Wedding invitations
The first thing your guests will hold that belongs to your wedding, and the only one that arrives before they have any idea what to expect.
$65
Your details set by hand, usually back the same day. $145 to rebuild it in your own colours.
A wedding invitation sets an expectation nobody can undo. Weight, colour and type tell a guest what to wear and how formal the day will be, long before the details card gets read. That is the real job, and it is why an invitation that looks nothing like the wedding is a problem: guests turn up dressed for the paper rather than for the event.
The decision that shapes everything else is how much paper there is. A single invitation card with the ceremony on it is complete and correct on its own. A suite adds a details card, a reply card, sometimes a map or an accommodation card, and each addition is another piece to design, proof and pay postage on. The honest advice is that most weddings need the invitation and one details card, and everything past that is a choice about how the envelope feels when it opens rather than about information.
The other question worth settling early is print or digital, and the answer is less about money than people assume. Printed invitations need to be designed months ahead because printing and mailing sit in front of the send date. A digital invitation can be decided six weeks out, changes cost nothing, and it collects replies for you. Plenty of couples now do both: paper for the family who would notice, digital for the friends who will reply from their phone in eleven seconds.
What changes for this one
The venue drives the palette more reliably than any Pinterest board. A wedding in a garden in June and a wedding in a hotel ballroom in December want opposite weights of everything, and the fastest way to a design that fits is a photograph of the actual room. Guest names on the outer envelope, if you are printing, are worth the extra step; they are the part people mention.
When to send
Save the dates eight to twelve months out. Invitations six to eight weeks before the wedding, or twelve if guests are flying or it is a holiday weekend. RSVP date three to four weeks before, so there is time to chase the third of your list that will not reply.
Colours that work
Whatever is in the room. Cream and olive for a garden wedding, bone and deep green for autumn, ivory and slate for anything indoors and formal. Loud colour on a wedding invitation is a decision, not a default, and it should match a decision you have already made about the day.
Questions people ask about wedding invitations
Do we need a full suite?
No. An invitation and one details card covers almost every wedding. Reply cards, maps and accommodation cards are lovely and they are also four more things to design, proof and post.
Can we have both printed and digital versions?
Yes, and it is increasingly the normal answer. Same design, laid out twice, so the digital version is built for a phone screen rather than being a photograph of the card.
Do you print them?
No. You get print-ready files and take them to a printer you choose, which is almost always cheaper than a designer marking up a print order. I can tell you what to ask for.
How long does a wedding suite take?
About two weeks for an invitation with revisions, three to four for a full suite. Start four to five months before the wedding so proofing and printing are not compressed.
135,000
US searches a month for wedding invitations, measured rather than guessed. Nearly every page here targets a term almost nobody is defending properly.
- custom wedding invitation suite — 140/mo
- wedding stationery design — 210/mo
- custom digital invitation — 4,400/mo
How to have this made
Custom invitation design
Designed from nothing for one event. No template underneath.
From $285
Save the date design
The first thing anyone sees. Sets the tone for everything after.
From $185
Day-of event paper
Menus, place cards, table numbers, programs and signage.
From $95
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.