Mentioning one or both sets of parents on your wedding invitations is a traditional (and often sentimental) way of wording your wedding invitations. While you can mention whichever set of parents you’d like (or both), many people base the decision on who will be paying for the wedding. This does not have to be the case in today’s modern environment, as sentiment and respect for your parents can play just as big of a role in whether or not you decide to mention them as money matters. You may decide that you don’t want to mention your parents at all, which is completely fine, and you can find invitation wording examples that mention only the bride and groom.

As for mentioning your parents in the wording, it’s pretty straight forward.  In most cases, the wording is written as if the parents are inviting the guests to attend the wedding such as in the following examples.

Hosted by the Parents

Mr. and Mrs. George Martin
invite you to attend
the marriage of their daughter
Jane Elizabeth
to
John Smith
on February sixteenth…

or

Mr. and Mrs. George Martin
and Mr. and Mrs. James Smith
invite you to attend
the marriage of their children
Jane Elizabeth
to
John Christopher…

For the “invite” line you can also use the following phrases: request the pleasure of your company, request the honor of your presence, cordially invite you to attend, and so on.

More Examples

Here are some additional examples of wedding invitation wording hosted by one or both sets of parents.

Mentioning Everyone or Extended Families