Your Wedding Invitations are arguably the most important piece of stationery you'll choose. This is the piece of paper that makes everything feel real. You not only have a fiancé or fiancée — you now have a wedding date, a venue, and the documents to prove it. Now it’s time to invite guests to share in your love.
So onto the next question: Does size matter? Today’s wedding invitations come in a variety of shapes and styles, so it’s only natural that there are some differences in sizing as well. Here’s what you need to know about choosing Invites and how size comes into play.
Top Wedding Invitation Sizes
Wedding Invitations can come in a variety of sizes to match the aesthetic you’re going for. Our most popular Invitations come in all sizes to ensure you have extra versatility when deciding on the perfect Invites. When ordering, you can see all the sizes that specific Invitation comes in.
Rectangle Invitations
Rectangle Invitations exude simplicity and elegance thanks to a streamlined design that avoids frills and frippery in favor of clean lines and straightforward designs. These Invites consist of one sheet of paper, and most allow you to include text, graphics or a QR code on the front and back.
Shaped Invitations
Shaped Invitations are rectangle Invites with a little added pizzazz in the form of curved or flared sides. Some Invitations take on a bracket-like shape, with points at the mid-line on each side and rounded corners. Others are more subtle, sticking to just the rounded corners for a soft, elegant look that’s the perfect complement for romantic Invitation templates.
Pocket Invitations
Step up the sophistication with Pocket Invitations. These Invites feature a nested design — when guests open the folded outer Invitation, they’ll find your wedding details inside as well as a pocket that holds your enclosures. Tuck in an RSVP card, directions to your ceremony and reception venues, details about your ceremony, or whatever else you need to show. It’s sleek, it’s organized, and it looks quite impressive.
All-in-One Invitations
All-in-One Invitations combine all your Invite essentials into one fully integrated piece of stationery. The envelope is also the Invitation, so that when guests receive and open their mail, it unfolds to reveal your wedding details inside. The vertical display usually includes a detachable RSVP card at the bottom, too. All guests have to do is detach the card, fill out their information, and mail it back to you. All-in-One Invites provide a lot of bang for your buck because you’re getting multiple must-have items in one convenient package.
A quick guide to the best Wedding Invitation sizes
Traditional rectangular Wedding Invitations measure 5” x 7”. That size follows USPS standards for general mail, meaning you’ll pay the base rate for stamps without incurring extra charges that often accompany non-traditional package sizes.
In addition to that traditional rectangle, there are shaped Invitations like bracket Invites that are happily breaking the mold. Luckily, even these shaped designs come in at roughly 5” x 7”, so they’ll still fit in a standard envelope.
Once you start exploring more complex Wedding Invitation styles, you’ll see that additional elements often mean additional inches. Pocket Invites at MagnetStreet measure 5” x 7.875” to accommodate the pocket and enclosure cards, though some are a little smaller at 5” x 7.25”. As for All-in-One Invitations, they typically measure 6” x 4.5” when folded up, but they’re much longer when unfurled to reveal the fully printed Invite inside.
If you’re concerned about sizing as it relates to mailing costs, check with your local post office to see what the current guidelines are for envelope sizing and what constitutes oversized mail — and therefore commands an additional stamp or postage fee. Bring a fully assembled invitation (including an envelope) with you for the most accurate estimate.
A few extra Wedding Invitation tips to help you as you plan
Before you go, here are a few suggestions, pro tips, and guidelines to help you master not just your Wedding Invitations but the planning process in general.
Embrace customization
One of the biggest benefits of ordering your Wedding Invitations online with Truly Engaging is that you have the opportunity to tweak a beautifully crafted template and add your own personal twists. You can change the color or style of the text, add a text block of your own, change the color of certain graphics or the Invite’s background, or add foil embellishments that seriously amp up the glam factor.
While it’s 100% acceptable to fall in love with a template as is, only making changes to the filler text as needed, don’t be afraid to experiment. Take a few moments (or a few days) to play around. You might be surprised to discover what you actually like — and what you can create given a solid foundation and a user-friendly editor. And if you still can’t get what you want within the editing tool, you can always request changes with no additional fee.
Don’t send your Wedding Invitations too early… or too late
Timing is an important part of wedding planning, especially when buying and mailing your Wedding Invitations. Download and print a wedding planning checklist and refer back often to make sure you’re on schedule. You should get serious about browsing Invite designs about eight to nine months before your wedding. A month later, order your custom wedding samples, confirm the design, and place your full order. You should mail the actual invitations about two to three months before your wedding date. That gives guests enough time to make plans, but it’s also close enough to the big day that it’s less likely guests will encounter big changes (ex: a surprise move, a new job) that could change their minds.
Spend some time perfecting your Wedding Invitation wording
Even with dozens of professionally designed templates at your disposal, it can be difficult to come up with the right Wedding Invitation wording on your own. There are certain things you should always include, such as your names, your wedding date and time, venue information, and, of course, the names and addresses of the recipients. But how you choose to write the invitation itself matters too. Some people like to follow tradition, sending the invite as if it was written and mailed by the bride’s parents. A more modern approach sees the invitation coming from the couple themselves with the wording to match.
Check with reliable sources if you have questions about specific issues such as military titles and the correct way to address professionals such as doctors or clergy. But remember, intent matters a great deal. If you make a mistake, most people won’t care. They’ll just be happy to be invited to share in your celebration.
Consider having someone else address your Wedding Invitations
Why spend money ordering gorgeous Wedding Invitations and skimp on the way those invites are addressed? If you have nice handwriting or want to study calligraphy while you plan your wedding, by all means, do the addressing yourself. But keep in mind that it can take a long time to address 50 envelopes. Now imagine if your guest count is in the hundreds. If you’re not careful, it’s a recipe for hand cramps and lousy legibility.
Instead, check with your wedding stationery company to see if they provide printed addressing as an add-on service (MagnetStreet offers this service in an extensive collection of designs). It’s generally pretty affordable, and you can use the extra time you’re saving to concentrate on wedding tasks only you can do. Instead of handwriting dozens of addresses, you simply upload your information in a spreadsheet or other approved format and you’re on your way.
Imagine how impressed guests will be when they receive your invitation and the first thing they see is gorgeous professional calligraphy or a stunning font printed in bold, well-saturated color.
Proof, proof, and then proof again
There’s a scene in My Big Fat Greek Wedding where the conservative mother of the groom admits that the parents of the bride — a Greek couple all about festive celebrations and tradition — misspelled her name on the Wedding Invitations. Instead of Harriet, she’s listed as Harry. Hilarious when you’re watching it unfold on the big screen. Not so funny if you accidentally do the same thing to your own future mother-in-law.
Before you send your Wedding Invitations off to be printed, make one last proof. Then proof it again. Read the text out loud and ask a friend or two to do their own proofreading pass just to be sure. Chances are, you won’t have the time or the leeway in your budget to do a full reprint if a typo escapes notice and winds up in the final cut, so be extra sure before you hit “approve.”
Also fact check:
- The name and address of your venue or venues
- The start times for your ceremony and reception
- Your wedding website URL (if applicable)
Order a few extra Invitations and envelopes
No matter how meticulous you are, you may forget to include someone important on your guest list. You may accidentally spill coffee on one of your Invites. You may lose one to the intricacies of the USPS or because you sent it to your ex-boss’s old address not realizing they recently moved. Having a few extra Invitations and envelopes handy makes it easy to recover from accidents and mistakes.
In the end, sizing isn’t as big a factor as you may think. MagnetStreet’s templates are all available in various sizes so you’re sure to find the appropriate Invitation for your big day. All you have to worry about is finding a design you love and making a few tweaks to suit your vision, then let our experts do the rest.
Eager to see what your dream Invite looks like in person? Order a free sample to experience MagnetStreet design and quality firsthand.