Designing Wedding Invites: Canva's Easy Guide

Planning a wedding can be an expensive and stressful affair. One way to save money and add a personal touch is to design your own wedding invitations using an online platform like Canva. Canva offers a range of free and easy-to-use tools that allow you to create custom invitations without any professional design experience. With a variety of templates, fonts, graphics, and customisation options, you can design beautiful invitations that reflect your unique style and relationship. In this guide, we will take you through the steps of using Canva to craft elegant and personalised wedding invitations, from choosing the right layout and dimensions to customising your template and sharing your final design with your loved ones.

Choose a shape and size

When it comes to the shape and size of your wedding invitation, the options are endless. Wedding invitations come in a wide range of shapes and sizes, so you can easily find one that suits your celebration. If you're looking for a classic, elegant look, the traditional wedding invitation is a rectangular card with dimensions of 4.5 inches by 6.25 inches. This size is also a great way to keep printing costs down.

However, if you want to break away from tradition, there are plenty of other options to choose from. Horizontal rectangles and scalloped designs have gained popularity in recent years, offering a modern twist on the classic invitation. For a truly unique look, you might want to consider a square invitation, which is perfect for modern designs. These usually come in sizes such as 5 ¼ x 5 ¼ inches. If you're feeling creative, you can even play around with different shapes like circles or triangles to really make your invitation stand out.

Another popular option is the slim wedding invitation, measuring 4 x 9 ¼ inches, which can be oriented vertically or horizontally. This size is a great choice if you want to include more information on your invitation without making it look cluttered. It's also a good option if you want to play around with different layouts and designs.

If you're feeling adventurous, you can even create a completely custom size and shape for your invitation. However, keep in mind that sticking to common invitation dimensions will help keep costs down, as printers are already familiar with these sizes. Additionally, each country has its own minimum and maximum size requirements for standard mail, so be sure to consider the weight and dimension restrictions of the country you're mailing to and from.

No matter what shape and size you choose, Canva offers a variety of templates and design options to help you create a beautiful and personalized wedding invitation that perfectly complements your special day.

Consider the location and theme

When designing a wedding invitation on Canva, it's important to consider the location and theme of the wedding. This will help guide the overall aesthetic and design of your invites. For example, if you're getting married in a church, you may want to go for a traditional and romantic look. On the other hand, if you're tying the knot in a country or farm setting, a rustic and natural theme might be more appropriate.

Your wedding invitation can reflect the theme of your special day, whether it's rustic, modern, or something else entirely. If you're going for a rustic theme, you might opt for a simple invitation printed on recycled brown paper. For a fun and modern twist, you could choose one of Canva's minimalist designs.

The location and theme of your wedding can also be reflected in the imagery you choose for your invitation. For instance, if you're having a beach or destination wedding, you might incorporate tropical elements or illustrations of the location to give your invite a unique and eye-catching look.

In addition to the visual design elements, the wording of your invitation can also reflect the location and theme of your wedding. For a formal wedding, you might use more traditional and elegant wording, while a casual or fun wedding might call for lighthearted and playful phrasing.

• Use romantic fonts: Choose soft, romantic, and elegant fonts for your wedding invites. Cursive or calligraphy fonts are excellent choices and can be paired with a serif font for the rest of the text.
• Add personal touches: Include a photo of you and your partner to give your invites a personal feel and make them a special keepsake for your loved ones.
• Think outside the box: If you have a unique relationship, feel free to break the mould and add some creative elements to your invite. You can switch up the format, incorporate personal jokes, or use illustrations to inject personality into your design.
• Match your colour scheme: Choose colours that reflect your wedding theme. For example, green is a popular choice for outdoor ceremonies, and you can pair it with rust or gold for a luxe look.
• Include all the essential details: Provide guests with critical information such as the date, time, and location of the wedding. If the ceremony and reception are at different venues, be sure to include both addresses.
• Set the tone: The wording and design of your invitation can indicate the level of formality and the expected dress code for your wedding.

Remember, your wedding invitation is a reflection of you and your partner, so feel free to add your own creative touches and make it authentic to your style.

Pick romantic fonts

Picking the right font is crucial when creating visually appealing wedding invitations. Cursive or calligraphy fonts are excellent choices for wedding invites as they are soft, romantic, and elegant. They also pair well with a serif font for the rest of the text in your invitation.

• Great Vibes is a beautifully flowing script with casual uppercase forms combined with more formal lowercase letters.
• Josefin Sans is inspired by geometric sans-serif designs from the 1920s. It has an unusual x-height that is halfway from baseline to cap height.
• Pinyon Script is a romantic round hand script-style font with confident and showy swashes, giving it a feeling suggestive of the American West.
• Forum has antique, classic "Roman" proportions and is truly multilingual, with glyphs for Central and Eastern Europe, Baltics, Cyrillic, and Asian Cyrillic communities.
• Brown Sugar is a romantic and heartfelt font with a nice flow.
• Stars & Love is a whimsical and romantic font, ideal for fairytale-themed or starry night weddings.
• Alex Brush is a soft and flowing font, perfect for romantic and personal wedding invites.
• Libre Baskerville is a good choice for a 'romantic' font, as seen in the Grey Textured Wedding Invite template on Canva.
• Cormorant Garamond is a serif font that works well with a rustic or natural theme.
• Amsterdam Four is a script font that is elegant and delicate, making it suitable for spring weddings and floral-themed invitations.
• Playfair Display is a classic-type serif font with subtle transitions between thick and thin lines. It works well for simple or minimalist designs.

Add imagery and colour

Canva gives you access to over 1 million premium images, graphics and illustrations. Many of these images are free, while the rest are priced at just $1 each. There are hundreds of beautiful options perfect for weddings that will suit the theme and feel of your day. You can also add a personal touch by uploading your own images for free. Once you have saved them, you can use them as many times as you like.

Canva's drag-and-drop tool lets you place elements directly onto your design with ease. Look through millions of high-quality icons and other graphics to find what you're looking for.

Your wedding invite can reflect the theme of your wedding, whatever that may be. For example, if you're planning a rustic event, you might like to opt for a simple invite printed on recycled brown paper. For something fun and modern, you could choose one of Canva's minimalist designs.

Canva has hundreds of editable designs suitable for any wedding theme, so the choice is yours. You can also take a look through other invitations for inspiration. The most important thing is that you have a wedding invitation you love.

You can also personalise your invitation by including a photo of you and your partner on the invite. Simply drag and drop your photos onto the template and you're good to go.

• Pink with purple
• Blue with white
• Gold with anything!

Include the right information

When creating your wedding invitation, it's important to include all the necessary information. This includes a request for attendance, the names of the couple, the date, time, and location of the wedding, and any other additional information such as the wedding website address, gift list details, dress code, and catering situation.

The introduction text is also an important element to consider. A safe, neutral choice is "Together with their families," but you can personalise this to fit your wedding. For example, if only one set of parents is hosting, you could write "Mr. and Mrs. [last name] request the honour of your presence at the marriage of their daughter [bride's name] to [groom's name]." If the couple is hosting themselves, you could write "The honour of your presence is requested at the marriage of [bride's name] to [groom's name]."

When it comes to the wedding day details, there are many ways to format this information. You can draw inspiration from Canva's templates or other invitation designs online. For a formal invitation, it is customary to spell out the day of the week, the numbered date, and the year. You can also include the street name, city, and state of the location, but it is best to avoid placing the full address on the invitation.

If there is a reception following the ceremony, you can include a 'reception line' to indicate this. Any additional details can be placed on separate insert cards or on your wedding website. It is also a good idea to include the deadline and instructions for RSVPs.

Frequently asked questions