Elopement announcements
The card has a delicate job: sharing good news with people who might quietly wish they had been there.
$65
Your details set by hand, usually back the same day. $145 to rebuild it in your own colours.
An elopement announcement is the only piece of wedding paper that arrives after the event and has to manage a feeling. Everyone receiving it is happy for you, and some of them, particularly parents and closest friends, are also processing that they were not there. The cards that land well acknowledge that lightly and move on. The ones that land badly either over-explain, which sounds defensive, or say nothing at all, which reads as cold.
The wording that works is short, warm, and does not apologise. "We got married. Just the two of us, on a Tuesday, and it was perfect." That is complete. It gives the news, gives a flavour of the day, and does not ask anybody to accept a justification. If a celebration is coming later, saying so in the same card converts the whole thing from an announcement into an invitation to be included, which is what most recipients actually want.
A photograph does more here than on almost any other card, because nobody was there to see it. One good image of the two of you on the day is the entire emotional content, and it is the reason these get put on a fridge rather than in a drawer.
What changes for this one
Photo-led, because the photograph is the point. The date is set as a real element since it is now a fact people will want to remember. Small and simple beats a full wedding suite: this is one card, and its restraint is part of the message.
When to send
Within a month of the wedding, and sooner if word is likely to travel. An announcement that arrives after somebody heard it secondhand does the opposite of what it was meant to do.
Colours that work
Quiet. Bone, warm grey, ink, with the photograph carrying the colour. Anything decorative competes with the image, which is the one thing on the card doing real work.
Questions people ask about elopement invitations
What do we actually write?
The fact, a flavour of the day, and nothing defensive. "We got married on the fourteenth, just the two of us" is enough. If a party is coming, say that too.
Should we explain why we eloped?
No. An explanation reads as an apology and invites a response. The people who need the reasons will ask, and you can tell them in your own words.
Do we send one to people who would have been invited?
Yes, and to them first, ideally with a call or a message ahead of the card so they hear it from you directly rather than from the post.
Can it double as a party invitation?
It works well as one. Announcement on the front, celebration details on the back or on a small enclosure, so the news leads and the invitation follows.
880
US searches a month for elopement announcements, measured rather than guessed. Nearly every page here targets a term almost nobody is defending properly.
- wedding invitation — 135,000/mo
- custom announcement cards — 70/mo
How to have this made
Announcement design
New baby, new house, new name, new chapter.
From $165
Custom invitation design
Designed from nothing for one event. No template underneath.
From $285
Start with a First Look
$45 for one finished concept designed for your event, back in three days. It comes off whatever you book, and if you do not love it you keep the file and owe nothing.