Bilingual wedding invitations: two languages, one party

Your aunt in Girona and your friend from Manchester open the same bilingual wedding invitation, and both know what to do. She reads 'dissabte 14 de juny, 19 h'. He reads 'Saturday 14 June, 7 pm'. Same ceremony, same terrace, two readings.

A bilingual wedding invitation isn't two invitations. It's one page that each guest reads in the language they think in, with one guest list and one set of replies behind it. Getting there takes a decision at the start and a careful read at the end.

Bilingual wedding invitations: one link, two languages

The invitation goes out as a single link. Inside, a guest switches language and reads their version: same design, same photos, same scenes. Send The Joy runs its website in seven languages (Spanish, English, Catalan, French, Italian, Portuguese and German), and you can set the invitation content per language too. The tempting shortcut is two links, one per family. Don't. You end up with two lists of confirmations and a reply you can't match to anyone.

• Check that the date, time and venue say the same thing in both versions before anyone sees the invitation.
• Keep proper names identical in Catalan, Spanish and English, with the accents exactly where they belong.
• Write the dress code in both languages: 'formal' doesn't mean the same thing everywhere.
• Draft the RSVP questions in both languages before you publish, not after the first replies come in.

What gets translated and what stays exactly as it is

Names don't move. 'Júlia i Marc' stays 'Júlia i Marc' in the English version: no added accents, no translated surnames, no 'Julia and Mark'. Dates and times do change format, because 'dissabte 14 de juny, 19 h' and 'Saturday 14 June, 7 pm' are the same information written for two different readers. The second version shouldn't make anyone do mental arithmetic.

The venue deserves a second look. 'Masia Can Toni, Girona' works in both versions, but add the street address and the town for the guests flying in. Then read each version out loud once before publishing: 'Us esperem' is not 'Os esperem', and you hear the slip in two seconds. What you're checking is the practical detail — ceremony time, dress code, the name of the space — because that's where a mistake gets expensive.

A bilingual invitation isn't two invitations. It's one link that every guest reads in their own language.

Catalan and Spanish at the same table

Decide the main language and the second one before you write a word. If one family is from Barcelona and the other from Seville, a Catalan cover with the practical information in Spanish works, and nobody feels like a guest at their own wedding. The cover line is the one to handle with care: 'El nostre gran dia' turns into a flat 'Our big day' and loses the point, so keep the phrase in the language you actually say it and let the rest of the page explain. Pick a design, try it free by editing the cover, and write both versions there. You see it as you type, and your guests need nothing installed: they open the link in a browser and confirm from their phone, inside the same invitation. Publishing costs 29,99 EUR, one payment and no subscription, and you can keep editing afterwards on the same link — change the time, the place or the wording and nobody has to be sent anything again.