Despite all of the excitement and anticipation leading up to the big day, it’s no secret that wedding planning can also be surprisingly stressful. Finding the right dress, booking venues and service providers, sending out invitations – there are so many things on a soon-to-be-wed’s to-do list that can make the process feel completely overwhelming.
In this guide, we’ll offer practical, pro-level tips for perfecting your wedding invitation designs – all without the need for a graphic design degree. From choosing the right fonts to arranging the right layout, we’ll give you a simple step-by-step guide to save you both time and money.
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Add Custom Touches to a Template
You don’t need to plan an expensive wedding to achieve a gorgeous invitation. Fortunately, modern technology has evolved to make our lives easier. Tools like the Adobe Express reception invitation card maker can simplify what was once a complicated (and expensive) task into one that can be completed in a single afternoon.
If making your invitations from scratch still sounds like a challenge, you can use editable templates from Adobe to save time and money while still getting a custom look. These allow you to start with a basic invitation, then swap out illustrations, change fonts and adjust the layout to suit your vision.
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Define Your Wedding Aesthetic
Before designing your wedding invitations, it’s important to have a clear vision of your wedding aesthetic. Choose a style that matches you and your partner’s personalities, and consider your dream venue, dress code and colours. Some popular wedding aesthetics are rustic, minimalist and boho chic, but there’s a look out there for every couple!
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Once you have a general idea of how you’d like your wedding to look, create a moodboard to stay visually consistent when designing your wedding invitations. Here, a corkboard with pins and paper should be easy enough to organise and update as your wedding aesthetic evolves.
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Choose the Right Fonts
A major part of what separates a truly beautiful wedding invitation from the rest is the fonts. Endeavour to mix no more than two fonts – one for headlines, one for the details – on your invitation to avoid visual clutter and create cohesion. Your chosen font should reflect your wedding aesthetic. Script fonts add elegance, and you can balance their extravagance with a traditional serif font.
On the other hand, a blend of sans-serif fonts suits minimalist and modern themes very well, setting a more contemporary tone for your wedding. Whatever you choose, ensure both the font style and size are legible to avoid miscommunicating the date or location of your wedding.
Prioritise Readability and Hierarchy
The design of your invitation should highlight key information like names, the location of your wedding venue, the date of your big day and the RSVP deadline. Use colour, font and bolding or italics to guide the eye of your guests to this important information.
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You can also consider adding artistic details like small flowers or a sketch of you and your partner, but remember to leave some breathing room and avoid visual clutter to ensure that the most important parts of the invitation take centre stage.
Use Colour Purposefully
To give your guests a taste of what to expect on the big day, stick to the wedding colour palette when designing your invitation. Similar to fonts, too many colours can make the invitation look busy. Try to include no more than three colours in your design and ensure that the colour of your text stands out from the colour of your background for readability.
When trying to decide on which specific colours to choose, there are an infinite number to select from. That’s why it’s most effective and easier to stick to your wedding themes. If you’re having a traditional wedding, you’ll make an impact with the low-risk choices of soft roses, off-white, red, yellow and green – but not all of them in one invite. Try to stick to one or two colours, in which you can use a range of shades within the colour to add complexity and depth to the invitations.
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Test Print Before Finalising
Once satisfied with your design, it may be tempting to send out your invitations straight away. However, patience is key! Always do a trial print before sending to check for errors and readability. Ideally, print your sample invitation on the paper you’ll actually use to ensure you’re satisfied with the texture, stability and feel of your final invitation.
Once printed, sit with it for a few days. Place it on your fridge or out on your bench. That way, you’ll glance at it when you’re thinking of other things, and you’ll learn what you really feel about it, unbiasedly. If possible, ask for feedback on your design from someone with fresh eyes. Make any necessary adjustments before printing the full batch, then grab a friend or two to help address the invitations and send them out!
Key Takeaways
Designing the perfect wedding invitation is easier than ever with the right tools and know-how. With an afternoon and a few clicks, you can create beautiful invitations that feel personal and special.
First, start by defining your wedding aesthetic to ensure you have a clear starting point for your invitation design and choose fonts that complement your wedding’s aesthetic, ensuring your invitation remains. Use design principles to highlight the most important pieces of information on the invitation – your name, wedding venue, wedding date and RSVP deadline. Pick colours that match your wedding’s colour palette, but be sure to choose contrasting colours for the font and background so your invitation is legible. However, keep the number of colours limited to only a couple to avoid making the invitation overwhelming to the eye.
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During the process, make use of free online tools like Adobe’s templates to simplify the design process and find inspiration. Finally, print a test version to check for mistakes and adjust the design to perfection before mailing your invitations out early so you can focus on making your wedding night as memorable as possible!
