Sample Invitation Wording Template - Philippines

The Philippines is a big wedding market, with its unique culture and close family ties. If you scour the internet for sample invitation wordings, you will quickly see that invitations in the Philippines are worded a little differently than those from the Western (US, Canada, Europe) invitations that you see online.

 

 

From our experience, here are 3 things to know about wedding invitations in the Philippines:

 

1. Groom's name goes first

The Philippines is a very gender-equal country that places high importance in women. You can see it with our number of women presidents relatively to our short history, or even our language that is naturally gener-neutral ("Siya" vs. he/she; "Anak" vs son/daughter). I'm uncertain how this plays in the wedding invitation wording, but in western countries, the bride's name goes in front of the groom. One of the more traditional templates of writing invitations is:

<brides parents> gives hand of <daughter> to <groom>, son of <groom's parents>

In the Philippines though, most invitations are written with <groom> and <bride> in the main page.

 

2. Same goes with the entourage page

Traditionally, in the entourage page, the last name of the groom goes before the bride's. This might make you scratch your head a bit as it does sound a little peculiar. After all, when you have a child, the mother's last name will go before the father's. But it is how it is.

If this bothers you, you can quickly remedy this by having a different header, such as "Entourage" or "The wedding party".

 

3. RSVP is just a number

If you like browsing through Pinterest for you wedding invitation inspiration, you'll see many of the suites in extravagant stationery. Most will have a smaller envelope included for the RSVP return card. Usually this will be a separate card with a tick-box for attending or politely declines. And I believe the expectation is that these recipients will ship back the small envelope to the couple. This process does remind me of old glamour, I do imagine that this is how it is in Bridgerton. >.<

In the Philippines, the RSVP is just one or two liner indicating the deadline and the number to contact. This can be its own card or part of the info card (map and other details). 

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These are just things that I've observed through my years in making wedding invitations. But nothing is set in stone. You can do anything you want because it is your big day, after all. Just make sure that the important people in your lives (aka. parents and in-laws, and maybe some nosy aunties) give you the sign off! Or just be prepared to stand your ground, as you may not hear the end of it!