From recycled messages to divorce jokes and exes, Moonpig reveals Brits’ wedding card confessions and faux pas

● Nearly one in four Brits struggle with what to write in a wedding card, with almost one in 10 turning to AI for inspiration and three in 10 falling back on the typical ‘congratulations!’ message

● Despite this, wedding cards remain an important tradition to the UK, with a quarter of Brits (25%) agreeing that giving the special couple a card still matters, placing it ahead of having “something borrowed or blue” (21%)

● Ahead of wedding season's peak, Moonpig has teamed up with professional wedding speechwriter Heidi Ellert-McDermott to help Brits trade generic for genuinely memorable messages

LONDON, 19 AUGUST 2026: As wedding season hits its peak, Moonpig uncovers a very British problem: we simply don't know what to write in a wedding card.

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: https://www.moonpig.com

Research

The research was commissioned by Moonpig and conducted by Censuswide among a nationally representative sample of 2,000 UK respondents between 12 and 14 August 2026.

Top 10 Wedding-Card Messages Brits Think Are Acceptable

1. “Good luck!” (28%)

2. “About time!” or a joke about how long they took to marry (19%)

3. Marriage or relationship advice (12%)

4. A joke about who “wears the trousers” (11%)

5. A joke about one partner being out of the other’s league (8%)

6. “I give it a year” (8%)

7. Advice about having children (7%)

8. A joke about the cost of the wedding (7%)

9. A risqué joke (7%)

10. A joke about divorce (6%)

Top Wedding-Wording Confessions

1. Writing “Congratulations!” because they couldn’t think of anything else (30%)

2. Reusing the same wedding-card message for different couples (11%)

3. Signing a card without knowing what their partner had written (8%)

4. Using AI to write a wedding card (8%)

5. Forgetting one half of the couple’s name (7%)

6. Pretending a generic message was personal (7%)

7. Making a joke in a wedding speech that didn’t land (7%)

8. Writing something in a wedding card they later regretted (6%)

9. Crossing something out after realising it could be offensive (6%)

Top 10 Things Guests Secretly Think at Weddings

1. “This wedding must have cost a fortune” (28%)

2. “When can we eat?” (25%)

3. “The speeches are going on too long” (25%)

4. “I want to go home” (24%)

5. “I hope there’s a free bar” (19%)

6. “The food isn’t very good” (18%)

7. “I’d do this completely differently” (11%)

8. “I don’t think they’ll last” (11%)

9. “I don’t like the bride or groom’s outfit” (10%)

10. “This wedding is so tacky” (10%)

Moonpig internal data

Moonpig pulled out the most popular words included in 74,097 UK wedding cards created during 2025.

About Moonpig

At Moonpig, we’re all about celebrating those heartfelt life moments. You know the ones we mean…the big birthdays, new arrivals, surprise engagements and the just because. Big or small, we love them all. And we’re so proud to be the ones helping you connect to the people you care about most.

With our ever-growing range of cards, thoughtful gifts and bright, beautiful bouquets, we’ve got just the thing to make their day. Combine this with top-notch tech and an app full of fun features, and it’s never been easier to send a car

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