Card ideas
What to write
in a wedding card.
Wedding cards get opened in a pile, usually days later, usually tired. The ones that get kept say something true about the two of them rather than something true about marriage in general.
If you know one of them well
- I have known him since he was nineteen and could not boil rice. She has clearly worked miracles.
- Thank you for making my sister happier than I have seen her.
- I have watched you be careful with her from the very beginning. It has not gone unnoticed.
If you know them both
- You two argue about directions like people who intend to be lost together for a very long time. Congratulations.
- The moment I knew was the night the car broke down and neither of you stopped laughing.
- Two of our favourite people, now legally obliged to attend things together. Delighted.
Advice you actually mean
- Be as kind to each other on a Tuesday in February as you are today.
- Nobody tells you the boring bits are the good bits. They are.
- Go to bed angry occasionally. Everyone is lying about that one.
Short and warm
- So happy for you both. Genuinely.
- A wonderful day and a better decision.
- Here is to the pair of you.
What makes a good one
Write to both names
Even if you only know one. It is a marriage now.
One memory, one wish
That shape works almost every time.
Skip the marriage advice clichés
Happy wife happy life has been retired. Let it stay retired.
Sign it properly
Full name if there is any chance of two Daves.
Questions
Say something true about the one you know, then something you have observed about them together. Even 'I have never seen him like this' does the job.
Two or three sentences. The guest book is for one-liners and the speeches are for paragraphs.
Warm and short. Congratulate them both, mention one thing you like about working with them, leave it there.
Or do not use a card.
A card gets four names and no stories. Send one link instead and everyone writes properly, on their own, without reading what the person above put. Free, and nobody you send it to has to sign up.