Muslim wedding invitation wording
A Muslim wedding invitation in Egypt follows a shape almost everyone recognises and almost nobody has been taught. This is that shape, part by part, with wording you can lift straight onto your own invitation.
The opening line
The invitation opens with a short phrase before any name appears. The most widely used is a fragment of Ar-Rum 30:21, about the affection placed between spouses. A shorter blessing does the same work with less formality, and is what most families actually print.
بعون الله وتوفيقه
بحمد الله وبركته
وَمِنْ آيَاتِهِ أَنْ خَلَقَ لَكُمْ مِنْ أَنْفُسِكُمْ أَزْوَاجًا لِتَسْكُنُوا إِلَيْهَا — من سورة الروم ٢١
Name the right occasion
This is where invitations go wrong most often. كتب كتاب and the فرح are two different events, and an invitation that says حفل الزفاف when it means the signing will put guests in the wrong place on the wrong evening. Say which one you are inviting to. If both, say both, with a time for each.
بمناسبة كتب كتاب
لحضور حفل الزفاف
لحضور كتب الكتاب والاحتفال بالزفاف
Who is inviting, and the names
Traditionally the two families invite rather than the couple. Naming both families together is now the most common form in Egypt and neatly avoids the question of whose name comes first.
تتشرف عائلة [اسم العائلة] وعائلة [اسم العائلة]
بدعوتكم لحضور حفل زفاف ولديهما
[اسم العريس] و [اسم العروسة]
The closing line
One line after the details, usually a short prayer or a note that the guest’s presence is what completes the evening. Keep it to a single line — a closing that runs long reads as filler.
وحضوركم شرف لنا
بارك الله لنا ولكم
في انتظار مشاركتكم فرحتنا
Common questions
- Do I have to open with a Quranic verse?
- No. It is common, not required. بعون الله وتوفيقه is a complete and perfectly respectable opening, and many families prefer it precisely because it is shorter and sits better in a design.
- Should the groom or the bride be named first?
- Convention names the groom first. Plenty of modern invitations do the opposite and nobody objects. What matters is being consistent between the Arabic and English sides.
- One invitation for كتب كتاب and the فرح, or two?
- One if the same guests are invited to both. Two if the signing is small and family-only while the celebration is wide — sending the wide list an invitation to a ceremony they are not invited to causes exactly the awkwardness you were trying to avoid.