Wedding card for overseas guests: inviting relatives abroad to a Pakistani wedding

Most Pakistani families have a branch abroad: a brother in Dubai, cousins in Manchester, an aunt in Houston. A wedding card for overseas guests has a different job from the one for the family down the street. It has to arrive early enough for leave and tickets, carry dates they can save in their own time zone, show the way from the airport, and read well on a phone in a country where nobody can explain 'near the old chowrangi'. A digital shadi (shaadi) card does most of this by itself; this guide covers the timing, the content and the wording for relatives abroad.

When to send: 6 to 8 weeks ahead

Send the overseas card first, before the local one. Relatives abroad need leave approved, tickets bought in the cheaper window, and sometimes a visa or a NICOP renewed. A link can go out the day the date is fixed; you do not wait for the printer.

• Eight weeks: a 'save the date' message with the link, even if the halls are not final. The card updates later.
• Four weeks: the full card with every function, venue and map. Ask them to RSVP for each function, because a guest flying in for a week usually attends all of them.
• One week: a reminder with the local contact number and who is picking them up.
• December and the summer holidays fill flights early; for a winter wedding send the first message in October.

What an overseas guest needs on the card

• Dates with the day of the week, and a calendar button that saves each function to their phone in their own time zone.
• A map button for every venue, so the route works from the airport or hotel, not only from the family home.
• The programme: 'Mehndi Thursday, Nikkah and Baraat Saturday, Walima Sunday', so they can plan the length of the trip.
• A note on stay: 'Guests from abroad are staying with us at [address]' or 'rooms held at [hotel], mention the family name'.
• Dress code in plain words: 'yellow or green for the Mehndi', 'formal for the Walima', and the weather: 'Lahore evenings in January are cold'.
• A Pakistan contact number on WhatsApp, and who will meet them at the airport.
• Urdu and English on the same card: the parents abroad read Urdu, the children born there read English.

Time zones, dates and the calendar button

A Walima at 8 PM in Karachi is 4 PM in London and 10 AM in New York. Written as text that is a sum every guest does wrong once. The card's calendar button adds the function at the Pakistan time and the phone shows it correctly wherever the guest is, with a reminder. Write the day of the week with the date ('Saturday, 15 November') so that a guest arriving on the Friday night flight knows how little time there is.

From the airport to the hall

The map pin under each function is the overseas guest's best friend: it works from Jinnah International, from Allama Iqbal, from the hotel, with a time estimate. Add a line of local advice beside it: 'Shahrah-e-Faisal is slow after 7 PM, leave the hotel by 7', 'Take the Ring Road, not the city'. How to add the pins is in wedding invitation card with map.

Wording for relatives abroad

Urdu, for an elder in the Gulf: السلام علیکم! اللہ کے فضل سے ہمارے بیٹے [نام] کی شادی [تاریخ] کو کراچی میں طے پائی ہے۔ آپ کی آمد کے بغیر یہ خوشی ادھوری رہے گی۔ تمام تقریبات، ہال کے نقشے اور تاریخیں اس لنک پر ہیں: [لنک]۔ ٹکٹ کی سہولت کے لیے ہم نے یہ پیغام جلدی بھیجا ہے۔ — [نام] و اہلِ خانہ

Roman Urdu, for cousins in the UK: Assalam o Alaikum! [Doolha] aur [Dulhan] ki shadi [tareekh] ko Lahore mein hai, Mehndi [din] aur Walima [din]. Poora program, map aur calendar is link par hai: [link]. Aap sab ka bahut intezar hai; tickets ke liye waqt pe bata rahe hain. – [Naam]

English, for family in the USA: Dear [Name], with great joy we invite you to the wedding of [Groom] and [Bride] in Karachi, with the Mehndi on [day], the Nikkah and Baraat on [day] and the Walima on [day]. Dates, venues and maps are on our card, and the calendar button will set them to your local time: [link]. We are sending this early so you can plan your travel; you will be staying with us. With love, [Family].

The WhatsApp line

Keep the message short and let the card carry the detail: 'Bhai, shadi ki tareekh fix ho gayi: [date]. Card, program aur map yahan: [link]. Tickets dekh lein, baqi sab hum sambhal lenge.' More messages for every kind of guest are in WhatsApp wedding invitation.

If they cannot come

The card still matters. A relative who cannot travel keeps the link, opens it on the day, sees the names and the programme, and sends their dua on the family group. Many families set up a video call at the Nikkah for the overseas branch; write the time of the call in the notes on their private link. Their RSVP 'no' still helps the caterer, so ask them to tap it.

Aam sawalat

• Kya bahar ke mulk mein link khulta hai? Haan, kisi bhi mulk mein, kisi bhi phone par.
• Overseas mehman ke liye alag qeemat? Nahi; link free pohanchta hai, jabke printed card ka courier Rs. 2,000 se zyada hota hai. Shadi card price in Pakistan.
• Un ke liye Urdu ya English? Dono card par hain; woh khud button se chunte hain.
• Tareekh badal gayi? Link update ho jata hai; phir bhi overseas mehman ko call kar ke bata dein, kyunke ticket us par hai.

The city guides carry airport and route notes: Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad. Try Noor with your own names to see the calendar and map buttons, and see all designs on wedding invitations.