Wedding invitations in Belgium: wording, timing and postage

What has to be on the invitation

Start with what a guest needs in order to turn up. Who is getting married: your first names, and your surnames if not everyone knows you well. The date, with the day of the week. "Saturday 11 September 2027" reads faster than a date in numbers. And for each part of the day a time and a full address, with the name of the venue or the town hall.

A Flemish wedding often has several parts on one day. The civil ceremony at the town hall, sometimes a ceremony somewhere else, a reception, a dinner, a party. In Ringske you name those moments yourselves, each with a date and a start time. Use the same names on the card as on the website and in the RSVP, so a guest does not have to compare two programmes.

Then the reply: a date to answer by, and how. A link, a QR code, a phone number. Pick one or two. Three channels means three places where an answer can get lost.

Optional: a dress code, a gift note, where to stay, parking, directions. On a small card that gets crowded quickly. Put the practical details on your wedding website and keep the card short. A printed card cannot be updated. A website can.

Only print once the time at the town hall is fixed. Every town works differently. In Ghent you can book the day and time up to a year ahead, writes the City of Ghent ↗. In Leuven the city only fixes the date during the declaration itself, according to the Leuven website ↗. A time that may still move does not belong on a pile of printed cards.

Who is invited to which part

Not everyone is invited to everything, and in Flanders that is normal. Colleagues come to the reception. Family and friends stay for dinner. The party is sometimes wider again. The card has to make that clear. Otherwise there are people at a table in the evening with no plate laid for them.

Work with one invitation per household, not per person. "The Janssens family, four people" is one invitation, with one answer per moment. That is how the guest list in Ringske works: one row per invitation, with the number of people and a column per moment. Children count in that number.

On paper there are two ways to do it. You print a few versions: a card for the whole day, one for the reception, one for the evening party. Or you print one card and let the RSVP make the difference. In the Ringske RSVP a guest only sees the moments they are invited to. If one card with the full programme goes to everyone, a reception guest reads about a dinner they will not find online. So choose: separate versions, or a card that only names the date, the first moment and the link.

Write the names on the envelope the way the invitation stands in your list. If the children are invited, add their names or write "and children". If they are not, the envelope already says so: whoever is not named is not invited. A line on the card makes it clear for everyone. Examples follow below.

For guests who come to the reception but not to the dinner, Ringske lets you add a line to a moment for those not invited to it. For example that the dinner is for close family, and that evening guests should eat beforehand. That guest reads it in the invitation email, on the wedding website and after the RSVP. It does not have to go on the card.

By when and how guests reply

The reply date follows from one question to the caterer and the venue: when do they want the final numbers? It is in the quote or the contract. Count back from that day. You need time to call whoever has not answered, and to check the numbers per moment and the dietary needs. So the RSVP deadline sits a few weeks before the caterer's date, not on the same day.

Guests can reply on paper, with a reply card and a stamp. Then you do the counting. They can reply by message, and then the answers are scattered across WhatsApp and email. The online RSVP in Ringske uses one link and one QR code for the whole wedding. You put it on every card, without printing personal codes. Guests scan the code or open the link, look up their name and answer per moment: how many are coming, how many children, their dietary needs and your own questions. They need no app and no account. They do give an email address, for the confirmation and to change their answer later.

Ringske lets you download the QR code as an SVG. That is a vector file: it stays sharp, even on a large card. Give it to the printer or designer as it is, not as a screenshot. Add the link as text too, for anyone who does not use a camera. If you protect the site with an access code, switch it on before you download the QR code. A code downloaded before that does not contain the key.

If you set a deadline, one automatic reminder goes to everyone who received a card or email, has an email address and has not replied yet. You choose whether that is 7, 14 or 21 days before the deadline. Tick in the guest list who received a card, or the reminder does not know whom it may write to. The deadline does not close the RSVP by itself. You do that once the numbers are final. And grandma who would rather phone: you enter her answer yourselves.

Save-the-date and invitation: when

A save-the-date is not an invitation. It only says: keep the day free. It needs no times or addresses, and asks for no reply. It mostly helps guests who travel far, or when your date falls in a holiday. The Ringske wedding checklist puts it at 240 days before the wedding, about eight months. That is a starting point to move, not a rule.

The invitation itself sits at 90 days before the wedding in that checklist, with the design at 150 days. That order fits between two fixed points. The first is the marriage declaration. According to Vlaanderen.be ↗ you file it at the earliest six months and at the latest fourteen days before the wedding date. Some towns ask for it earlier: Ghent at least six weeks ahead. Three months before the wedding that window is already open. Once the declaration is done, or the time is confirmed by the town, nothing on the card can still move.

The second fixed point is the caterer's date. Between sending and that date, guests need time to reply, you need time to follow up, and the reminder needs its window. A worked example for Noor & Bram, who marry on Saturday 11 September 2027. According to Vlaanderen.be they can file the declaration from 11 March 2027 until 28 August 2027 at the latest. Their invitations go out in mid-June. Say their caterer wants the numbers on 1 September. Then they set the RSVP deadline on Saturday 14 August, and the reminder goes out on 31 July, fourteen days before. After the deadline they have more than two weeks left to call and count.

If the reply period falls in the summer holidays, as it does for Noor & Bram, allow some extra time. People who are travelling read their post later. The full order, from the venue to the thank-you cards, is in the 2027 timeline.

Example wording

Below are five texts to adapt, for a wedding with a civil ceremony, a reception and a party. Replace the names, times and addresses. Use the same name for each moment as in your RSVP. Writing in Dutch? The Dutch version of this page has the same examples in Dutch.

Formal: "Together with their parents, Noor Peeters and Bram Willems request the pleasure of your company at their wedding on Saturday 11 September 2027. The civil ceremony takes place at 11 am at the town hall, [address]. You are warmly invited to the reception that follows, from 1 pm at [venue, address]. Kindly reply by 14 August 2027, using the QR code or at noor-bram.ringske.be."

Informal: "We are getting married. On Saturday 11 September 2027 we say yes, at 11 am at the town hall in [town]. Then we raise a glass at the reception at [venue], and from 8 pm it is party time. Will you let us know if you can make it? Scan the code or go to noor-bram.ringske.be, by 14 August at the latest. Noor & Bram"

With children, as a line under the invitation: "Your children are very welcome. Let us know in your reply how many of you are coming and how many children, so we can keep a seat and a plate for everyone."

Without children: "We would love to celebrate this day with the grown-ups. We hope you can find a babysitter and make it a night out for yourselves." Say it kindly and without exceptions in the text. If you do make an exception, for example for the witnesses' children, arrange that personally, not on the card.

Reception only: "Noor and Bram are getting married on Saturday 11 September 2027. We would love to raise a glass with you at the reception, from 2 pm at [venue, address]. Will you let us know by 14 August if you can come? Scan the code or go to noor-bram.ringske.be." Do not write "you are also welcome at the reception", as if it were a consolation prize. A card that only names the reception is clear enough.

If some guests do not read Dutch, add a short English line next to the QR code. The Ringske wedding website and RSVP exist in Dutch and English, and guests choose their own language.

Do it yourself, a designer or an online printer

Doing it yourself works with a design program or a template, printed at home or at a copy shop. The advantage is control: you can change things until the last day. The downside is the paper and the work. Not every printer takes heavy paper, and cutting, folding and stuffing envelopes takes evenings. Test first with one card, one envelope and one stamp.

A graphic designer or a stationery studio makes a custom design, often with matching menus, place cards or thank-you cards. Ask up front how many rounds of corrections are included, who handles the printing, and when the files will be ready.

An online printer works with templates or with your own file. It is fast and you see the price straight away, but you only see the paper on delivery. Order a sample first, if you can.

Whichever way you go, check this before you order. The paper: the type, the weight in g/m² and the finish. The size of the card and of the envelope, because that decides the stamp. A proof, on paper or as a PDF, and who pays for a mistake that stays in after you approved it. The delivery time. And the quantity: count invitations, not guests, and add spares for a forgotten aunt, a wrong address, a card for yourselves and one for the photographer. Also ask what a small reprint costs, so you know whether a few extra now is the wiser choice.

Read the proof together. Names, date, weekday, times, addresses, the link under the QR code. Scan the QR code on the proof itself with a phone, not only on the screen.

Stamps: what bpost charges

bpost prices a letter within Belgium by size and weight, and by Prior or Non Prior. According to the bpost practical guide ↗, a Prior letter is delivered on the first working day after posting, a Non Prior letter within three working days. Weekends and public holidays do not count. An invitation that goes out three months ahead does not need Prior.

A standard ("normalised") letter is rectangular, at least 90 × 140 mm and at most 125 × 235 mm, at most 5 mm thick and at most 50 grams. The bpost website ↗ gives an A4 folded in three or in four as examples. Such a letter takes one stamp. In 2026 that is Non Prior €1.63 each or €1.58 when you buy ten, and Prior €2.52 each or €2.47 when you buy five.

Anything that does not fit is non-standard, up to 230 × 350 mm, 30 mm thick and 2 kilograms. An A5, an A4 folded in two, falls in that group. So does a square: bpost writes that square items always pay the non-standard rate, with a minimum of 140 × 140 mm. Up to 100 grams that is two units. In 2026 it costs Non Prior €3.26 each (€3.16 in volume) and Prior €5.04 (€4.94). From 100 to 350 grams it is three units: €4.89 Non Prior and €7.56 Prior each. A square card or a large envelope costs twice as much as a small rectangular one.

So fix the envelope before the design, not just the card. A ribbon, a wax seal or an extra insert can push an envelope over 5 mm or 50 grams. Weigh one fully stuffed copy. A card without an envelope, such as a save-the-date postcard, must be at least 140 g/m² according to bpost, with the right half of the front free for the address and the stamp.

From 1 January 2027 stamps cost more. The bpost press release ↗ of 2 October 2026 lists the new prices: Non Prior €1.77 each and €1.72 each in a sheet of ten, Prior €2.73 each and €2.68 each in a sheet of five. Depending on inflation, a further adjustment of at most 3 percent may follow during 2027. Stamps bought before 2027 stay valid indefinitely, thanks to the system of postage units. If you marry in 2027 and already have the stamps, you simply use them.

A stamp of your own is possible too: bpost sells personalised stamps under the name MyStamp. On the 2026 tariff page a sheet of twenty Prior stamps costs €2.93 per stamp, Non Prior with value 1 €2.03, and with value 2 €3.63. Larger quantities cost less per stamp. Check the 2027 price with bpost before you order.

Collecting addresses

The hardest part of invitations is often not the wording but the addresses. Keep them in the same list as the invitations, not in a separate document. In the Ringske guest list every invitation has a postal address, under Details.

Missing addresses? Share the link or QR code under Ask for addresses, in a family group chat or by message. Guests look up their name and fill in their address. Then you download everything with Addresses for envelopes.

Write the address the way bpost wants to read it. The practical guide asks for three to six lines, aligned left: name, street with house number and, if needed, "bus" with the box number, then postcode and town. No "B" before the postcode. "Belgium" is not needed for post within Belgium. For abroad, write the country in full. bpost also asks for no punctuation or special characters such as "&" in the address, so on the envelope write "Noor Peeters and Bram Willems". bpost always wants a sender address, preferably on the back. That way a card with a wrong address comes back to you.

After posting, tick Card sent. Then you see who has not had one yet, and the reminder knows whom it may write to. After the wedding the same list comes back for the thank-you cards: which gift came from which invitation, and who has been thanked. What is left to do after the day is in the after-the-wedding guide.

The wedding website and RSVP online

Planning in Ringske is free: the guest list, the moments, importing and exporting, the numbers per moment. Letting guests reply is a separate step. With a paid plan your wedding website and RSVP go online, and the link and QR code on the card work, as does the link for collecting addresses. The amounts are on the pricing page, not here, so a price change only has to be right in one place. There is no subscription and no cost per guest.

Put the site online before the cards go to the printer. Scan the QR code on the proof and look up a name from your list. Then you know for sure that the code on every card leads somewhere.