Invitations · 6 min read
Chinese Wedding Invitation Wording & Templates
A bilingual invitation is not an English invitation with a translation stapled underneath. Each side has to read naturally to the person reading it, and the two sides have to agree on the facts.
Below is wording you can copy and change, plus the three places couples usually get stuck: names, titles, and how to raise the subject of red envelopes.
Have someone who reads Chinese check the Chinese. Not for grammar — for tone, and for whether the titles are right for your family. A phrase that is technically correct can still land badly with an aunt.
What a traditional invitation looks like
It helps to know what your older relatives are expecting, even if you decide to do something simpler. A traditional Chinese wedding invitation usually has:
- A red card with gold lettering, and 囍 on the cover or the envelope.
- The parents as hosts. The invitation comes from both sets of parents, announcing the marriage of their children, so their names appear before the couple’s.
- Two dates: the calendar date and the date in the Chinese lunar calendar.
- Two times for the banquet: when guests are received and when dinner is served. They are often an hour or more apart.
- Text set vertically, read from right to left, in formal set phrases.
You do not need to reproduce all of this. Most couples marrying across two cultures keep the red, the 囍 and the parents’ names, and write the rest plainly in both languages. If one set of parents would be hurt to be left off, that is the part to keep.
What the invitation has to carry
Six things, in both languages. Everything else is optional.
- Both names, as each side of the family expects to see them
- What the event is — if there is a tea ceremony, say so plainly
- Date, start time, and whether there is a separate end
- Venue name and full address
- How to reply, and by when
- Anything a guest would otherwise have to ask: dress, gifts, access
Guests who have to message you to find out the dress code will message you. Answering it once on the invitation is cheaper than answering it forty times.
The main invitation
Warm and plain works better than formal. Copy this and make it yours.
With full hearts, we invite you to join our wedding tea ceremony as our two families come together.
Your presence means the world to us.
诚邀您参加我们的婚礼敬茶仪式，一同见证两个家庭的相聚。
有您的陪伴，是我们最珍贵的祝福。
Names and titles
This is where most bilingual invitations go wrong, and it is not a translation problem.
- Name order flips. Chinese puts the family name first. An invitation that writes the same person as “Mei-Lin Lam” in English and “林美玲” in Chinese is correct in both — it only looks inconsistent to someone reading one side.
- Do not transliterate a name that already has Chinese characters. If someone has a Chinese name, use it. Writing it phonetically reads as not knowing them.
- A partner with no Chinese name keeps their own. Latin letters inside a Chinese line are completely normal and better than inventing characters.
- Ask whose parents are named on the invitation. Some families expect both sets listed; some expect neither. There is no safe default.
Dates, times and addresses
Write the date out in full on both sides. Never use the numeric form — 03/06/2027 is March in the United States and June almost everywhere else, and an invitation is exactly the document where that mistake is expensive.
Give the start time, and give the address in the form the local post office uses, not a translated version. A guest typing it into a map app needs the real one. If the venue name only exists in one language, leave it in that language on both sides.
How to mention red envelopes
Guests want to know and will not ask. Say it, in one sentence, and the whole question goes away. Three versions depending on what you actually want:
If you want nothing
Your presence is all we ask for. Please don’t feel any obligation to bring a gift or red envelope.
您的到来就是最好的祝福，无需准备礼物或红包。
If red envelopes are welcome but optional
If you would like to give a red envelope, you are welcome to do so. It is entirely optional; your company means the most to us.
如您希望以红包表达祝福，我们十分感谢。这完全出于自愿，您的陪伴对我们最为珍贵。
If you would rather they asked you
Please contact us if you have any questions about gifts or red envelopes.
关于礼物或红包，如有疑问请直接与我们联系。
Pick one. Two of these on the same invitation reads as indecision, and guests will default to whichever makes them most anxious.
Questions couples ask
Which language goes first?
Whichever most of your guests read. If it is genuinely split, English first on the cards going to English speakers and Chinese first on the cards going to Chinese speakers — same content, two print runs. Digital invitations make this free.
Simplified or traditional characters?
Follow the family who will read it. Mainland families read simplified; Hong Kong, Taiwan and many older diaspora families read traditional. Do not mix the two in one document.
Do we need two separate invitations?
Usually not. One card with both languages works, and it says something about the marriage that two cards do not. Split them only if the design gets too crowded to read.
How far ahead should we send it?
Six to eight weeks for a local wedding. Three months or more if relatives are flying in, which for most bilingual weddings is the deciding factor.
Make the invitation, don’t retype it
Tea & Vows fills this wording in with your names, date and venue, in both languages at once, and shows you the finished invitation as you type. The same details fill in a ceremony guide, guest FAQ, timeline and host script.
Free to build and preview. The print-ready downloads are not on sale yet — leave your email and we will tell you when they are.
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