go with the regular quotes like ‘invites you to grace and bless the wedding of our daughter/son’ and ‘request the honour of your presence to celebrate the wedding ceremony of our daughter/son’ or you can give a Bollywoodisque perspective to the card and go dramatic. If the parents are extending the invite on behalf of their daughter/son then the invite can say the following in the marriage card format :

‘Request your presence to bless our life's light, our daughter, and her groom’

‘Invites you to be a part of our daughter/son’s happiness as she/he marries the man/woman of her/his dreams.’

If the grandparents of the groom/bride are inviting, then pick from the following quotes :

‘Humbly request your presence to witness the union of our children.’

‘Will feel honoured with your presence on this auspicious day, as our son/daughter ties the knot of marital bliss.’

Names Of The Bride And The Groom

Traditionally, the family on behalf of whom the wedding invitation is extended, places the name of their child and themselves first, followed by the name and family details of the other family respectfully. The placement of the bride and the groom’s names should be given a thorough thought before finalising on the details. In the marriage card format, the font size of the bride and groom’s names should be the largest with enough space to give scope to a creative font and italics feature. Make sure that you pick a font that is clean yet creative at the same time.

The name of the bride and groom comes with a sub-text, naming the grandparents or parents, whichever couple have not been named under the host category.

No abbreviations or compulsion of adding the surnames are tagged with the names of the bride and groom in the marriage card format.

Wedding Details

The important part of your marriage card format is all the details the guests would need to know about the venue and the marriage ceremony. Make sure the font size and style is simple and readable. To begin with, date in highlighted format along with the day of the week should be placed in the format. This can follow up with the timings, again in highlighted and bold format, if possible.

The venue address should be as detailed as possible, with an option of a map on another leaflet, if you think the venue cannot be easily located. Make sure that you have added important landmarks along with the directions, to make reaching the venue easier for the guests.

As mentioned earlier, make sure the font style and size of the venue address is big enough and readable for guests of all ages.

Concluding Quote

Let’s break the traditional tone a bit and fill in a little fun element in the marriage card format, shall we? Not particularly quoted for someone, but it is always a great idea to put in a line or two on love that everyone can relate to. So pick the quote that you as a bride and groom relate to the most and think is good enough to spread the joy of love. For instance, the following quotes are what tickled the love butterfly in our stomachs:

“Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength while loving someone deeply gives you courage.” – Lao Tzu

“When you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.” – When Harry Met Sally

The R.S.V.P. Request

Répondez S'il Vous Plaît or simply request-to-respond-please, popularly abbreviated as R.S.V.P. comes as the final word of invitation. This word holds much importance to the hosts as it helps them finalise wedding bookings based on the number of people actually attending the wedding and balancing bookings based on those who are not. Hence, an urgent R.S.V.P. request is of utmost importance in your marriage card format.

Make sure you put this message in a respectful taste by humbly requesting the guests to respond at the earliest.

Additional Contact Details

This addition to the marriage card format is optional and can be excluded if the design doesn’t demand it. But in case you plan on adding this into the format, then make sure you don’t go overboard adding numbers of all your friends and close family there. Select the coordinators participating in your wedding who will be the know-all in the group and can be reached out to in case someone needs any assistance. Be extra careful while providing smartphone numbers of the respective candidate as they can expect their phones to go on-call mode throughout the wedding functions.

It is always a great idea to customise your marriage card format, but always favourable when done sensibly, sans getting overwhelmed by emotions and adding content that is not needed. Select from a variety of fonts and styles that match your card’s design but are also crisp and easy to read. Don’t fret from taking help of the graphic designer, who understands what fonts work in harmony and can show you the outcomes realtime digitally. Once you finalise on the format, make sure that you go through the format, the spelling of each name, the details of the venue and the phone numbers of the assisting candidates thoroughly before printing them all out. Also, get one card printed so as to approve the finished product before printing hundreds of copies out.

Marriage Card Format is the first impression you make on the guests about what they can expect at your upcoming wedding. So make sure you put the right card style forward and get them all excited for your wedding ceremony.