Destination wedding invitation wording: 14 examples

A destination wedding invitation has to do a job a wedding at home never asks of it: persuade people to book a flight. It goes out earlier, it carries more, and the tone has to be warm enough that a cousin in Leeds feels wanted in Puglia and clear enough that she knows which airport to fly to. Here is what each piece needs, from the save the date to the travel note, with fourteen examples in a British register.

What a destination wedding invitation needs

1. The dates, plural. Most weddings abroad run Friday to Sunday. Say all three days on the save the date, so guests book the right flights.
2. The place, with the country, the nearest airport and the town, in that order. "Bellagio, Lake Como, Italy. Fly to Milan."
3. The weekend, day by day, even if the detail comes later: welcome drinks, the wedding, a farewell lunch.
4. Where to stay, with the hotels you have held rooms at and the date the hold ends.
5. Who is invited, stated plainly: partners, children, or neither. A flight makes the question sharper.
6. The reply, early, with a date eight to ten weeks before, and what you need to know: days, dietary needs, landing time.
7. A link that carries everything above and takes the replies, because a card cannot.

Save the date wording

1. Classic

Save the dates Amira and Daniel are getting married Saturday, 12 June 2027 Bellagio, Lake Como, Italy Friday to Sunday, 11 to 13 June Invitation and travel details to follow

2. Warm

We're getting married by the lake! Please save 11 to 13 June 2027 for a weekend in Bellagio on Lake Como. Flights go to Milan; we will send the hotels and the plan in the new year. Everything will be on the link.

3. Short, for the group

Amira & Daniel, 12 June 2027, Lake Como. Save the whole weekend, 11 to 13 June. Hotels and flights on the link: [link]

Invitation wording

4. Formal, from the parents

Mr and Mrs Rajesh Mehta request the pleasure of your company at the marriage of their daughter Nisha to Rohan Patel on Saturday, 12 June 2027 at four o'clock Villa Lucia, Bellagio, Lake Como, Italy and at dinner and dancing to follow Please reply by 2 April

5. From the couple

Amira and Daniel invite you to their wedding on Saturday, 12 June 2027 at Villa Lucia on Lake Como. The ceremony is on the terrace at four, then dinner and dancing in the garden. We have held hotel rooms in Bellagio; details and the reply form are on the link. Please reply by 2 April.

6. The whole weekend

Join us for a weekend on Lake Como. Friday 11 June, 7pm: welcome drinks on the hotel terrace. Saturday 12 June, 4pm: the wedding at Villa Lucia, then dinner and dancing. Sunday 13 June, 12pm: farewell lunch at the lido, and a swim if you are brave. Flights, hotels and the reply form are on the link. Reply by 2 April.

7. A Spanish finca

Simran and Harpreet are getting married at Finca La Encina, near Ronda, on Saturday, 25 September 2027. Fly to Málaga; the finca is ninety minutes by car and we will run a coach from Marbella. The ceremony is at five, dinner under the olives at seven. Reply on the link by 16 July.

8. A Greek island

We are getting married on Paros. Saturday, 4 September 2027, 6pm, at the chapel above Naoussa, then dinner on the harbour. Fly to Athens and take the morning ferry, or fly direct to Paros from Athens. Rooms are held at two hotels until 1 May. Everything is on the link; reply by 25 June.

9. A French château

Nisha and Rohan invite you to Château de Montbrun, near Bordeaux, on Saturday, 19 June 2027. Ceremony at three in the orangery, dinner in the courtyard, dancing in the cellar. Fly to Bordeaux or take the train from Paris. We have held rooms at the château and in the village; reply by 9 April so we can confirm them.

10. Small and plain

We are getting married abroad, with the people we love most. Lake Como, Saturday 12 June 2027. Thirty of us. Flights to Milan, three nights in Bellagio, one long lunch on the Sunday. Please come. Details and the reply form: [link]

Lines for the end

11. Travel

Fly to Milan Malpensa or Linate. Bellagio is an hour and a half by car; or take the train to Varenna and the ferry across, which is the prettier way. We will share a shuttle timetable from the airport a month before.

12. Where to stay

We have held rooms at the Hotel on the lake front and at the Garden Hotel in the old town until 1 March. Mention our names when you book. Both are a short walk from the boat to the villa.

13. Children and partners

We would love your children there for the Sunday lunch; the wedding day itself is for grown-ups, and the hotel can arrange babysitting. Partners are warmly invited for the whole weekend.

14. Reply

Please reply on the link by 2 April and tell us which days you will join us, any dietary needs, and when you land, so the shuttle knows where to be.

Things to get right

• Send the save the date early. Six to nine months for a wedding abroad; nine to twelve for a long-haul one. Guests need the cheap flights.
• Name the airport. "Lake Como" is not an airport. Give the two nearest and the time from each.
• Hold rooms, and say until when. A hold with no date is a hold nobody uses.
• Put the reply date eight to ten weeks out, earlier than at home. The deadline guide has the sums.
• State the children question once, kindly. The plus-one guide has the lines.
• One link for everything. The save the date, the invitation and the travel notes can be the same page, updated as the plan firms up, so guests only ever have one thing to find.

Where the words go

A wedding abroad is the one where a website earns its keep: the weekend day by day, the airports and the shuttle, the hotels with the hold date, the venue with a map, and a reply form that asks which days and when they land. Our destination wedding page shows it on Lago, the design made for it, with a film of the lake on the cover. One payment of £40 covers any number of guests, wherever they are flying from.