Free examples + event worksheet
Chinese-English wedding invitation wording: three matching card examples
A bilingual wedding set needs the same event facts in both languages: who is invited, which event, date, start time, venue, address and reply instructions. Give the tea ceremony its own label and time. Below are original English and simplified Chinese examples for an invitation, details card and tea ceremony card, followed by a free date and time checker.
Use these as a starting point. All people and venues in the worked example are fictional. Replace every name, venue, address, contact and date. Alex Chen / 陈安 and Jamie Lin / 林晴 are example name pairs, not a name-translation service. The Chinese examples use simplified characters and a neutral couple-with-family invitation voice.
These are practical wording examples, not a universal traditional etiquette formula. Confirm how your families want hosts, names and titles written. Have the final wording checked by someone fluent in each language. No purchase or account is needed to use this page.
Start with one event record
These are the facts used in all three examples. The celebration and tea ceremony share a date here, but they are different events.
| Fact | Main celebration | Tea ceremony |
|---|---|---|
| Date | 7 November 2026 / 公历2026年11月7日 | 7 November 2026 / 公历2026年11月7日 |
| Day of week | Saturday / 星期六 | Saturday / 星期六 |
| Start | 6:00 pm / 下午6时 / 18:00 | 2:00 pm / 下午2时 / 14:00 |
| Room | Garden Room / 花园厅 | Family Room / 家庭厅 |
| Arrival | 5:30 pm / 下午5时30分 / 17:30 | Confirm any separate arrival instruction |
| Reply by | 10 October 2026 / 2026年10月10日 | 10 October 2026 / 2026年10月10日 |
Write the month as a word in English and use 年、月、日 in Chinese to reduce ambiguity. “07/11/2026” can be read in two different orders. These examples use the Gregorian calendar; they do not supply a lunar date.
Invitation / 婚礼请柬
English
Together with their families, Alex Chen & Jamie Lin invite you to celebrate their wedding. Saturday, 7 November 2026 · 6:00 pm Garden Room, Example House [Full street address, city and country] Please RSVP by 10 October 2026 to [contact].
简体中文
陈安与林晴携家人 诚挚邀请您参加我们的婚礼。 公历2026年11月7日（星期六）下午6时 示例会馆 · 花园厅 [完整街道地址、城市及国家] 敬请于2026年10月10日前回复[联系人及联系方式]。
Details card / 婚礼详情
English
Wedding celebration — Saturday, 7 November 2026 Please arrive at 5:30 pm. The celebration starts at 6:00 pm. Garden Room, Example House [Full street address, city and country] For directions and access information, contact [contact]. Please reply by 10 October 2026 and tell us any dietary requirements.
简体中文
婚礼详情 · 公历2026年11月7日（星期六） 请于下午5时30分到场，婚礼于下午6时开始。 示例会馆 · 花园厅 [完整街道地址、城市及国家] 如需路线或无障碍通行信息，请联系[联系人及联系方式]。 敬请于2026年10月10日前回复，并告知饮食需求。
Tea ceremony / 敬茶邀请
English
Tea ceremony for Alex Chen & Jamie Lin Saturday, 7 November 2026 · 2:00 pm Family Room, Example House [Full street address, city and country] We would be delighted if you could join us. Please confirm attendance with [contact] by 10 October 2026.
简体中文
陈安与林晴敬茶仪式 公历2026年11月7日（星期六）下午2时 示例会馆 · 家庭厅 [完整街道地址、城市及国家] 诚邀您出席，共同见证。 敬请于2026年10月10日前向[联系人及联系方式]确认出席。
If the tea ceremony is the day before the wedding
Give the tea invitation its own event label and full date, even when it uses the same names. In this alternative fictional example, the tea ceremony is Friday, 6 November 2026 at 2:00 pm; the wedding remains Saturday, 7 November 2026, with arrival at 5:30 pm and a 6:00 pm start. Do not copy the wedding date onto the tea card.
English tea-card date block
Tea ceremony for Alex Chen & Jamie Lin Friday, 6 November 2026 · 2:00 pm Family Room, Example House [Full street address, city and country]
简体中文敬茶日期段
陈安与林晴敬茶仪式 公历2026年11月6日（星期五）下午2时 示例会馆 · 家庭厅 [完整街道地址、城市及国家]
Keep the wedding invitation and details card on 7 November. Replace the tea date in your event record and in the free date and time checker with 6 November, then compare each language against the matching event. Keep arrival and start times as separate facts. After editing, use the PDF proofing checklist to check the actual exported tea page as well as the wedding pages. These examples do not convert lunar dates or translate your entered wording.
Four mistakes to catch before export
- Correct English, old Chinese: if the celebration moves to 8 November, changing only the English line leaves Chinese-speaking guests with the wrong day. Update every affected card and check its weekday too.
- Arrival confused with start: “arrive at 5:30 pm” and “starts at 6:00 pm” can both be correct. Compare like with like; do not replace every time with 6:00 pm.
- Tea ceremony inherits the celebration time: the example tea ceremony starts at 14:00. A copied 18:00 on that card is a mismatch even though 18:00 is right for the invitation.
- Translation hides an address difference: confirm both versions point to the same real venue, room and entrance. A date/time match does not validate an address or translation.
Free bilingual date and time checker
Read each finished card, then enter the date and start time it actually says. The checker compares those entries with your master event record. It does not read your PDF or translate the wording. Venues, names, weekday text, arrival times and RSVP details still need a separate check.
The example is prefilled so you can try it: change the Chinese tea ceremony start to 18:00 and see the mismatch. Entries stay in this page; the checker does not send or save them. Download the record before closing or reloading.
View the complete check record
Put the wording into a readable layout
Use one bilingual face when the two text blocks fit comfortably, or an English front and Chinese reverse when they need more space. There is no fixed word count that proves a card is readable: compare the actual exported file at its intended size. Keep the main event’s date, time and venue together in each language.
For a matching self-edit kit, our Mac walkthrough shows a real edit and PDF export. Double Joy includes invitation, details and tea ceremony cards for US$12 before applicable taxes. The verified editor environment is desktop Chrome on a Mac; local editable draft save/open is included, while wording translation is not. See the kit and license.
How this resource was prepared
Useful Shelf created the fictional examples and date/time comparison worksheet for this guide. The original three-card, same-day example aligns its repeated event facts across six language blocks; 7 November 2026 is a Saturday in the Gregorian calendar. The alternative tea-day-before date blocks describe Friday, 6 November 2026, while the wedding invitation and details remain on Saturday, 7 November. Compare each block with its own event record rather than making every card date identical. The worksheet compares normalized calendar dates and 24-hour times entered by the reader. A matching result only covers those entries.
Our PDF proofing checklist covers the next step: inspect the file guests will receive. No physical print test or professional translation certification is claimed. For corrections, contact Useful Shelf.
This is our own educational resource. Product links lead to our own Double Joy kit. The examples and checker are free to use for planning your own wedding.