Wedding invitations can be surprisingly boring. Despite the big day that they represent, a wedding invitation is usually made from cards and has a simple message that is copied and pasted to every single guest. You might get it signed by the bride and groom or they might add some unique touches, but most people are going to receive a plain bit of card with some fancy printed artwork on it.
These wedding invitations are incredibly boring and don’t stand out at all.
In fact, many of your guests might even struggle to remember your wedding date because the invitation was no better than a tacky Christmas card. If you truly want to impress your guests and give them something to remember your wedding by, you absolutely need to focus on the quality of your wedding invitation. To help you out, we’ve compiled a large list of wedding invitation ideas that will help make yours more memorable and stand out.
Mixing different material choices. Don’t just use plain old card. Why not consider making your wedding invitations a little more special by adding some texture? For instance, you could use a special type of leather that can be preserved for a long time. With some calligraphy on it, you could transform your invitation from a simple message to a piece of artwork. You could also consider taping certain types of materials to card to add different textures and feelings to your invitations. This is a great way to add a bit of variety to your wedding invitations.
There are lots of different material choices for a wedding invitation and you’ll thank yourself later if you do the research now because certain types of materials could be difficult to source. You could even choose something that is meaningful, such as a recycled material to create a rustic-style invitation that is consistent with your rustic-style wedding. If you’re going for something a little more exotic, why not consider sending your invitation on paper or materials that are important or unique to your culture?
For something rustic, you could even try wood carvings and burning. These can be made by a specialist service but it’s often fun to try and do these on your own. You can try to hand-carve messages into thin slabs of wood to use as your wedding invitation, or you could try burning the wood to create darker text for your wedding invitation. This is just one of the many examples of unique materials that you can use for your wedding invitation.
Keep in mind that certain ideas might need to be carried out by arts and crafts specialists. This could be a fun project for you to do yourself or with your friends and family members. Adding a bit of personalisation to your wedding invitations is never a bad idea and could drastically improve how memorable your wedding is.
Include something special with your wedding invitations. A wedding invitation doesn’t need to be just a card inside an envelope. In fact, we would recommend that you think of something to send in addition to the card itself. For instance, these save the date magnets from MagnetStreet are a great example of a small gift that you can give to your guests to help them remember the date of your wedding. While most guests would be more than happy to write the date down in their diary or set a constant reminder on their smartphone, some guests might appreciate having a little token such as a magnet to stick on their fridge.
If you’re feeling particularly fancy or generous, you could even send a smart-looking pen or pencil to go with your wedding invitation or RSVP. You could custom-design a pen specifically for your wedding and produce a hundred or more for each of your guests. The pen could commemorate your wedding and could even have the date of the wedding written on it as a reminder. However, if you’re going to send some kind of gift to your guests in your wedding invitation or RSVP, you want to make sure it’s not something tacky and cheap that is forgettable. In some cases, it might even give your guests a poor impression of your wedding.
If you’re planning to create a special set of wedding invitations for close friends and family members, you could potentially include some personalised memories, messages and pictures in those wedding invitations. For instance, if you’re sending an invitation to old school friends, why not consider adding a background picture to your wedding invitations of your time at school? This could be pictures of you and your guest in your school uniforms or a picture you both took during a memorable holiday. You can get incredibly sentimental with your wedding invitations, especially if it’s the first point of contact to inform your guest that you’re having a wedding.
Including something special doesn’t have to mean something physical. In fact, most of your guests would appreciate having some kind of special message directed to them specifically. This is a great way to personalise each of your wedding invitations. Speaking directly to your guests with a message is a fantastic way to make the wedding invitation and the wedding itself more memorable. However, you should ensure that it’s not a generic message with a couple of words changed for each guest. If possible, try to include a small passage about you and your guest such as recalling good times you’ve had in the past. You don’t want to make it too long so try to condense it into the most important points. This will ensure that they actually read it!
Add your venue to the invitation. If you’re stuck for ideas, why not consider using your venue for inspiration? If you’re sending out invitations then you’ve most likely already decided on a wedding venue. If so, you could consider taking a few pictures of the venue and including them as postcards. This will help your guest get a feel for what the atmosphere and location are like, and it also serves as a unique little piece of memorabilia for them to remember your wedding by. If you’re getting vintage vibes from your venue, you could even take polaroid pictures of your wedding venue and include them with a handwritten note on the back of them. This adds a unique touch of style to your wedding invitations and makes for a great little gift.
Alternatively, you could include some information about the venue itself in your wedding invitation. For instance, including a little map of the venue or information about accommodation is fairly standard nowadays. While this information is generally reserved for the day of the wedding itself, it’s never a bad idea to show the wedding venue early on. You could even include the menu that the venue has proposed so that your guests can pick their food choices early if they have certain dietary requirements.
Some final words. The goal here is to make the wedding invitation unique enough that it’s not just thrown away after the wedding is over. Pieces of card with a simple generic message are likely going to be forgotten as soon as the wedding is over. However, if it’s made from some unique materials or it has a special personalised message directed to your guests, then they’ll likely keep it around or even frame it as a way to remember your wedding. There are lots of different ideas to make your wedding invitation stand out. While it seems like a lot of extra effort, it actually has a huge effect on the way your guests perceive your wedding and your approach to the big day.
While a wedding invitation alone won’t make your wedding stand out, it can certainly set the tone for your wedding as it’s usually the very first thing that your guest will see in regards to your wedding. The very first time people hear about your wedding is most likely the RSVP or the invitation, so make sure it stands out and impresses them from the get-go. The more effort and time you put into this, the more likely they’ll remember the date.
There are also some people that prefer not to send a formal wedding or RSVP. Instead, they might opt to do it informally by sending a wedding invitation over Facebook or creating a group and inviting multiple people through a chat instead. This is a modern approach to wedding invitations and you can often do something special with emails and personalised messages. If you prefer to do it this way then there’s nothing stopping you. However, there’s something unique and traditional about sending a letter or package that makes it stand out and become more memorable. As such, we highly suggest that you consider sending something physical as a representation of your wedding invitation instead of a digital message.
Mia Guerra
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