What an online nikah invitation does
A nikah invitation does more work than most wedding invitations. It opens in the name of Allah. It names both families, because the parents invite, not the couple. It often covers two gatherings, the nikah and the walima, sometimes on different days. And it goes to a guest list that runs into the hundreds, half of whom are in the family WhatsApp group.
An online nikah invitation puts all of that on one page you send as a link. Guests open it on their phone, read the verse, see who is hosting, find the venue and the timings, and reply on the spot. Every reply comes back to you with the names of everyone in the household, a meal choice for each, and any dietary note, so the caterer gets numbers instead of guesses.
Two designs made for a nikah
Both come with the Arabic and the wording already written, taken from a real nikah invitation and set properly: the Bismillah, the verse and the dua in a Naskh face with room for their vowel marks, never letter-spaced, always right to left, each with its English beneath.
- Jannah is a garden of paradise: emerald, ivory and gold, a lattice of eight-pointed stars, a cusped arch around your names and a wax seal that opens the reply form. It opens with the Bismillah, carries Surah Ar-Rum 30:21 in a gilded band, names both families with their roles, and closes with a dua and the request "We kindly request your duas".
- Noor is the same invitation as a magazine cover story: a white mosque under a dusk sky on the cover, with the Bismillah as the masthead and your names in the sky, then the verse in Arabic and English, the evening in numbered features, and the dua at the end. Add your own photograph and it takes the cover instead.
Either design takes your colour. Change the verse, the dua or the families in a form; nothing is fixed. And if you would rather use one of the other four designs, the same details move across without retyping.
What is already written for you
- The Bismillah, بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ, with its translation.
- Surah Ar-Rum 30:21, the verse of mates and mercy, in Arabic and in English with its source. If your family would rather keep the Arabic text of the Qur'an off a page that also carries a map and dinner timings, clear the Arabic line and the translation stays.
- The families, as "The parents of the groom" and "The parents of the bride", with the request "kindly request the honour of your presence at the Nikah and Walima of their children".
- An order of the evening to edit: guest arrival, the groom's entrance, the bride's entrance, the nikah, dinner, rukhsati.
- A dress code ("Formal traditional attire") and a gift note ("Your presence is the gift. Kindly, no boxed gifts please.").
- The closing dua, in Arabic, transliteration and English: "O Allah, unite our hearts, mend our relationships, and guide us on the path of peace," and the request for your guests' duas.
- Halal meal choices on the reply form: lamb, chicken, fish, vegetarian. Change them to your menu.
Nikah and walima on one invitation, or two
Many families hold the nikah with close family and the walima for everyone. You can do this three ways.
- One invitation, two sections. Put both on the schedule, with the walima under its own heading and venue. Guests see the whole plan.
- One invitation, two guest lists. Tag each household "nikah" or "walima" and give every household its own link with a personal note: "Please join us from 6pm for the walima" for the wider list, the full welcome for the family. The reply form only asks each household about the people on their link.
- Two invitations. A nikah invitation and a walima invitation in the same account, each with its own address, if the guest lists barely overlap.
Replies that come back complete
Ask for a yes or no, a meal choice per guest and a dietary note, or add your own questions: ladies' side or gents' side for seating, coach from the mosque, children's names for the kids' table. Set a reply-by date and the page shows it. Guests who do not have the link can still find their names and reply.
Every reply lands in your dashboard as it happens. Export the list for the caterer or the hall whenever you like, with the tags and answers attached.
Sending it
Copy the link and paste it into WhatsApp, text or email. Every household can have its own link with their names already on it, so an elder sees "Dear Uncle Farooq and family" rather than "Dear guest", and the family group chat gets one message rather than forty questions. Our guide on sending a nikah invitation by WhatsApp has the message to write.
What it costs
One payment of £40, VAT included, for any number of guests, and the site stays live for a year from the day you pay. That is the launch offer; the usual price is £59. There is nothing to pay until you are happy with it: build it, open it on your phone, show your parents, then pay when you are ready to send. A guest list of four hundred costs the same as a guest list of forty.
Your own web address
Your invitation lives at yourname.invalia.io out of the box. If you have bought a domain for the wedding, connect it from the dashboard with step-by-step instructions, at no extra cost.
Good questions
- Is the Arabic set correctly?
- Yes. The Bismillah, the verse and the dua are set in Amiri, a Naskh typeface with full vowel marks, right to left, with no letter-spacing and extra line height so the marks are never clipped. Every line can be edited, replaced or removed.
- Can we change the verse or the dua?
- Yes. Both are plain text fields in the builder. Surah Ar-Rum 30:21 and the closing dua are there to start you off; replace them with whatever your family reads.
- Can both sets of parents be named as hosts?
- Yes. The invitation names up to four families, each with a role such as "The parents of the groom", in the order you choose. The couple’s names stay on the cover.
- Can we invite some guests to the nikah and everyone to the walima?
- Yes. Keep one guest list, tag each household, and give every household its own link with a note saying which part they are invited to. Or make a separate walima invitation in the same account.
- Can guests reply for their whole household?
- Yes. A household link lists everyone in it, and the reply form asks for each person’s attendance and meal choice. You set how many people each household can bring.
- Do guests need an app or an account?
- No. They open the link in WhatsApp or their browser and reply in under a minute. Older relatives can be helped by anyone with the link, or can search their name on the page.
- Is it really one price for any number of guests?
- Yes. £40 one-off (the launch offer, usually £59) covers any guest list, with the invitation live for a year from payment.
Make yours this evening.
Preview it on your phone. Pay once when it’s right.