It doesn’t matter how different, alternative, unconventional, personal or unique you want your big day to be, there is one thing that every wedding has to have: invitations. It’s the one tradition you can’t break. You could decide to slip into a gorgeous black lace wedding gown and have your beautiful bridesmaids dressed in different coloured dresses and then celebrate your nuptials in a breathtaking industrial mill with a food van serving Mexican dishes; you will still need to send your guests an invitation. But just because the invitation is a good-old fashioned tradition doesn’t mean you can’t have some fun with yours and add a personal touch.
Big or small, there are little details that can make your wedding invite wonderfully unique. Now, you may be thinking this isn’t necessary, and that it’s just another way to throw a one-of-a-kind bash, and you’d be right. Sort of. Because, believe it or not, there is a point to all this: it’s your chance to tell your guests what kind of wedding you’re having and just how much fun they can expect to have.
From custom illustrations to creative wording, eye-catching colour schemes to clever themes; we’ve pulled together a list of invitation trends you need to know about. Your wedding day will be the best day of your life, and it all starts with your invitations:
1. Come Fly Away
More and more lucky couples are choosing to jet off to some faraway destination to tie the knot. Paris, New York, New Zealand, the Seychelles, Bora Bora, Ireland - there are so many destination wedding hotspots to choose from, and a great way to give a nod to this is to use a paper airplane invitation; one that will literally fly through the air. If there’s one thing you can guarantee from this invite, it’s no one will forget the date of your nuptials.
2. Look At The Lining
A great way to drop a not-so-subtle hint about what kind of wedding you’re having - or where you will be having it - is to get creative with your envelope lining. If you’re planning to get married on a North Norfolk beach, nautical lining could be the perfect touch. Or maybe you’re going back to that hotel spa in Arizona where you and your fiancé met, in which case you a vibrant desert themed lining, complete with cacti and boulders, could be an incredible touch. Whatever you are thinking, there’s a lining that you will be able to play with.
3. Remember Your Proposal
Your story may have started when your eyes met across a smoky room, but it became eternal when one of you got on one knee and the other jumped up and down squealing “yes!”, so why not use your proposal as the perfect inspiration when it comes to personalising your invite. Use a picture of the place where it all happened so fast, or celebrate your proposal by having someone illustrate the scene and put this on the back of your card. If there is one thing you can guarantee, it’s your guests going all warm and fuzzy when they open the envelope. Who knows, they might even share a little awwwww.
4. Share Your Love Story
Every love story is unique in almost every way, which is why you should use this chance to walk your guests through yours, telling them how you got to this moment with a beautiful timeline. It doesn’t need to look like a Nancy Meyer’s script, just the cute little details that make your journey yours will be more than enough to wow. How you met, where you went on your first date, and may be your second date, where you shared your first kiss, when you said “I love you” to each other, your proposal story and everything else that will help melt hearts.
5. Wood Invites Last Forever
The classic choice of invitation material is paper. It always has been and it always will be. But that doesn’t mean you have to embrace it, especially when you think about the flaws. They crumple and crease, they get wet and fall apart, they fold and get lost and so much more, which is sad because you want your wedding invites to last forever, and that’s why you should look at using wooden invites. You could use it as a direct replacement for paper and have everything printed onto shingles, you could make it the perfect choice for your garden wedding, or use it as a hint toward the rustic decorations you’re going to use, or you might just want to make your invites look and feel like old-fashioned carnival tickets. The way we see it, your marriage is going to be forever, so why not make your invites celebrate eternity too.
6. Handkerchiefs For Happy Tears
When the words “I do” get said at the altar and you finally get to kiss the love of your life, happy tears will start to roll down cheeks. Your eyes will fill, your soulmate will blub and all those watching will start to snivel with joy too. To plan for this, print your invites on to handkerchiefs. Have the details displayed in some fairytale font and then ask each of your guests to wear their invite to your big day - they’ll be grateful you did. But here’s the best bit: whether you are having a vintage celebration or a contemporary wedding, personalised handkerchiefs will never look out of place.
7. Map Out Your Journey
Another gorgeous trend on the up and up is the invitation map, which brides and grooms are using to celebrate their weddings in so many different ways. Maybe you are getting married abroad, or you might just want to share your journey as a couple so far, either way, having a map illustrated and used as your wedding invite is an amazingly creative and super-personal way to get people to RSVP with a big, juicy “yes!”
📷
8. Calligraphy Creates Magic
No matter what way you decide to go - whether you turn your invite into a wedding guidebook or you decide to note the details down on different coloured pennant flags - the secret to a perfect invite starts with the calligraphy. There are so many fonts out there to choose from and each one alludes to something different. They each make us think of different things, so use this to your advantage. If you’re having a country wedding with camping, then why not make your guests feel like Ernest Hemingway wrote the envelopes himself or, if you’re having a traditional wedding at a gorgeous old venue, then try using a type that has beautiful sweeping descenders and classic arches. Fonts are subtle, but they will let your guests know what sort of celebration you’ll be having - they help build the anticipation.
Thanks for reading!