You have decided to get married on the beach with sounds of surf in the background. You've picked the date and chosen the perfect setting for your wedding. Beach invitations are the perfect tool for announcing the celebration to your guests. Your goal? To entice friends and family to share your special day with you.
You want to create an invitation so beautiful that your guests will frame it as a memento of your ceremony. Of course, you'll also want to keep an eye on your budget. Did you know that the average couple spends 5% of their wedding budget on invitations? For a $20,000 wedding that's $1000. You don't have to spend that much. Instead of turning the task over to a graphics designer, why not design your own?
At first, it might seem like a challenge. Fortunately, there's no reason to be anxious about it. Many different types of paper, colors and fonts are available to choose from, so you can easily create invitations that display your own style perfectly... and you'll be able to do it without spending too much of your budget. This is your opportunity to be creative, so have fun with it!
Here are some tips to fire up your creativity:
Design Your Invitations Online: If you type "design your own wedding invitations online" into your Internet search engine, you'll be shown a large number of websites that can assist you in creating the invitations for your wedding. Beach invitations are available in a number of ready-made designs which can be customized, or you can begin from scratch. The choice is yours, but both ways are free. There won't be any charge until you have your invitations printed.
Shape and Size of Invitations: You might want your invitations to have a custom shape, such as a palm tree, a sea horse or something else that's related to the beach. Custom shapes are popular, but they do have some shortcomings. The printer will need to specially set up their equipment to cut the paper into the shape you choose, and this will come at an extra cost. You may have additional postage costs, too, because the post office sometimes charges more for oversized or oddly shaped envelopes. If your budget is tight, you are better off staying with square or rectangular invitations.
Images on Invitations: You probably have certain images that come to mind when you think about the beach. Maybe you imagine palm trees standing tall against the sky, sailboats on the horizon or sand dollars dotting the sand. You can include any of these images into your wedding invitation design. You can design a beautiful background by repeating the same image of a dolphin, a sunset, a starfish or a tropical flower. The image on your favorite photograph or painting of a beach can also become part of the design.
Paper choices: What type of paper should you use? 30 to 50 pound card stock is optimal. This is thicker than standard paper so it prints well and resists bending and creasing during mailing. If you are more eco-conscious, opt for recycled paper. Linen and cotton paper are ideal choices if your goal is elegance. Tip: To save money, go with a cotton blend rather than 100% cotton.
Invitation Fonts: You should have a variety of type-styles to choose from on the website you use to design your invitations. You'll want to pick a font that evokes romance, the beach and your personality. Edwardian Script is the name of a popular font that's known for being pleasing to the eye when used on wedding invitations. Fonts named Renaissance and Vivaldi are also good choices.
To make your beach invitations stand out even more, how about including your favorite poem, quote or song lyric? Does your husband or wife-to-be have a favorite expression they repeat often? Include it to give your wedding invitations a warm, personal sparkle that your guests will appreciate and cherish.
BeachWeddingMagic helps couples create their own magical on beach wedding. Visit BeachWeddingMagic.com for tips and advice on wedding beach invitations, cakes, decorations, clothing and much more.
