When designing your rehearsal party invitations, there are a few key design elements that you’ll need to consider. Read on for all you need to know.
Last updated February 5, 2024
Your wedding day is one of the more important days of your life. But most nuptials extend beyond the wedding ceremony and reception to include a variety of wedding-related events—including the rehearsal dinner.
If you’re planning a rehearsal dinner, you’ll need to send invitations to tell your guests everything that they need to know about the event.
Let’s take a look at everything you need to know about wedding rehearsal dinner invitations—including everything you’ll want to consider during the design process, the key information to include on your invites, and a few ideas to inspire your invitation design.
When you’re creating the invites for your rehearsal dinner, there are a few main elements that you’ll need to consider, including:
Most invitations are printed on paper. But “paper” is a broad term; depending on the look, feel, and style you want to capture with your invitation, there are a variety of invitation paper options.
So, what, exactly, are those options? Some of the more popular paper options include:
Once you’ve picked the paper for your invitations, there’s one more material that you’ll want to consider—and that’s foil.
Foil stamping transfers metallic and/or pigmented foil onto your invites, generally in the form of text or a design (for example, a tree or floral design). Do you want your invites to have some extra shine and just a hint of glam? Foil is an excellent way to up that shine and glam factor.
Once you’ve nailed down the materials for your invitations, you’ll want to move on to the design process. And one of the first things you’ll want to consider with your design is the invitation’s design orientation.
There are two design orientations to choose from: a landscape orientation, which is wider than it is tall, or a portrait orientation, which has more length than width. There’s no “better” orientation, whichever you choose will work with a variety of designs. The best thing that you can do is see which invitation design you gravitate towards—and then select your orientation accordingly.
Next up on the rehearsal dinner invitation to-do list is color.
There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to choosing the color for your invitations. Want to feature your wedding colors in your invitation design? Go for it. Want to design your invitations around you and your partner’s favorite colors? Have fun. Want to choose a color scheme that matches the theme of your rehearsal dinner (for example, a black, gold, and silver color scheme for a Gatsby-inspired soiree)? Knock yourself out!
The point is, when it comes to colors, the sky’s the limit—so, have fun with your invitation’s color palette and go with whatever colors feel like the right fit for you and your partner.
All of these individual design elements are important. But what’s more important? How all of those elements come together in your final rehearsal dinner invitation design.
As you’re designing your invitation, make sure that you’re considering what overall design aesthetic you’re going for. For example, do you want to create something timeless and traditional—or are you going for a more modern look? Do you want your invites to feel soft and delicate—or is the overall look you’re going for more bold?
Defining the design aesthetic you want to capture in your final invitation will help guide your decisions throughout the design process—and make sure that each individual design element aligns with your vision for your invitation.
The different design elements will create the overall look and feel of your rehearsal dinner invitations, and that’s important! But, when it comes down to it, your invitations are meant to deliver all the key details about your rehearsal dinner to your guests—so it’s even more important to make sure that your invitations include all of those details.
So, what details do you need to feature on your invitations? Your rehearsal dinner invitations should include:
When it’s time to actually go through the rehearsal dinner invitation process, you have two options: you can either hire a designer to create a custom design, or use a pre-designed invitation template and create your invite yourself.
If, for whatever reason, you’re determined to have a one-of-a-kind design and opt for sending custom rehearsal dinner invitations, you can definitely go with the designer option. But working with an independent designer can be both time-consuming and expensive, which can eat into your wedding budget.
That’s why so many couples go with a pre-designed invitation template. With the template option, you can get a beautiful invitation design for your rehearsal dinner, without the added time or cost of working one-on-one with a designer. Plus, it’s easy; all you have to do is choose a template that matches your design style, add in the details for your rehearsal dinner invitation, and you’re done! (Looking for the perfect template for your wedding rehearsal dinner invitation? We’ve got it for you! Zola has hundreds of invitation templates to choose from; no matter what you’re looking for, we’ve got you covered!)
You’ve designed the perfect rehearsal dinner invitation. The invitations are ready to go. So, the question is when, exactly, do they need to go? Or, in other words, when do you need to send out your rehearsal dinner invitations?
When you send out your rehearsal dinner invitations will, at least partially, depend on the kind of rehearsal dinner you’re throwing. For example, if you’re throwing a big backyard BBQ that’s open to all your wedding guests, you’ll want to get invitations out well ahead of time to give people plenty of time to get the event on their calendars. On the other hand, if you’re keeping your rehearsal strictly to your wedding party and immediate family, they’ll likely know to set aside the day before your wedding for the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner—so that you don’t necessarily have to get them out as far in advance.
As a general rule of thumb, the sooner you can send out your rehearsal dinner invitations, the better—but at a minimum, give your dinner guests at least a month’s notice.
Still not sure what kind of look you want to capture with your rehearsal dinner invitations? Let’s take a look at a few different styles you might want to consider for your invites.
When you’re choosing your rehearsal dinner invitation, there’s no need to reinvent the wheel; sometimes, a classic design (for example, classic fonts, a neutral color palette, and traditional design accents, such as flowers) is the way to go.
If you want to do something less classic for your rehearsal dinner invites, a modern invitation design—with bolder colors, shape, and design accents—might be the style that you’re looking for.
Modern invitation examples:
Is your rehearsal dinner going to be an upscale, fancy soiree? Then going with a more glamorous invitation design (think sparkle, elaborate fonts, and a major WOW factor) would feel on-theme for your event.
Glamorous invitation examples:
When it comes to invitation design, sometimes less is more, and if that rings true for you, then a minimalist design could be the right look for your rehearsal dinner invitations.
Minimalist invitation examples:
Your rehearsal dinner is a special part of your wedding weekend. And now that you know everything there is to know about rehearsal dinner invitations, all that’s left to do is get out there and design an invitation that looks as unique as your rehearsal dinner is sure to be.
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