How to Respectfully Decline a Wedding Invitation

by Daily Wedding Blog
Filed under guest list

If you have been invited to a wedding and for whatever reasons are unable to attend, you need to decline in a respectful manner to minimise the ‘cold’ when receiving the response card back with no reasoning.

Some will argue that you are under no obligation to provide any reasoning why you cannot attend the wedding reception and ceremony, and you are right, you don’t have to justify why you are unable to attend the wedding, however it is considered the polite thing to do.
If the RSVP card has no room provided to elaborate on your ‘no’ write a few lines on a notepaper. You do not need to write a huge saga down, just a few lines thanking them for thinking of you. Something along the lines of

Dear Matt and Stacey
Thank-you for your wedding invitation and for thinking of us. Unfortunately, we have prior family commitments on that day and are regrettably unable to make it. We wish you all the best for your wedding day and marriage.
Love Heidi and Mick

Some people use specific reasons as to why they cannot attend a wedding in their RSVP card response. If your reason is for financial constraints, or you just don’t want to go, I’d stick to a more generalised approach like the example above. However if your reason is something more specific that was planned prior to receiving the invitation such as a family holiday, or family gradation, than elaborating would be okay. At the end of the day, all you really need to do is use a certain level of tact and etiquette when declining a wedding invitation.

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