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Wedding newspaper headlines: 75 ideas and paper names

The headline decides whether guests pick the paper up. Here are 55 you can adapt, 20 names for the paper itself, and the rules sub-editors use to write them.

By Chris, The Wedding Newspaper

How a newspaper headline works

  • It is a short sentence in the present tense: "Local couple weds", never "Local couple were married".
  • It has a verb. "Wedding joy" is a label. "Joy as Heaton pair finally wed" is a headline.
  • It drops "a", "the" and "and" where it can, and uses a comma in place of "and".
  • It uses surnames, as real papers do: "Marsden to marry Whitfield".
  • It fits on two lines. Count about 60 characters for a front-page headline in a tabloid.

Classic front-page headlines

  1. [Surname] and [surname] to wed today
  2. It's official: [name] and [name] tie the knot
  3. [Name] says yes
  4. Wedding of the year comes to [town]
  5. Extra! Extra! [Name] and [name] to marry
  6. [Surname]-[surname] merger approved
  7. Two families, one very good party
  8. They do
  9. Just married
  10. [Town] couple to exchange vows at [venue]
  11. At last: [name] and [name] name the day, and it is today
  12. Crowds gather as [surname] marries [surname]

The long wait

  1. After nine years, he finally asks
  2. Couple marry after [number] years, [number] flats and one dog
  3. "About time," say friends as pair wed
  4. Engagement ends after 18 months of spreadsheets
  5. [Number] years in the making: the [surname] wedding
  6. She said yes. That was two years ago. Today they wed
  7. Longest-running will-they-won't-they in [town] ends today
  8. From [where you met] to the altar in [number] years

Funny headlines

  1. Local woman agrees to marry man who cannot parallel park
  2. Man who "wasn't looking for anything serious" to wed today
  3. Bride confirms groom is "fine, I suppose"
  4. Groom on time, sources claim
  5. Best man's speech cleared by lawyers
  6. Dog to attend own parents' wedding
  7. Open bar announced; guests delighted
  8. Area man finally puts a ring on it
  9. Bride to take husband, keep Netflix password
  10. Groom "calm", insists best man, unconvincingly
  11. Mother of the bride cries before ceremony begins
  12. Experts warn of heavy dancing after 9pm
  13. Couple united by love and a shared hatred of camping
  14. Wedding goes ahead despite groom's playlist
  15. Family WhatsApp group to fall silent for one afternoon

Headlines made from quotes

  1. "I said yes before he finished the sentence"
  2. "I knew on the second date. He took four years"
  3. "She laughed at my joke. Nobody had done that before"
  4. "We met at a pub quiz. I won"
  5. "He had the ring in his sock"
  6. "I thought he was proposing a holiday"
  7. "My mum knew before I did"

Inside pages

  1. The proposal: a full investigation
  2. Meet the wedding party
  3. What happens when: your guide to today
  4. On the menu
  5. Nine years in nine pictures
  6. Bride v groom: who knows who best?
  7. Letters to the editor
  8. Weather: sunny spells, light confetti
  9. Your stars: dancing is forecast
  10. Classified: wanted, one punctual groom
  11. Sport: first dance preview
  12. In loving memory
  13. And finally: thank you

20 names for your wedding newspaper

Take a surname, a place or a date and add a newspaper word.

  1. The [Surname] Times
  2. The [Surname] Post
  3. The [Surname] Herald
  4. The [Surname] Gazette
  5. The [Surname] Chronicle
  6. The [Surname] Mercury
  7. The [Surname] and [Surname] Courier
  8. The Newlywed Times
  9. The Wedding Post
  10. The Daily Vow
  11. The Saturday Vows
  12. The Honeymoon Herald
  13. The Matrimonial Mail
  14. The Big Day Bugle
  15. The [Venue] Echo
  16. The [Town] Wedding Gazette
  17. The I Do Examiner
  18. The Happily Ever After Advertiser
  19. The Mr and Mrs Messenger
  20. The [Date] Special

Invent your own masthead and avoid copying the lettering or logo of a real newspaper, which is protected.

Add a standfirst

The line under the headline, in italics, carries the second-best fact or the punchline. "Marsden and Whitfield to wed today" becomes funnier with "Bride insists it began at the pub quiz. Groom maintains it was the chip shop afterwards" underneath.

For what goes on the rest of the page, see what to put in a wedding newspaper.

Would you prefer someone else wrote it?

I interview you both, write and design the whole paper and have it printed and delivered. See how it works and the prices. If you are making your own, the template pack gives you eight laid-out pages to start from.