Something borrowed, something blue’ is out – but 1 in 4 Brits still value wedding cards

New research from Moonpig reveals the top wedding card writing confessions. A whopping 30% of Brits admit to defaulting to a safe “congratulations!” because they simply can’t think of anything else to say. This is followed by recycling the same message for different couples (11%) and signing a card without knowing what your partner has written (8%). 

What’s more, when stuck for words, one in 10 (8%) admit to turning to AI for inspiration - this rises to one in seven (14%) among 25–34-year-olds. 

Brits are not alone in facing this wedding card conundrum. More than half of Brits (55%) admit they have struggled with at least one aspect of wedding message writing. Nearly one in four find wedding cards (23%) or guest-book messages (24%) difficult, while one in five (20%) hit writer’s block when preparing the all-important wedding speech.

Looking at the most popular words and phrases used across UK wedding cards personalised and sent on Moonpig in 2025, it seems that Brits tend to stick to the classics.

“Congratulations” came out on top followed by “happiness”, in second. “To the new Mr & Mrs” was the most popular opening, while “congratulations on your wedding day” was the most common closing line. And one in 20 cards featured either “lifetime of love and happiness” or “to the happy couple” – proving that when we’re stuck for words, the classics are classics for a reason.

And while it seems what guests actually write may be considered safe, what they consider ‘acceptable’ to write is a good deal cheekier…

Moonpig found more than a quarter of Brits (28%) think wishing the couple “good luck!” is acceptable, while nearly one in five (19%) deem it acceptable to joke about how long the couple took to marry. A further one in 10 (12%) approve of offering unsolicited marriage or relationship advice, while some would go further - with 8% thinking “I give it a year” is fair game. 

And it’s not just what Brits write that can raise eyebrows, their inner monologue can be just as revealing. More than a quarter of Brits (28%) confess to thinking “this wedding must have cost a fortune”, while one in 4 (25%) have secretly thought the speeches are dragging on too long. 

Despite these wedding-day confessions, the card continues to hold its place among the traditions Brits value. A quarter (25%) say giving the couple a card still matters – deeming it as more important than asking a parent’s permission before proposing (23%) and having “something borrowed or blue” (21%).

So, to help Brits who are lost for words, Moonpig has partnered with Heidi Ellert-McDermott - a professional wedding speechwriter and author of The Modern Couple’s Guide to Wedding Speeches - to provide some top tips for writing wedding cards.

Heidi said: “A wedding card isn’t a creative-writing competition. The best messages sound unmistakably like the person writing them and could only have been written for that particular couple”.

Heidi’s top five tips for finding the most fitting wedding words are:

1. Pass the ‘wrong couple’ test
   Read your message back and imagine putting it in another couple’s card. If it still works, it’s too generic. Swap “You’re perfect together” for something that could only describe these two.

2. Prove it, don’t proclaim it
   Words like amazing, gorgeous, perfect and made for each other don’t tell us much. Give evidence instead: “I’ve never seen Jamie laugh as much as he has since meeting you.” One real observation beats five flattering (but boring) adjectives.

3. Use a micro-memory
   You don’t need to recount an entire holiday or university anecdote. A tiny shared memory works best - “I knew this was serious when Sophie let you have the last roast potato”.

4. Write for their tenth anniversary
   Imagine the couple finding the card in a box ten years from now. What would make them smile again? A specific observation will age far better than “Congratulations on your special day”.

5. Find their relationship superpower
   Think about what becomes better when these two are together. Are they sillier? Braver? More adventurous? Do they somehow turn every Sunday lunch into an eight-hour event? Naming that dynamic is guaranteed to bring a smile to their faces and ensure your card goes in the wedding memory box.

Rachael Halliday, Marketing Director at Moonpig, said:

“Every year, people turn to Moonpig to celebrate the weddings of friends and family, and we know that choosing the card can sometimes be the easy bit – it’s what to write inside that gets people stuck. Our research shows just how many Brits struggle to find the right words, so we’ve teamed up with Heidi to offer some much-needed inspiration and help people write something that reflects their own connection to the couple and feels genuinely personal to them.”

Discover Moonpig’s wedding-card collection at: moonpig.com