Designing a wedding invitation is usually harder than you think. After all, there are so many things that you need to keep in mind to get it right that it starts feeling quite a bit overwhelming.
Which style to go for? What about the fonts? Is the dimension of the wedding invitations too big to be easy to send out? Does a minimalistic style look better than vintage florals?
Too many questions, isn’t it? Read on to find your answers!
1. Select a style to go with
Each wedding invitation comes under a particular style category, or borrows from two or three different styles. It helps to stay true to a certain style, especially if you are going with a theme or love a specific era. For instance, if your wedding has a chilled out and casual vibe, go for something with cute and funny animations.
For the old-school lovers, the retro look of the wedding cards might do the job. On the other hand, for the ones aiming for an elegant and classy affair, a traditional style with dainty colors and floral borders would be a good choice.
2. Choose the classic typefaces
The font you choose can make or break your invitation design. So, it is better to steer clear of those ‘out-there,’ novelty kind of styles, and go for typefaces that stand the test of time.
The formal classics, such as Caslon, are going to feel timeless when you pull out the wedding invitation after decades. Similarly, the elegance of a script like Allura is always going to appear occasion-appropriate.
So, unless you are having a theme wedding, it is best not to experiment with the novelty fonts. You would be better off staying away from marker-pen, distressed, and grunge fonts that might seem cool, but will make the designs appear too flier-like and informal.
3. Consider the dimensions practically
Before diving straight into other aspects of designing the invitation, consider a practical issue – the dimensions of the invite.
So, what are the dimensions of your wedding invitation going to be? Are you planning to make it oriented landscape or portrait? Most invitations are meant to fit any standard envelope. If you are planning to use custom wedding invitations services, they might have their own standard sizes to help you out. It would help to get in touch with the company and see what they have to say about sizing.
Just remember a simple fact – don’t go for anything that is too big or has an odd size. Keep in mind that you will incur charges in terms of the weight and dimensions when sending out the invitations.
4. Align the type at the central position
In terms of typesetting the text for the invitation, the best you can do is to go for a tried-and-tested, traditional formula. Your invites can have an unconventional, modern design, but the text should still be aligned centrally.
The thing about centrally aligned texts is that it makes the text look more important and the invitation stands out as something noteworthy. Also, small blocks of text (i.e., dates and names) seem more elegant and organized with a central alignment. Keeping the texts off-center might make the headers look messy.
Moreover, you get to impose a text hierarchy by using different font sizes and weights for different sections. You can have your names in italics and a large size. Put the time and date of the event in bold (people need to notice this detail!). The extra items like dress codes can be kept in a small size font.
5. Go for ‘&’ and not ‘and’ for a better look
The squiggly and humble ampersand ‘&’ is used for indicating ‘and.’ It is your new best friend when you are trying to design the perfect wedding invite.
Especially when put between the names of the two of you, the ampersand appears interesting, dramatic, and elegant, without causing distractions from the texts surrounding it. So, replace the sorry-looking and useless ‘and’ with its decorative substitute.
But a good and elegant ampersand needs a bit of searching. Thus, look around different scripts to find one.
And that’s all you need to know about customizing your wedding invite! Go ahead and start designing it now.