Creative Design Ideas for Wedding Invitations

Wedding invitations present unique challenges to graphic designers because they're the type of project where each client tends to want the same basic thing, but they want it to be different from all who came before them. The question you have to answer as a designer is how to come up with an original wedding invitation design that still represents the major marriage themes of love, loyalty, faithfulness and family bonding. For starters, you can try the following creative design ideas for wedding invitations.

1. Detailed close-ups

Grab a traditional wedding element, such as the unity candle or wedding cake, and create an invitation with a detailed close-up of that element. You could play on the flames of passion stemming from the unity candle, or even superimpose a photo of the bride and groom atop a wedding cake. Putting an original spin on a tried-and-true wedding design theme lends originality without detracting from the message.

2. Play dress-up

Similar to the couple on the cake idea, you can have your couple-to-be play dress up for your wedding invitations. Gangsters and flappers, Tarzan and Jane, Wild Bill and Calamity Jane, Adam and Eve or a power-hungry political couple are all good examples of ideas. Your couple doesn't have to be hosting a themed wedding to play dress-up on their wedding invitations - they just have to have a sense of humor!

3. Play with fonts

Your font sets the tone of your wedding invitations: some are traditional, some are modern, others gothic, still others humorous or flamboyant. Playing with fonts can drastically change the way a message is presented and similarly change the way it is perceived. You might, for example, have a couple who wants a traditionally styled wedding invitation with a modern twist. Thus, you might want to go with a basic invitation layout and imagery but scrap the calligraphy and instead complement it with a modern Calibri font.

4. Boxes and tabs

For a really modern look, place a grayscale photo of your couple in a horizontal bar that starts about two inches down from the top of the card and covers from the right edge to about an inch shy of the left edge. Highlight their eyes, lips and/or other elements (such as the unity candle) in color. Then, place a series of short colorful tabs across the top. You could transpose a similar design to other portions of your wedding invitation instead. Regardless of the design styles you use in your wedding invitations, be sure to have them professionally printed to get the most elegant look. A sturdy 16-point gloss cover or 13-point recycled matte cover will do the bride justice and will hold up to wear and tear so it can be displayed in scrapbooks and photo frames for decades to come.