Hello Brides! Today we will hearing some tips on your wedding invite from a design professional. I asked Rachel from The Bloom Design Co. to share some tips on how to make your wedding invite perfect. If you are in need of a graphic designer to make an invite for your upcoming event, I would suggest The Bloom Design Company- they're LovelyChic Preferred!
Tips from a Graphic Designer
How many times have you received a save the date or wedding announcement from a close friend and thought, “Wow, that invite totally reflects their personal style! What a great fit!”? (no one? just me?)
Regardless of whether you’ve had that thought cross your mind or not, it is true that your wedding invite is a reflection of your wedding as a whole. That invite spends more time on the desks and fridges of your friends and family than they do at your wedding, so it’s only natural that this small piece of paper announcing your upcoming nuptials will be the ultimate preview to your actual nuptials.
Today, I’ll be giving some advice to you brides-to-be that should help you understand the importance of a beautifully-designed, well-coordinated wedding announcement and help you design said invite to reflect you and your groom as a couple.
What Goes Into A Good Invite?
You’ve got a crazy amount of options when it comes to the design of your invite. Do you want something classy and elegant that will stand the test of time? Would you rather opt for the unique shape that will stand out to your guests? Are you going to include 2 images on/with the invite or 20? I’ll always recommend keeping things simple. Now is not the time to overwhelm your guests with pictures; save that for the reception.
My recommendation would be to choose either an invite + printed photo option or 1-2 images on the actual invite itself. Keep in mind that placing the photo on the invite limits the amount of available space for the invitation text, so for you wordy types, consider printing the photo that you’d like to accompany your invite and including it separately. Also, even if you’re thinking of doing a photo collage just on the back of your invite, think again; the people receiving your invite know what you look like (and if they don’t, do they really need 7 photos from different angles to get a true gauge of your face?). Save the showcase of your adorable engagement photos for Facebook.
How to Choose Your Invite Style
Since your invite says so much about you, let’s make sure it’s saying the right things. The following is a list of questions to think about when designing the style of your invite and the content (including images, wording, and any sort of graphic elements like lace or monograms).
1 | Are you edgy or elegant? Are you willing to take risks with the design to reflect your character or stay with trendy, safe options?
2 | Is your proposed style something you’re going to regret as time goes on?
3 | Is your fiancé’s great grandmother going to be aghast at the style you’ve chosen? Do you care?
4 | Are there some wedding events that only certain people are invited to? How will you organize the designation of what your invite recipients are invited to?
5 | Will you be showcasing your own invite designing skills? What do you know how to do well in the design department?
Before you start the design or sit down to discuss what you’d like from your invite designer, research some styles similar to your personal taste. I love when I see a tall, luxurious invite design for a friend that is always overflowing with class, or a bohemian-style invite for a wanderlust-type, hopeless romantic. My favorite places to look for inspiration are Pinterest and Minted.com.
The Invite Wording
There are so many fun and creative ways to express your personality that I think I will let you decide how to word your invite. I’ve seen about a gazillion examples online of ways to word an invite or announcement. Instead of tell you what to say, I’ll just give you a few pointers on some of the finer details that may be overlooked if you are either designing the invite yourself or having a designer work on it that isn’t part of a big design agency.
1 | Spell out pretty much everything except the address for the reception or wedding venue. And I’ve even seen some invites that spell that out too! Especially spell out the date (on the ninth of September) and the time (at seven o’clock in the evening).
2 | Avoid using am or pm. Just say morning, afternoon, or evening. It sounds more formal, and this is a wedding after all!
3 | Don’t forget to include the proper titles for the parents or the bride and groom. Is your future father-in-law a judge? Is your fiancé in the military? Some people don’t include titles for the bride and groom, but I am all about the respect and I do it in my designs.
4 | Typically, invites won’t include punctuation like periods or commas. I’ve had a request for exclamation marks in the past, and I only allowed it because the wedding invite was carnival-themed, and it seemed like a lot of the “formal” or “official” rules of wording were abandoned in favor of a more personal, celebratory design that reflected the couple and their love perfectly.
5 | Apparently it is “improper” to include registry information on the actual invite itself. They should be included in an insert separate from the formal invite. I think the theory behind this is that it’s presumptuous and tacky to imply that gifts are expected. However, I included that info on the bottom of my own invite, and your guest will be getting the “request” in some form or another within that envelope, so what does it matter what paper it is on? Just a heads up, in case you’re one of those traditional, classic types.
Ultimately, the wording should reflect you and your fiancé as a couple. And like I mentioned earlier, simple is always classy. No one ever regrets not doing enough with their invite designs; it’s always those that went overboard that wish they would have toned it down.I hope these tips and suggestions will help you as you plan your upcoming nuptials and the design that will announce your impending marriage to all. Congrats on the engagement, by the way :)
Rachel Cottrell, owner and designer at The Bloom Design Company