Wood Wedding Anniversary Invitations: Who's on the List

Wood wedding anniversary invitations start with an awkward question: who's still here? Five years ago you had a wedding spreadsheet. Now you've opened it again for the anniversary dinner and half of it doesn't fit — people you haven't spoken to in three years, next to your brother-in-law's partner, who nobody has met yet.

The wood anniversary isn't the wedding, part two. It's a smaller room and a different question. Sort that out first and everything else — the list, the replies, the table — gets easier.

Who gets a wood wedding anniversary invitation?

Split the names into three blocks: the people who were at the wedding, the people who arrived afterwards, and the family who can't be left out. Side by side, it's obvious what to cut and what you'd forgotten. And two or three witnesses don't make up the guest list. Whether they give another speech is one question; whether they're the only people at dinner is a different one.

• Yes: the friend who called you last month, even if they weren't at the wedding. They're still here.
• Yes: anyone who arrived later and is now part of the day-to-day — a new partner, a colleague, a child.
• No: the inherited wedding list you haven't looked at in five years.
• Maybe: someone who'd have to travel six hours. Send them the link and let them decide without pressure.

Five years change more names than you think

Start with the absences. The friend who moved 600 km away and won't cross the country for a dinner. The one who isn't around any more. The one you lost touch with three years ago and won't get back with an invitation.

Then add what has grown: a partner who is now a given, a baby who needs a high chair, two colleagues who have put up with you longer than some of the wedding guests. The real limit is the restaurant, not how much you like someone. If the room seats 40 and your list says 62, the cut follows a rule, not the order you typed names at 2am.

The wood anniversary isn't a rerun of the wedding. It's the short list of who stayed.

A WhatsApp group is not an invitation

A group of 50 people becomes a thread with three replies, two memes and nobody saying out loud whether they're coming. Without clear answers you can't confirm numbers with the restaurant. A digital invitation works differently: each guest opens their own link, reads the time and place, and confirms from their phone without installing anything. The replies land in an ordered list inside the invitation itself, not scattered between messages. And if you move dinner from 9:00 to 9:30pm, you edit it once — everyone sees the new version on the same link. No 50 forwarded messages, no voice note correcting the time.

What a wood wedding anniversary invitation should say

The fields people actually read: the heading, both names, the date, one line and the venue, each in its own field with a character counter so nothing runs long. "Five years, same table" works better than an eight-line poem. You can add up to six of your own photos — the wedding, the trip, the flat, the dog — they frame themselves, you choose which one goes on the cover, and you can swap any of them later. The scenes run one after another, each personalised with your own text and photos: cover, the story of these five years, the details of the day and the RSVP form. It looks like a web page, not a PDF attachment.

You already know who you want at that table. Now the invitation has to match, and the replies need to stop being a headache. Build yours in the editor, try it free and publish it with one button for €29.99.