Wedding reception invitations for dinner, dancing and blessings

In many North Indian families the reception is the groom’s family’s evening, held once the bride has come home, sometimes in the groom’s own city. Other families hold it on the wedding night itself, straight after a morning ceremony, or host it jointly.

Many Tamil families hold the reception on the evening before an early-morning muhurtham, so the couple can greet guests on stage. And couples who marry quietly or far from home often throw the reception weeks later, for everyone who could not be there.

Some communities have their own version, and it is worth calling it by its name:

• Bou bhaat: in Bengali families, held at the groom’s home a day or two after the biye, when the new bride is welcomed into the family and the evening turns into a feast for relatives, neighbours and friends.
• Walima: in Muslim families, the meal the groom’s side hosts after the nikah to celebrate the marriage with family and friends.

The reception list is usually the longest of the wedding. Close relatives come to everything, while colleagues, neighbours, your parents’ friends and business contacts are often invited to the dinner alone.

Each function can have its own guest list, so a family can be invited to the reception but not the wedding. Making a function private, so only invited families see it, is a paid-plan feature. Another way is to publish a separate invitation that holds only the reception. Both partners’ names are needed to publish, and the WhatsApp link preview shows your names, so colleagues know at a glance whose reception it is.

• Who is hosting: the groom’s parents, both families or the two of you
• The couple’s names, now as newlyweds, and the bride’s parents if the groom’s family is hosting
• The date and the time dinner starts, not only when the venue opens
• When the couple will be on stage, for guests who want to give their blessings and leave early
• The venue with a map link, and a parking or valet note for a large hotel
• A dress code: evening formal, Indo-western, black tie or festive Indian
• A date to reply by

If the reception is in a different city or weeks after the wedding, say so plainly near the top, so nobody mixes up the two dates.

When the reception shares an invitation with the wedding, every reply is split by function, so the reception gets its own list of families who are coming and how many people each is bringing. That is the figure your caterer and venue will ask for.

A standalone reception held later can go out three to four weeks ahead, with a reminder in the final week. You can add photos and background music, and every family can have a personal link on a paid plan; the free plan shares one public link.