Text 01 · 5 months out
Hi {GuestFirstName}! Lena & Owen here - we'll text wedding updates to this number between now and September. Everything else lives on our website: {Link:wedding-website}
Per-guest opener1 segment · GSM-7Personalize
Wedding guest texts
How to personalize wedding text messages
You don't type 140 texts - you write one body with merge tokens, and when it's pasted into the composer each guest's copy resolves with their own names. This page documents the six tokens that actually resolve - {GuestFirstName}, {GuestLastName}, {HouseholdName}, {PartyMembers}, {{rsvpLink}} and {Link:...} short links - and how to choose between them when 'a guest' might be one person, a couple, or a family of five.
The greeting decision
👋 First name or household name?
The question isn't which greeting sounds friendlier - it's who reads the phone. If every adult gave you their own number, open with {GuestFirstName} and each person gets a text addressed to them. If one phone speaks for a whole family, open with {HouseholdName} so nobody reading over a shoulder wonders whether they're included.
Text 02 · 5 months out · Households sharing one number
Hello {HouseholdName}! It's Lena & Owen - this number is our line to your whole crew for wedding news. First update: the hotel block is open until June 1: {Link:hotel-block}
One phone, whole household2 segments · GSM-7Personalize
Text 03 · 1 week out
Dear {GuestFirstName}, a small logistics note for Saturday: your seats are reserved under {GuestLastName}, and an usher will have the list at the ceremony doors.
Last name at check-in1 segment · GSM-7Personalize
Text 04 · 3 months out
{GuestFirstName}, you are receiving a personalized wedding text. Nobody else got this exact message. (Fine - everyone got this message. But your name is on yours.) Details: {Link:wedding-website}
Wink at the merge2 segments · GSM-7Personalize
Watch a body resolve before you send it
The free planner writes every send token-ready. Paste any example into the preview below and see it resolve for a single guest, a couple and a family - with a live segment count - before you commit to a greeting.
Plus-ones & kids
👪 Let {PartyMembers} carry the guest list
{PartyMembers} resolves to everyone invited under that guest - a single name, a couple, or a family with kids - so you never type 'and guest' or guess which children made the list. Keep the token out of subject position ('we have {PartyMembers} down', not '{PartyMembers} are coming') and the sentence survives every household shape.
Text 05 · 3 weeks out · Welcome-dinner guests
Hi {GuestFirstName} - checking the welcome dinner list: we have {PartyMembers} down for Friday at 6. Reply here if anything's changed and we'll fix it before the caterer asks.
Headcount confirm2 segments · GSM-7Personalize
Text 06 · 2 weeks out · Families with kids
Hi {GuestFirstName}! Saturday is very much a kids-welcome day - lawn games from 4pm and an ice cream cart at sunset. We can't wait to see {PartyMembers} out there.
Kids welcome1 segment · GSM-7Personalize
Text 07 · 1 week out · Hotel-block guests
Shuttle list closes Thursday. We have {PartyMembers} penciled in for the 2:30 pickup at the Grandview - reply SWAP if the 3:15 suits better.
Shuttle seats1 segment · GSM-7Personalize
Text 08 · Day before · Weekend guests
Dear {GuestFirstName}, we have reserved garden-side seats for {PartyMembers} at Sunday's farewell lunch, served from noon. We would love the chance to say a proper goodbye.
Farewell lunch2 segments · GSM-7Personalize
RSVP & short links
🔗 The two link tokens do different jobs
{{rsvpLink}} resolves to each guest's own RSVP page - pre-filled with their party, no login, no hunting for the website - so use it any time a text mentions responding. When to send RSVP nudges - cadence, deadlines, escalation - is its own guide; this section only covers how the token behaves. {Link:...} is the other one: a short link to any page of your wedding website, identical for every guest and short enough to protect your segment count.
Text 09 · 6 weeks out
Hi {GuestFirstName}! Zero rush - just making it easy: {{rsvpLink}} is your own RSVP page, and it already knows {PartyMembers}. Pick yes or no and you're done.
RSVP made personal2 segments · GSM-7Personalize
Text 10 · 10 days before the deadline
Last thing on your list: {{rsvpLink}} - names pre-filled, two taps, done. - Lena & Owen
Shortest possible nudge1 segment · GSM-7Personalize
Text 11 · 3 months out
Everything for September - the schedule, parking, and the dress code answer you're wondering about - is here: {Link:wedding-website}. Save this text and you'll never have to ask.
Website as home base2 segments · GSM-7Personalize
Text 12 · 4 months out · Out-of-town guests
Flying in? Flight windows, shuttle times and the two hotels that make sense are all at {Link:travel-details}. The Grandview block releases June 1.
Travel short link1 segment · GSM-7Personalize
The proof
🪞 One body, three households
This is the whole trick: each body below reads naturally whether it lands on a solo guest, a couple, or a family of four. Paste one into the preview further down and watch it resolve three different ways - that's the test every personalized text should pass before it goes anywhere.
Text 13 · 3 months out
Hi {GuestFirstName}! We're so glad {PartyMembers} will be with us in September. Rooms, rides and the whole weekend plan are at {Link:wedding-website} - and this number reaches us both, so reply anytime.
Works for one, two or five2 segments · GSM-7Personalize
Text 14 · 3 days out
{HouseholdName}, consider this your official heads-up: dancing shoes required Saturday. Doors 4pm, vows 4:30, questionable moves till late. Map: {Link:directions}
Household hype text2 segments · GSM-7Personalize
The rules
Writing a body that resolves well
Merge tokens are simple; the sentences around them are where personalization succeeds or fails. Four habits cover it.
1
Choose the greeting by phones, not people
A number per adult takes {GuestFirstName} - each person gets a text addressed to them. A family sharing one phone takes {HouseholdName}, so the message reads as meant for everyone who'll see it.
2
Write around the verb
{PartyMembers} can resolve to one name or five, so keep it out of subject position. 'We have {PartyMembers} down for Friday' survives every household shape; '{PartyMembers} is coming' breaks the moment the token resolves to three names.
3
Read every body three times
Once as a single guest, once as a couple, once as a family with kids - before it goes anywhere. If any reading feels off, swap the token rather than the sentiment. The resolved preview below exists for exactly this.
4
Tokens must be exact to resolve
The composer resolves exactly six spellings. {guestfirstname}, {First Name} and half-remembered variants send literally, braces and all. Insert tokens from the picker instead of typing them from memory.
Easy to get wrong
Where personalization goes sideways
Every one of these has landed on real guests' phones. All four are cheap to avoid once you know what the failure looks like.
✕
[Name]-style placeholders that never resolve
Square-bracket blanks from a downloaded template aren't merge tokens - nothing fills them, and 'Hi [Name]!' arrives verbatim on every phone. If a placeholder isn't one of the six on this page, delete it and write the sentence around it.
✕
Greeting a whole household with one first name
'Hi Priya!' on the phone a whole family reads makes the plus-one wonder if they're invited and the kids assume they're not. When one number speaks for several people, greet the household - or name everyone with {PartyMembers}.
✕
Pasting tokens into a normal group thread
A group text is one shared message - there's no per-recipient copy for a token to resolve into, so {GuestFirstName} arrives as literal curly braces in front of 140 people. Tokens only work when each guest gets an individual message, which is what a sending tool is for.
✕
Hand-editing 140 drafts anyway
Typing each guest's name into a copied draft feels more personal right up until guest forty, where the typos start and the warmth stops. One carefully written body that resolves per guest is more personal than 140 rushed ones - that's the entire case for tokens.
Try it
Pick a token, watch it resolve
Build a body with the six-token picker and preview it as three household shapes - a solo guest, a couple, and a family of four - with a live segment count as you type. Nothing you enter leaves your browser.
Personalization previewOne message, resolved per guest
115 of 160 GSM-7 characters · sends as 1 segment · measured with tokens resolved
Resolved for a sample guest
Hi Grace! We can't wait to see Grace on the big day. Everything you need is here: https://tmw.to/x7k2p
Send this plan automatically →Text My Wedding schedules every send and resolves the tokens per guest.
Private by design: this planner runs entirely on this page — nothing you enter leaves your browser. Your names, date and venue only fill in the preview above, and they're gone when you close the tab.
Keep exploring
More on texting your guests
Wedding guest text plannerYour dated send plan, free, with live segment counts→Text length & segmentsWhy 161 characters sends as two messages→Texting-guests etiquetteWhat's fine by text, and what still needs paper→Delivery, opt-in & opt-outWill it land, will it cost them, can they leave→Wedding weekend textsWhich guests to text about which event, and when→Wedding announcement textsTelling everyone who wasn't there that you're married→
Good to know
Merge token questions
What merge tokens can I use in a wedding text?
Exactly six resolve in the Text My Wedding composer: {GuestFirstName}, {GuestLastName}, {HouseholdName}, {PartyMembers}, {{rsvpLink}} for each guest's pre-filled RSVP page, and {Link:...} short links to your wedding website pages. It's a closed list on purpose - anything else, including [Name]-style blanks from downloaded templates, sends as literal text.
Can I mail-merge text messages from a spreadsheet myself?
You can rig it - spreadsheet-to-SMS add-ons exist - but the merge is the easy part. You inherit everything around it: keeping the sheet synced to your actual guest list, replies landing somewhere you don't check, and no opt-out handling. Wedding texting tools exist because the guest list, the replies and the delivery are the hard part, not swapping a name into a sentence.
What does {PartyMembers} show for a guest with no plus-one?
Just their own name. That's why the examples on this page keep the token out of subject position - 'we have {PartyMembers} down for Friday' reads naturally whether it resolves to one name or five, while '{PartyMembers} are invited' turns awkward the moment it resolves to a single person.
What happens if I type a token wrong?
It sends literally - braces, typo and all - on every phone at once, because only the six exact spellings resolve. Insert tokens from the composer's picker rather than typing them, and the planner on this page flags any placeholder outside the six before you copy a body anywhere.
Can I personalize a normal group text?
No. A group thread is one shared message that everyone sees, so there is no per-recipient copy for a token to fill in - and every reply lands on the whole list. Personalization requires each guest to get their own message, sent individually or through a tool that texts guests one at a time. If reply-all chaos is your actual worry, that's a separate problem with the same fix.
You have the plan.
Now let it send itself.
Text My Wedding schedules every send on its date, resolves the merge tokens per guest, and collects the replies — so seven or eight dated texts never have to leave your notes app by hand.