There is a specific panic that happens standing at a wedding gift table with a pen in your hand and forty people behind you. The wedding wishes below are built for exactly that moment – short enough to fit the card, warm enough to mean something, and sorted by who is getting married so you are not guessing. Friends, family, coworkers, a couple you barely know through your partner: they all get a different register, and using the wrong one is the only real mistake available.
The single best thing you can do is name them both. A card addressed to the couple that only mentions the person you actually know is the most common misfire at every wedding. If you are also shopping for words elsewhere, our guides to 120+ Proud Quotes & Messages for Daughter (Mom & Dad) and ATP Meaning in Text: A Complete Guide to Use cover those moments in the same way.
Quick tip: Write the card before the reception, not during it. Handwriting after three glasses of champagne is a gift the couple did not ask for.
Short wedding wishes
Best for a group card, a gift tag or a text on the morning. These short wedding wishes are complete sentences on their own.
- Congratulations to you both. Wishing you a very happy marriage.
- So happy for you two. Enjoy every second of today.
- Here is to a long and noisy life together.
- Congratulations! May it always be this good.
- Wishing you both a lifetime of the ordinary happy days.
- To love, laughter and a happily ever after.
- Congratulations on your wedding day. You look wonderful together.
- Wishing you every happiness, today and always.
- So delighted for you both. Have a magnificent day.
- Congratulations! May your marriage be as good as your wedding.
Wedding wishes for a close friend
When you know one half of the couple properly, these wedding wishes let you say the real thing without turning the card into a speech.
- I have watched you look for this and I am so glad you found it.
- Congratulations! I liked you before, but you are better with her.
- Wishing you both everything. You two make an obscene amount of sense.
- So happy for you. Thank you for letting me be here for it.
- Congratulations, you two. Best decision either of you has ever made.
- Wishing you a marriage full of terrible jokes and enormous kindness.
- You have found your person. Congratulations to you both.
- So proud of you today. Go and be very happy about it.
- Congratulations! I will be crying in row four.
- Wishing you both a lifetime of Sunday mornings with nowhere to be.
Wedding wishes for family
Family wedding wishes carry the most weight, so a memory works better than a compliment here.
- Watching you grow into this has been the joy of my life. Congratulations.
- Welcome to the family – we have been ready for you for years.
- Congratulations to you both. Your grandmother would have loved today.
- Wishing you a marriage as strong as the one you were raised around.
- So proud of you, and so glad it is her.
- Congratulations! Our family got bigger and better today.
- Wishing you both the kind of marriage that is still funny in year forty.
- Congratulations to my sister and my new brother. Behave.
- May your home always be full and your table always be loud.
- Wishing you both every blessing. You have made us very happy today.
Religious wedding wishes
For a couple of faith, these wedding wishes name the covenant rather than only the celebration.
- May God bless your marriage and keep you both in His care.
- Wishing you a marriage rooted in faith and full of grace.
- What God has joined together, may no one separate. Congratulations.
- May the Lord bless you and keep you all the days of your marriage.
- Praying for a home built on love, patience and faith.
- Congratulations! May your marriage honour God and bless everyone near it.
- Wishing you both the peace that passes understanding, starting today.
- May your love be a reflection of His faithfulness.
- Blessings on your marriage, today and for every year of it.
- Praying that God gives you both joy in the good years and strength in the hard ones.
Funny wedding wishes
Only for people you know well. These wedding wishes get laughs at the right weddings and cause problems at the wrong ones.
- Congratulations! Marriage is just arguing about the dishwasher forever. Enjoy.
- Wishing you both many happy years and one very patient plumber.
- Congratulations on finding someone who tolerates you at scale.
- To love, laughter and separate duvets. Congratulations!
- Congratulations! Remember: she is always right, and you already knew that.
- Wishing you a long marriage and a short honeymoon flight.
- You two deserve each other. That is the nicest thing I can say.
- Congratulations! No refunds now.
Wedding wishes for a coworker
Office wedding wishes should be warm and unremarkable, which is exactly what they are for.
- Congratulations on your wedding! Wishing you both every happiness.
- So pleased for you. Have a wonderful day and a lovely honeymoon.
- Congratulations from all of us here. Enjoy the time off.
- Wishing you and your new husband a very happy marriage.
- Congratulations! It has been lovely hearing the plans come together.
- Best wishes to you both on your wedding day.
- Congratulations on your marriage. Do not answer a single email.
- Wishing you both a fantastic day and a brilliant life together.
Wedding wishes for a couple you do not know well
When you are the plus one, these wedding wishes stay generous without pretending to a closeness you do not have.
- Congratulations to you both. Thank you for including us today.
- Wishing you a wonderful day and a very happy marriage.
- Congratulations! It has been a pleasure to celebrate with you.
- Best wishes to you both for a long and happy life together.
- Congratulations on your wedding. What a beautiful day for it.
- Wishing you both health, happiness and many good years.
- Congratulations! We are honoured to have been here for it.
- Warmest wishes to the two of you on your wedding day.
Wedding wishes for the money in the card
If you are giving cash or a voucher, a line about what it is for makes the gift feel intentional rather than lazy.
- A little something towards the honeymoon. Congratulations!
- For the first proper dinner in your new home. Wishing you both every happiness.
- Buy something for the house, or a very good bottle. Your call.
- Towards the trip. Send us a postcard. Congratulations!
- A contribution to whatever you two need most right now.
- For the fund, whatever the fund turns out to be. Congratulations!
- Spend it on something frivolous – you are allowed this week.
- Something small towards a very big new chapter. Congratulations.
How to write your own wedding wishes in three steps
- Address both names. Write to Sam and Alex even if you have only ever met Sam, and put the name of the person you know second so it does not read as an afterthought.
- Say one true thing. A memory, an observation about them as a pair, or a straight statement of how you feel about the match. One sentence is plenty.
- Point forward, not backward. Wedding wishes that end with a hope for the marriage read better than ones that end with a compliment about the dress.
Do you write wedding wishes in the card or on the gift tag?
Write the real message inside the card and keep the gift tag to a name and a single line, because cards are collected and read later while tags are pulled off in the first ten minutes. Many couples do not open cards until days after the reception, once the presents have been carried home. Modern wedding customs and traditions vary enormously by culture, but the written card has stayed remarkably constant across almost all of them – it is the part the couple keeps.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best short wedding wish?
Congratulations to you both, wishing you a very happy marriage is the safest and warmest short option. It names the couple, states the occasion and offers something for the future, which is all a wedding card actually needs.
What should you not write in a wedding card?
Avoid jokes about divorce, references to an ex, anything about money or the cost of the wedding, and advice about marriage. Also avoid writing only to the half of the couple you know, which is the single most noticed mistake in wedding wishes.
Is it best wishes or congratulations for a wedding?
Both are correct and widely used. Congratulations acknowledges the achievement of the day; best wishes points at the marriage ahead. Using both in one card – congratulations, and best wishes for the years to come – covers it completely.
How much should you write in a wedding card?
Three to four lines. Enough for a greeting, one specific sentence and a closing wish. Long messages tend to get skimmed, and cards are usually read in a stack of sixty.
Name them both, say one honest thing, and the card will be one of the ones they keep.
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