Wedding invitation styles, themes, concepts, colors, adornments, schemes, extras, and little additions are as common and numerous and substantial as the stars in the night sky. There are thousands of color choices available with today’s modern computer landscape. People are able to specify the exact HEX or RGB color code. People are able to pick out invitations in the shapes of squares, rectangles, circles, pentagons, octagons, trapezoids, cylinders, and more. People are likely to choose the standard square shape, but they should be aware that it costs 13 cents extra to send a square-shaped envelope at the U.S. Post office. Ribbons, bows, streamers, glitter, stickers, wax seals, string, yarn, felt, tactile paper, and other materials like silk, velvet, and leather can be added too. These materials are pretty meaningless in and of themselves, but they can be combined with a solid theme that makes sense. For example, leather can be combined with cowboy Western themes. Streamers and bows are great for royalty themes. Stickers are ideal for evoking images of happiness, sunshine, and fun in the sun. String and yarn are playful and can evoke stories of yore and yesteryear. Some people like pastels, others watercolor, and others like choppy, thick ink or paint to make a point.

Whatever your wedding invitations look like, there is always the decision to go modern or traditional, elegant or cheap, bold or muted, serene or outlandish, peaceful or zany, and so on and so forth, ad infinitum. The most important thing differs, but it should be firmly up to you and your spouse and to no other relatives or interferers.

Wedding invitations don’t cost much, and personalization and customization and humanization are, ironically, more possible than ever before with computer software, web forms, and online ordering. Everything can be changed at the flick of a form and sent to your house vis-a-vis free samples or a full set of all the cards you need for the wedding. Be sure to order extras because your guest list might increase by the time the wedding approaches.

Wedding invitations are some of the most extravagant invitations if you choose for them to be. Or, they can be as dull as a day at home doing nothing. They’re meant to convey a message, to reach out to the guest, and to fill the gap that you can’t provide. Let your wedding invitations speak volumes about you.