Designing your wedding invitation is certainly one of the most exciting parts of big day prep work. It’s way more than a piece of paper—an invitation carries the feel of the wedding and imparts all the crucial information to the guests. An invitation can be fun and a very creative process, but it very easily turns into an overwhelmingly daunting one if you don’t even know how and where to begin. This is a step-by-step guide that will take you from down-and-out on choosing a design to dispatching them. This shall leave you with a very good idea of how to come up with beautiful, complimentary invitations that add some personal touch and flair to the wedding.
1. Determine Your Wedding Style
You have to determine the kind of wedding that you will have so that your wedding invitation design truly conveys to the guests what they should expect of an event: formal, casual, rustic, or modern. Take a few minutes just to jot down quickly on colors, patterns, and elements that really speak to your wedding vision. Pull from the pages of magazines, online boards like Pinterest, or from some of your favorite fabric patterns. Consider how your venue and decoration choices will help drive the design of your invitations. Knowing the wedding style overall will help align design decisions so everything feels like they go together.
2. Determine the Format of Your Invitation
Now that you are crystal clear about the kind of wedding, decide on the format of your invitations. Formats for wedding invitations are more varied than you would probably think, from classic flat or folded cards to purely digital invites in and of themselves, all with their own different style and feel to them. Flat cards are traditional and simple, while folded cards give you the ability to make personal statements with more space for details or writing words. Digital invites are fast becoming the most convenient while remaining the most cost-effective. Think of what will work best with you and your guests, then decide on the format since it really plays a huge role in the manufacturing process.
3. Gathering the Details
Now, you are to collect all that important information that needs to be written on your invitations. This is usually just a couple’s name, the date and time of the wedding, and the location. You can also add some reception, dress code, and how people should RSVP details. Ensure that there are no misspellings on names and locations, most especially. If you have a wedding website, don’t forget to include the link where guests can look for further details. This kind of clear organization is going to make for a really smooth design process while ensuring no critical detail falls by the wayside.
4. Select Your Colors and Fonts
You will need to choose your colors and fonts since they are part of having a cohesive look with your invites. Your color palette should be consistent with your wedding theme and correspondent colors. Think of the type of colors that will best express the kind of emotional response intended and establish the right tone or atmosphere. Font styles will use those that are readable but give a feel for your own style. You can mix and match a fancy font for the name and another basic font for all other text to come up with an interesting combination. This way, you also avoid over-crowding of your design by limiting the use of different fonts. You can play around a few different combinations to find your perfect match for your invitations.
5. Designing of Invitations
Now, the fun part—designing the invites! You can create your very own design by using graphic design software or even software online, or you can hire a professional graphic designer to do the job. Otherwise, if you want to do things yourself, there are a number of templates out there at your disposal to help you get started. Be sure to clearly yet beautifully organize the information. You have allowance for personal touches, illustrative images, patterns, or borders to end with a fully detailed and perfectly tailored invitation. If you are going to work with a designer, you must know how to communicate your ideas and tastes so all will be done according to your vision. Design as you want and see that it’s just the way you have it in mind before finally coming up with a design.
6. Paper Quality
The paper quality that you will use is going to greatly influence the look and feel which your invitation exudes. They come in matte, glossy, textured, or even recycled varieties. All of these have different aesthetics associated with them. Matte paper will then look soft and elegant, while a glossy paper can really bring out colors. Textured paper provides a tactile feel that immerses one in the invitation. Consider what best suits your overall wedding theme or feel when you are choosing the quality of your paper. It’s also wise to order a sample of the paper, just to get a feel and see how it looks in person before making any final decisions.
7. Order Samples
Order samples before placing that big order of your invitations. This process is going to help you sort out how design, colors, and fonts mesh in real life. Most online printing services will send sample packs that include various papers and finishes. Sample packs will help one work out a decision. Give close attention to these samples and revise whatever is necessary in the design, color, or layout. This step is very important to avoid disappointment with the final outcome. Once you are quite confident that the design and the materials meet your requirement, you could order the entire set of invitations.
8. Sending Out the Invitations
Sending out your invitations can get rather tedious, but it has to be done. By this stage, you should have a well-prepared guest list listing all guests with the correct names and addresses. You can opt to create an overall style for writing clients’ names on the envelopes. Some individuals choose to write titles such as Mr., Mrs., and Dr. before any other name is written. You may then opt to write the names on the envelope by hand for them to appear personal or even printed labels to make them similar in nature. Unless you are inviting a huge group, it may well be worth your money to hire a professional calligrapher for beautiful, clearly legible addressing. You could use software to do the address—in terms of the names and addresses of each guest—on your making sure that you have the kerned lettering you seek. Whichever way you do it, though, care in this step will add professional finish flairs to the completion of your invitations.
9. Mail Your Invitations
Once your invitations are printed and addressed, mail them out. Plan to mail your invitations about six to eight weeks before the wedding date. This gives most of your guests plenty of time to respond to your invitations and make travel arrangements, if necessary. Add some themed stamps to give them a little extra pizzazz when you mail them off. You could also include extra maps or information about accommodations, or even insert pieces within the envelope. Now, once everything is at the ready, really let that be and just send those babies out into the world.
10. Track Your RSVPs
No matter how small your guest list may be, there will always be one—maybe many—who seem to forget to respond back to your meaningful invites. So a week or two before the requested deadline, it’s totally okay to follow up with some guests. This way, you will not keep bothering yourself with questions of what to plan for at your wedding. You may call or email to remind them. Keeping good records of RSVPs eases the pressure of sitting arrangements and catering in the planning process. Following up early enough will guarantee a smooth journey of guests during this big day.
Design your ideal wedding invitation—fun and creative. Get your big day off to an ideal start. With this step-by-step guide, you will be best equipped to navigate the whole process successfully. The process is from determining your wedding style all the way to mailing the invitations and, last but not least, keeping track of the RSVPs so at all times, none of your invitations miss your love story. Remember to always have a little fun and put some of yourself into the design. Because after all, your invitations are going to do a lot more than just list the particulars of your wedding to the guest list. They’re going to get everyone talking about the coming festivities. It will become one of those adorable little details on your big day—with just a little thought and care.
