Creating Digital Wedding Invitations
Printed wedding invitations are quickly becoming a quaint tradition of the past. Budget-conscious grooms and DIY-loving brides choose to announce their upcoming nuptials via email. According to a 2013 survey conducted by TheKnot, printed invitations neared an average of over $400. It comes as no surprise that couples are opting for a more economical way to invite family and friends to their special day. Whether you’re choosing to go paperless to stay within your budget, reduce your ecological footprint or have more control over the final design, there are certain things you’ll need to keep in mind when sending out wedding evites.
Choosing a Design Method
Of course, your main concern is probably the look of your digital wedding invitation. Every bride-to-be wants a design that reflects her personality and that of her fiance. You have three options at this point. You can either purchase a custom design, customize a template or create your own invitation. Online stationary boutiques like Celebrations let you purchase both digital and printed versions of your wedding invitations. Paperless Post is best for those interested in customizing a pre-made template. Designing your own invitation is definitely the most time consuming, but it’ll also ensure you get the wedding invitation of your dreams.
Creating Your Wedding Evites
Say you decide to create your own digital wedding invitations. Now that you’ve taken the plunge, you’ll need to come up with the perfect design. Since your invitations will set the tone of your wedding, it’s important to decide on an overall theme early on, suggests TheKnot. Do you want your invitations to be colorful and casual? Or classic and formal? If you’re lacking ideas hop on over to Pinterest, where you’ll find inspiration galore. You can also make the creative process a little easier by using stock images from Shutterstock. You’ll not only save time, but produce a more professional looking invitation in the end. Other design considerations include:
- The typical size for wedding invitations is a 4.5-inch by 6.25-inch rectangular card.
- Use colors and fonts that are easily legible.
- List only important key points (date, time, location, etc.) to avoid crowding.
- Send invitations six to eight weeks before the wedding.
- Remember to include RSVP information.
- Triple-check everything before sending.
Sending Your Digital Wedding Invitations
Phew! The hard part is over. Now you’ll need to aggregate a list of your guests’ email addresses. Additionally, you can use a party management tool to make it easier to send your digital wedding invitations to a large group of people. Evite, for instance, is a free service that lets you send customized invitations. You can schedule automatic event reminders and quickly view which guests have RSVP’d, says Lifehacker. And although you might want to go completely paperless, it’ll probably still be necessary to mail printed copies of your invitations. You’ll have to go the old-fashioned way to the heavy traditionalist in your family and older relatives that don’t regularly check their email.
Wedding Invitation Etiquette
Digital wedding invitation etiquette isn’t vastly different from the norm. As with printed invites, you’ll want to include the guests’ full name. It not only adds a touch of formality to the evite, it also avoids confusion. Also, never write “No children” on your invitations, instead imply it by the names listed in the invitation. Including gift registry information on a wedding invitation is also considered a faux pas, according to Patricia Napier-Fitzpatrick, founder of The Etiquette School of New York. Lastly, when in doubt, spell it out. Generally only titles such as “Mr.” and “Mrs.” are abbreviated.
Now, press the send button and get started on planning the next part of your big day.
