Wedding cards
What to write in a wedding card for a friend
For the friend getting married. Lines with something actually in them, for a card that gets kept in a box forever.
I have watched you become a calmer, happier, considerably more annoying version of yourself since you met them. Congratulations to you both.
HeartfeltYou two make it look straightforward, and I know perfectly well that it is not. Congratulations on the pair of you.
HeartfeltWishing you both the boring good stuff: Sunday mornings, in-jokes nobody else gets, and thirty more years of it.
HeartfeltToday is the party. The marriage is the good bit. Wishing you both every one of those days.
HeartfeltCongratulations! Marriage is just arguing about the thermostat with someone you would die for. You will be great.
FunnyDelighted for you both, and personally relieved that it is finally official. The waiting was exhausting for all of us.
FunnyCongratulations! You have found someone who tolerates your playlists. Do not let that go.
FunnySo happy for you both. Congratulations!
ShortCongratulations! Love you both to bits.
ShortHere is to the two of you. Have the best day.
ShortCongratulations on your wedding. Wishing you both a very happy life together.
FormalWith warmest wishes on your marriage, and every happiness for the years to come.
Formal
Wedding cards from friends are kept far longer than any other card, and they are almost always read twice: once in the chaos of the day, and once months later when the couple finally opens the pile properly. Write for the second reading.
The cards that survive that second reading say something only you could say — how you watched this happen, what you noticed changing in your friend, what you think they have found. Generic good wishes are pleasant and forgettable. A single observed detail is the reason the card stays in the box.
Three things worth getting right
- Write about both of them, even if you only really know one. It is their card now, not just your friend's.
- Mention something you have actually seen between them. That is the line they will read out to each other.
- Say what you wish for them, not what you predict. Predictions age badly; wishes do not.
Common questions
What do you write in a wedding card for a close friend?
Name the moment you knew. "I knew when you talked about them for two hours and did not notice" is worth ten lines of good wishes. Close friends are the only people who can supply that, which is exactly why a generic message from a best friend lands so flat.
Is it acceptable to write something funny in a wedding card?
Yes, from a friend, if you finish sincerely. The reliable structure is one joke and then one true thing. Avoid anything about exes, cost, or the odds of it lasting — those read as brave on the day and grim in ten years.
One card, signed by everyone
You have the words. Card Event collects everyone else in one link, with photos, video and voice notes, and no app or account for the people signing.
Start a cardWriting to someone else?
All card wording guides — lines for a friend and everyone else