Organizing, planning, and executing plans for an event can be a daunting task to face. You need to think of everything from the decorations, food, entertainment, and down to the guests. You need to make sure you account for all aspects and angles to make your event successful. Even small events or gatherings such as birthdays need an intensive attention to detail to make sure you are able to provide what is needed by the host/s and guests.
As mentioned, you need to make sure that there is a high guest turnout to your event to make it successful. That is why you need to provide complete and informative invitation to your guests. It is important that you send your invitations ahead of time and that it contains all essential information about the event to enlighten the guests on what they have to do. In this article, you will learn about the essential elements of an invitation and how to make an effective one.
As you know, the invitation that you provide your guests with will determine the turnout for your event. It needs to provide ample information that will tell the guests about the event, what they need to do, where they need to go, and so on. That means that when creating an invitation you need to be keen and precise; otherwise, your event will have a low guest turnout and become unsuccessful. In relation to this, you need to know what elements you need to include to make an invitation effective. Listed below are some of the essential elements of an event invitation:
1. Name of Event: Birthdays, weddings, grand opening or launching, conferences, and so on are all events. That means you need to specify what type of event your are organizing. You need to clearly indicate the name of your event to help the guests have an idea on what it is for and what is about to happen. For example, when the invitation has the heading Surprise Party, guests will understand that they should not post anything on social media and to be discreet with the information about the party.
2. Host or Celebrant: It is also important to indicate who the host of the event or the celebrant of the party is. In a professional setting, indicating the name of the host is a way of reinforcing brand. On the other hand, on a more personal level, indicating who is celebrating his/her birthday, their engagement, or anniversary allows the guests to know of such important milestone.
3. Date: The date on the invitation should be accurate; otherwise, guests will not be present on the day of the event. Including the date on the invitation allows the guests to block off their schedule for your event. That’s why it is also important to send the invitation at least a week before the event and to follow up on their RSVP.
4. Time: Aside from that date, it is also important to emphasize the time of the event to ensure that the guests can make it in time. This will also help them finalize and adjust their schedules so that they can send a response whether they can attend the event or not.
5. Venue: The venue or location of the event should also be immediately presented on your invitation to ensure that guests know where they need to go. In addition, you can also include a small picture of a map with the specific directions to help make sure that they go to the right venue.
6. Contact Information: Including your contact information on the invitation allows you to take into account the number of people that will attend to event. That’s why it is very common to provide an RSVP card with the invitation so that invited guests can immediately send you a response.
7. Other details: You can also include other details on the invitation such as the event theme, dress code, payment or fee, things to bring, and so on. This allows the guests to prepare for the specifications of your event.
The invitation for your event is the first thing that your guests see, that’s why it is important to set a good first impression. Since it is a representation of what the event is going to be, it should be well made enough for it to perfectly tie every detail regarding your event. As you may have noticed, wedding invitations and birthday invitations are always on theme so that guests can have a clear idea on what they can expect once they attend.
To help you create an amazing yet effective invitation, here is a short and easy guide you can follow:
1. Determine your event theme: Having a theme for your event will not only help you when it comes to creating your invitation but also with other details such as decorations and overall aesthetics of your event. You need to determine what the theme you should utilize for your event to help you choose the layout, design, and illustration that best matches the overall theme.
2. Choose a layout: You also need to choose the layout that you want to follow for your invitation. It is important to decide on this prior the whole creating process so that you already have an idea on how your invitation should look like. You have to consider what layout will make your theme look more alive and realistic. You also need to consider the amount of information you need to include as well as the design you want to incorporate in choosing your invitation layout.
3. Outline the content: Making an outline for the content or texts you wish to include in your party invitation ensures that you are able to include all the necessary details such as the name of the event, name of the host, date, time, venue or location, contact information, and so on. Make sure that you are able to provide information about all the necessary details that will help your guests have a clear idea about your event.
4. Incorporate texts and designs: Once you have decided on your layout and outlined your texts, you can proceed to incorporating the actual event details as well as the final designs on your invitation. Remember to provide only the correct and accurate information and your designs should be related to the theme you have already chosen. For example, when you decide to create a minimalist wedding invitation, make sure you use minimalist designs and illustrations as well as font style and format.
5. Determine invitation material: Once you have incorporated all the necessary details and design, proceed to choosing the best material that will make your invitation pleasant to the eyes. When choosing the material, it is best to choose something that will make your colors pop out and will make your texts visible and clear. Vintage invitations, for example, should use a material that will reflect the nostalgic feels you were aiming for like vintage or antique papers.
6. Proofread and edit: Before you start printing a bunch of your invitations, make sure that there are no errors and mistakes. Proofread the invitation to ensure that there are no inaccuracies with the details you have included, that everything is aligned, etc. Before you print on the paper you have decided to use, you can also print a sample on a cheap paper and edit the layout if you are not satisfied.
Coming up with a design for your invitation can be overwhelming especially since you naturally want it to be perfect. However, it can be easy for you especially when you know what you want in the first place. To help you out, here are some tips you can take inspiration from and refer to during your designing process:
An invitation can come in different shapes and sizes that you prefer. You can have a plain and simple invitation or you can have bedazzled and elegant invitation, whichever you want is completely up to you. Here is a list of invitations styles to help you decided what to use for your own event invitation:
1. Belly Band: A belly band is a decorative element wrapped around your invitation to make sure the papers or cards remain intact. This can be made of fabric, paper, ribbon, or embellishments. You may also see party invitation examples.
2. Debossed and Embossed: When you want your design and other elements pressed onto the paper, you should consider debossing. However, if you want the design and other elements raised or that it stands out, you should go for embossing.
3. Engraved: Engraving can either be etching or engraving texts onto a plate and filling it with ink to be transferred to the paper material you have chosen to use or directly engraving on wood, acrylic, and or paper. The first process is usually time consuming and expensive, meanwhile the other process is the most cost-effective engraving option.
4. Foiled: The design or texts are made into a metal plate, then that metal plate presses and transfers metallic foils on to paper. This is a subtle way of adding bling to your invitations. You may also see event invitation examples.
5. Laser Cut: Laser cutting is an inexpensive method of incorporating unique and custom-made design elements to your invitations. You can incorporate intricate designs to your materials to add a creative factor to your invitations.
6. Letterpress: Similar to debossing, letterpress requires that a plate with the design and ink is created and then transferred on to paper. However, this is the more cost-effective option than debossing or embossing.
7. Offset: In this process, a design/ink using rollers and pressing plates is transferred on to more fragile materials and fine paper. This process allows you to produce a more true-to-color output than digital printing.
8. Screen Printed: To get that hand-painted effect, screen printing is a good process to use. This requires ink to be passed through a stenciled mesh and different colors are passed on to the paper in layers.
9. Thermographed: Thermography is a process where you make a custom design rubber or acrylic self-inking stamp, then it will be dipped in debossing ink and pressed onto the paper. The stamped or inked output on the paper will then be covered with the debossing ink to create a kind of pillow beveled effect. You may also see lunch invitation examples.
10. Blinged-up: You can bling up you invitations by adding embellishments, using fabric, using ribbons, twine, rope, and other crafty materials you would like.
As mentioned, your invitation can come in any shape and size that you want so long as it is able to provide your guests with the necessary information about the event. Here is a list of various invitation sizes that you can choose from: