Custom Wedding Invitations

What Custom Wedding Invitations Are

Custom wedding invitations are 5x7 folded or flat cards with the couple's engagement photo restyled as art on the front and full invitation copy (couple names, date, ceremony venue, reception venue, dress code, RSVP-by date, website URL) on the inside or back. The product sits between two adjacent options in the wedding-stationery market: traditional invitation suites from boutique stationers ($800–$2,500 for 100 invitations) and templated photo-card invitations from mass-market printers ($150–$300 for 100 invitations).

PhotoCardMagic's bulk pricing tier — $4.99 per invitation at 5+, $3.99 at 25+, $2.99 at 100+ — makes AI-restyled photo invitations economical at typical 80–150-guest wedding scale. A 100-invitation order with pre-addressed envelopes runs $349 ($299 for invitations + $50 for envelopes), placing the product cleanly between mass-market templated options and boutique custom stationery.

When to Order

The wedding-invitation calendar has standard expectations that vary by wedding type:

• In-town weddings. Send invitations 6–8 weeks before the wedding date.
• Destination weddings. Send 8–12 weeks before, sometimes earlier — guests need time to book travel and accommodations.
• Local weddings with simple guest logistics. 4–6 weeks acceptable, but 6 is the safer default.

Order PhotoCardMagic invitations 2–3 weeks before the send date to allow for printing (5–10 business days for orders of 100+) and your own assembly time (envelope stuffing, return-address labeling if not pre-addressed, postage application). For destination weddings sent 12 weeks out, order 14–15 weeks before the wedding.

Picking the Right Style

The wedding-invitation style decision is more constrained than other wedding-card decisions because the invitation has to set the visual tone for the entire wedding. Three styles work; the rest don't:

Watercolor — the most-ordered wedding invitation style. Hand-painted florals (peonies, eucalyptus, ranunculus, garden roses) around the engagement photo. The editorial finish reads as design-conscious without being explicitly themed. Right for weddings with floral elements in the actual decor (almost all weddings).

Watercolor — soft watercolor wash around the engagement photo. Universal across wedding aesthetics. Right when the couple's wedding aesthetic is undefined or when you want maximum-broadly-acceptable invitation styling.

Oil Painting — old-master rendering of the engagement photo. Right for traditional weddings, formal venues (estates, ballrooms, historic churches), and weddings with classical aesthetic frames. Less common than Watercolor but reads as appropriately formal in the right context.

What does not work for wedding invitations: Pop Art, Comic Book Hero, Caricature, Pop Art, Action Figure, Yearbook 90s, Anime, Photorealistic. The comedic styles read tonally wrong; Photorealistic reads as casual rather than invitation-formal. Pencil Sketch is the under-recommended alternative for couples with editorial-modern weddings (industrial venues, minimalist aesthetics).

The Invitation Suite — Save-the-Date, Invitation, Thank-You

Most weddings send three coordinated cards across the wedding lifecycle:

1. Save-the-Date — sent 6–8 months before the wedding (8–12 for destination). Engagement photo restyled in chosen style. See /gifts/save-the-date-cards.
2. Wedding Invitation — sent 6–8 weeks before. Same engagement photo, same style, full invitation copy on the inside.
3. Thank-You Card — sent within 3 months after the wedding. Wedding photo (different from engagement photo), same style. See /gifts/wedding-photo-cards.

The same source photo and style across all three cards creates a coherent visual story. PhotoCardMagic lets you order all three from the same source photo and style for consistency. The combined cost for a 100-guest wedding (100 save-the-dates + 100 invitations + 100 thank-yous) at bulk pricing: ~$900 plus $150 for pre-addressed envelopes across all three orders. Boutique stationers typically charge $2,500–$5,000 for the same suite.

Inside Copy for Wedding Invitations

Up to 800 characters of inside copy supported on PhotoCardMagic wedding invitations. Standard wedding invitation copy includes:

• Hosts line — "Mr. and Mrs. [Bride's Parents]" or "Together with their families" for couples-led weddings.
• Request line — "Request the honor of your presence" (formal, for religious ceremonies) or "Request the pleasure of your company" (less formal).
• Couple's names — both partners' full names. Order varies by tradition; bride first is conventional, but contemporary weddings often list alphabetically or by length-balance.
• Date and time — fully spelled out for formal weddings ("Saturday, the fifteenth of September, two thousand twenty-six, at half past four o'clock"); numerical acceptable for less formal weddings.
• Venue — ceremony venue full name and address. Reception venue if different from ceremony.
• Dress code — black tie, cocktail attire, beach formal, etc. Optional but recommended.
• RSVP information — RSVP-by date and method (response card enclosed, wedding website URL, or email).

For destination weddings, include accommodation and travel logistics on the inside or include a separate insert card with the bulk invitation order.

Bulk Order Logistics

A typical 100-guest wedding orders 80–120 invitations (slightly more than guest count to account for keepsake copies and recipient errors). The PhotoCardMagic bulk workflow:

1. Pick the source photo. A favorite engagement photo, wedding photo from another shoot, or recent couples photo. Avoid casual phone snapshots; the strongest invitation source photos are professional engagement-shoot photos.
2. Pick the style. Watercolor (most ordered), Watercolor, or Oil Painting.
3. Generate a free preview. First three previews are free.
4. Write the inside copy. Up to 800 characters. Match the formality to the wedding (formal weddings use spelled-out date/time; less formal weddings use numerical).
5. Upload the guest list CSV. For pre-addressed envelopes ($0.50 each). Verify the list 2 weeks before placing the order.
6. Pick quantity and shipping. 100+ invitations at $2.99 each. Standard US shipping for orders over $40.

Production takes 5–10 business days for orders of 100+. Plan accordingly to hit the 6–8 week pre-wedding send window.