It’s time to prepare for one of the best moments of your life: your wedding day. But you don’t want to leave everything in the hands of a wedding planner.
You want this wedding to be you, through and through. Which is why you’ve decided to send the right message from the start and make your own wedding invitations.
But the message isn’t the only important element of the invitation. Presentation is everything, which is why your choice of cardstock for invitations matters. The trick? If you’ve decided to design your own wedding invitations, chances are you don’t have a ton of design experience.
That doesn’t mean DIY wedding invitation paper can’t show that it’s DIY in all the best ways. Here’s what you need to know to choose the perfect cardstock for your perfect day.
Before Starting Your Invitations
Before you start designing your invitations (or even flipping through cardstock options) there are two important factors you need to clarify: your wedding style and your wedding colors.
Know Your Wedding Style/Theme
Your wedding style or aesthetic is the look or feel you want to create on your wedding day. Some of the basic (and wildly popular) wedding styles include:
- Classic
- Glamorous
- Bohemian
- Rustic
- Beachy
- Vintage
However, it can also be something vague (i.e. relaxed summer get-together) or something highly specific (i.e. enchanted forest wedding). The more you know about your theme, the easier it is to pick your venue.
Know Your Colors
Choosing your wedding style and venue will help you narrow down the second essential component of designing your invitations: choosing your wedding colors.
Technically, you’re building a color palette–a group of three or four colors that will reappear throughout the wedding (or guide the color gradient that will appear throughout the wedding).
A modern wedding, for example, can go bold by choosing bright, rich colors like fuchsia and indigo with white as your base color. A glam wedding can reach for metallics like gold or silver (with rose gold for a dash of romance).
That said, it’s important to keep your season in mind. Light and bright colors work best in spring and summer, while winter weddings look amazing with warm jewel tones.
Wedding Invitation Size
With that in mind, you’re ready to start thinking about invitations. The first step? Consider your wedding invitation dimensions, as this will change the amount of space you have to work with.
The standard wedding invitation size in North America is 5×7 wedding invitations, which work well for most wedding styles. That said, don’t feel constrained by the typical wedding invitation size–a square invitation, for example, can look more modern, while 4×6 wedding invitations are small and sleek.
Best Paper Weight For Wedding Invitations
You might not think that cardstock weight for wedding invitations matters all that much, but it has a surprising impact on the perception of your invitation. It’s also an important consideration for DIY invitations, as this will change whether you can print your invitation at home or whether you need a printer.
When we talk about wedding invitation weight, we’re actually talking about wedding invitation thickness, i.e. the thickness of the paper.
The most important weight consideration for DIY invitations (if you plan to print at home) is the paper weight capabilities of your home printer. Most people use lightweight printer paper at home and so don’t know the maximum weight capacity of their printer.
Most at-home consumer printers can handle a paper weight up to 80 lbs, or possibly 100 lbs, but not all can, so it’s important to double-check your printer. If the paper is too thick, your printer won’t be able to run the paper (and it may damage the cardstock).
As to which paper is heavier, that depends on the scale used to determine weight and density. The simplest approach is to use the European Metric Scale of GSM to determine weight–the higher the number, the thicker the paper (note: this is NOT true of the US/North American paper scale). Learn more about which cardstock weight is best for you here.
Wedding Invitation Paper Types
This is when we get to the fun part: types of paper for wedding invitations.
The fun thing about cardstock for wedding invitations is that the type of paper alone can be telling of the type of wedding you’re going to have.
That said, if you’re looking for printable invitation card stock, don’t go too far off the board–especially if you plan to print at home. Delicate paper may look beautiful, but it may be too hard for your home printer to manage. If you plan on investing in pricey paper, have a printer do it for you so that you can ensure the cardstock comes out looking as fabulous as you dreamed.
Formal
For formal, classic weddings, matte wedding invitations are a great choice, which means matte cardstock for a clean, elegant finish.
If you want to lean into the elegance, don’t be afraid of textured wedding invitations–linen finish cardstock is an excellent option. This type of paper is a cotton blend with a textured, slightly crosshatched surface that resembles real linen, hence the name.
For a more classic look, turn to cotton fiber paper, which is a popular choice for its durability. Plus, the blend used to make the paper makes colored ink appear richer.
Fun
If you’re looking for a fun vibe, whether that’s a whimsical look or a carefree beachy aesthetic, rest assured. You’ll have plenty of options to work with.
A great choice for a whimsical invitation is parchment cardstock, which calls to mind scrolls of olden times.
For a rustic vibe, you can also branch out a bit and give thin chipboard in a warm neutral color a try.
The beauty of modern, fun weddings? You have miles of creative freedom. Don’t be afraid to let it play out in your invitations.
Wedding Invitation Colors
Remember earlier when we said you needed to pick your wedding colors? This is the moment when that early decision comes in handy.
The color of your invitation (or the colors you choose to include on the invitation itself) can say a lot about the style of wedding your guests are in for. Sure, ivory or cream cardstock paired with black or gold lettering is classic, but don’t be afraid to go off the beaten path.
A summertime beach wedding, for example, is the perfect candidate for bright wedding invitations. Coral wedding invitations, anyone? Don’t forget to bring in your accent colors to keep the coral from becoming overwhelming–it looks fantastic with cream and gray, but you can also play up the edginess by pairing it with indigo or navy blue.
For formal but bold invitations, you can also go all in. Navy invitations are increasingly popular for a dash of elegance and non-traditional flair. Deep colors also look fantastic for winter weddings, as do jewel tones–burgundy wedding invitations with gold accents, anyone?
That said, if you love the look of softer, more feminine invitations with a traditional palette, pastel invitations are a great choice for an invitation that’s both romantic and memorable.
Wedding Invitation Envelopes
Last but not least, don’t forget to invest in nice envelopes for wedding invitations.
With that much work invested in the invitation itself, it’s easy to neglect the envelope as an afterthought. However, keep in mind that when these invitations go in the mail, the envelope is the first thing recipients will see.
Traditionally, wedding invitations had both an inner and outer envelope. In ye olden days when snail mail involved a horse and carriage, mail would get beaten up en route, so an outer envelope would keep the inner envelope and invitation looking presentable. Nowadays, the outer envelope typically contains the mailing address, while the inner envelope lists the specific names of who is and is not invited. So an adults-only wedding may have the adults and older teenagers on the inner envelope but not the small children.
The outer envelopes for wedding invitations will have to be larger than the inner envelope wedding invitation, so choose your invitation size first. You’ll have the easiest time finding the right envelopes with standard sizes, like 5×7 wedding invitation envelopes.
Not sure yet about your envelopes? No worries! We have a complete selection of invitation envelopes for even the most exacting taste.
The Perfect Invitations for Your Perfect Day
Your wedding is a day you’ll remember for the rest of your life. It pays to start out on the right note, which means investing in the invitation you’ve been dreaming of.
If you’re looking for the perfect invitation for your perfect day, we’re here to help make your wedding dreams come true. Click here to check out all of our options for paper and cardstock so that you can get your invitations (and your whole wedding) off on the right foot.