Wedding invitations and allergies: etiquette and design

Your caterer emails on a Tuesday: how many plates without nuts, how many without gluten. You open the group chat to check. Forty-three messages, most of them about parking, one from an aunt who "doesn't do dairy, I think". This is the moment wedding invitations and allergies stop being an etiquette question and turn into a headcount.

Allergies are the one item on an invitation that has to be answered, not just read. They don't need a warning symbol on the cover or a second sheet stapled to the back. A name, a deadline and one clear sentence are enough, as long as they sit where guests will actually open them.

Wedding invitations and allergies: the note goes in before the font

Decide who takes the replies before you choose a typeface. If the caterer handles them, put the caterer's details. If it's your best man Luis, put Luis and his number. "Contact the organisers" means nobody contacts anyone.

• One line, one person: "Allergies and intolerances: message Luis on 07700 900000 before 1 June."
• A real name beats a job title. "For allergies, speak to Luis, best man" saves three forwarded messages.
• Give the caterer a date they can cook with: two weeks before the wedding, not the night before.
• Buffet rather than a set menu? Write "Allergens are listed in the Menu scene" instead of fourteen categories on the cover.

Give allergies their own scene, not a loose slip

In a digital invitation, add a scene after "Long dinner" called "Allergies and menu", with the same background and type as the rest. It stops reading like a form and starts reading like part of the day.

If a few guests want paper, print the same information on the back of the main card, or on a card the same size. Never a loose slip: loose slips end up in a coat pocket or under a wine glass before anyone reads them.

Write the dish, not the warning label

Skip "Does anyone have allergies?" and write what you need to know: "If you're gluten-free or allergic to nuts, tell Luis before 1 June." Name real plates when the menu is closed, like "Gluten-free menu: tomato and burrata salad, rice, fruit", so nobody asks at the table. Keep preferences separate: "Vegetarian or vegan? Say so to the same number and the kitchen adapts the plate." Because the menu lives on a scene of its own, the same link carries it, and a QR code on a printed copy for the grandparents opens exactly the same page. When the caterer confirms a dish, you edit the scene; the link doesn't change.

A wedding invitation can hold every detail of the menu without looking like a medical leaflet. Allergies just need their own space.

Keep the cover clean: what to leave out

No gluten or nut icons on the cover: they compete with the names, the date and the venue, and they make the invitation look like a packet insert. Don't mark allergies with a different symbol next to each name in the seating plan either, point to the person, not the label. And don't leave it all in the group chat, where it disappears between two messages about taxis. Put the wording in the invitation, next to a contact who answers. With a digital invitation from Send The Joy you can build a scene for the menu and allergies, edit it when the caterer confirms, and keep the same link for everyone. Try it free, publish it for €29.99 and send the menu details clear from the first message.