Engagement, katb kitab, or wedding: one invitation or three?

The road to an Egyptian wedding has stops: an engagement at home or in a hall, the katb kitab at a mosque or the venue, the henna at the bride's house, then the wedding. Each stop has a different guest list. That raises the question: one invitation, or one per occasion?

A working rule

Look at the guest lists, not at how many events there are.

• The engagement is months before the wedding and the list is small: its own invitation. Close family and friends only, and you do not want everyone thinking they are invited.
• The katb kitab and the wedding fall on one day in one place: one invitation with two events. This is the usual case, with the contract two hours before the wedding in the same hall.
• The henna is for family only: an event inside the wedding invitation marked "close family and friends", or a separate invitation if the henna is family and the wedding is everyone.

An example: the bride's family comes from Sohag and travels to Cairo. One invitation holds the henna on the 23rd at the bride's house, and the katb kitab and wedding on the 25th at the hall. The travelling relatives see every date in one link and can plan when to arrive.

How to add an event

In the invitation editor, open the event schedule section (up to 6 events). Pick a ready choice (henna, katb kitab, wedding, morning after) or type your own name. For each event set the start and end time, and a place name and map link if it is not at the main venue, plus a note line such as "close family and friends". Then decide which events get their own RSVP question.

How the replies come in

A guest attending the henna and the wedding answers both from the same page. A guest invited to the wedding only has just the wedding to answer. For the caterer you end up with a list by name and number of companions for each event, not one mixed total. The guide to tracking RSVPs has the detail.

Common mistakes

• Putting everything under one time. "Saturday 7 pm" when the contract is at 5 and the wedding at 8 sends half the guests too early.
• Forgetting the henna address. The map card and the ride buttons point to the main venue, so the bride's house must be written in the event itself.
• Sending the wedding invitation to the whole engagement list when you never meant to invite them all. Split the two invitations.
• Starting with the wrong type. Engagement, katb kitab and wedding set the sentences the invitation shows, so choose correctly at the start.

Common cases and what fits each

A katb kitab at the mosque after Friday prayers and the wedding two weeks later: one invitation with two events if the list is the same. If the contract is for family only, label that event "family only" and skip the RSVP question on it.

An engagement at home for 30 people: an engagement invitation on its own, with the type set to engagement. It needs no schedule, since it is a single event.

A wedding with a henna, a katb kitab and a morning-after gathering: one event for each, and the morning-after is a ready choice in the list. It helps relatives staying overnight know there is something the next day.

Her family from one city and his from another: keep the places apart. Each event carries its own place, the map card covers the main venue and the other addresses go in the notes.

The event type

When you begin on the start page you choose engagement, katb kitab or wedding. That choice sets the wording on the page. The invitation stays editable until the event starts and the link never changes, so if the henna moves by a day you edit the time and guests see it on the same link.

After the wedding

Two more page types are not invitations: the anniversary page and the "together since" page. Both are gifts that count time from a date you pick, with no venue and no RSVP. You can start one here.