What to actually write on the card.
Real sample wordings for 15 traditions, with the two things most wording pages leave out: who traditionally does the inviting, and how the card conventionally opens. Both change the whole shape of the text.
| Tradition | Wedding | Engagement | Reception | Mehendi & Sangeet | Haldi | Save the Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hindu | Vivah | Roka / Sagai | ✓ | Mehendi & Sangeet | ✓ | ✓ |
| Tamil | Thirumanam | Nichayathartham | ✓ | Nalangu | — | ✓ |
| Punjabi | Anand Karaj / Vivah | Roka / Chunni Chadhai | ✓ | Sangeet & Jaago | Haldi & Chooda | ✓ |
| Nikah | Nikah | Mangni | Walima | Mehndi | — | ✓ |
| Bengali | Biye | Aashirbaad | Bou Bhaat | Gaye Holud | — | ✓ |
| Jewish | Chuppah | Vort / L’chaim | Sheva Brachot | — | — | ✓ |
| Chinese | 婚禮 | 訂婚 Guo Da Li | Banquet 喜宴 | — | — | ✓ |
| Christian | Nuptial Mass | Roce / Engagement | ✓ | — | — | ✓ |
| Telugu | Pelli | Nischitartham | ✓ | — | Pellikoduku & Pendlikoothuru | ✓ |
| Gujarati | Lagna | Gol Dhana | ✓ | Garba & Sangeet | — | ✓ |
| Marathi | Lagna | Sakhar Puda | ✓ | — | Halad | ✓ |
| Malayali | Kalyanam | Nischayam | ✓ | — | — | ✓ |
| Marwari | Vivah | Tilak / Sagai | ✓ | Mehendi & Sangeet | Pithi Dastoor | ✓ |
| Western & American | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | — | — | ✓ |
| Interfaith | ✓ | — | ✓ | — | — | ✓ |
A dash means the tradition does not hold that event — not that we are missing a page. Where a ceremony has its own name, it is shown instead of a tick.