25 Creative & Unique Wedding Invitations for your 2019 Shaadi

Maroon and gold.

Rectangular envelope.

Open it up and find separate inserts for Mehndi, Sangeet, Wedding.

Does this sum up the standard Indian wedding card?

Considering how many weddings take place in India each year, it’s no surprise there are invitation card templates ready to pick for most types of Indian weddings. But what if standard is not your style?

If you’re a millenial bride or groom, you are looking for unique wedding invitations and thanks to some talented Indian designers, you have a sizeable number of creative options to pick from!

We looked at over 200 invitation cards and picked the most creative & unique wedding invitation designs that don’t compromise on the beauty of the invite (because, you know, some “creative” cards don’t look good!)

1. A Fun Lift-The-Flap Card Design!

Instead of separate inserts, these invites pack in the information of every function into a single card in a playful way – guests have to lift-the-flap to reveal what’s inside!

This card even had sketches related to the function under each flap!

2. Surprise the Guests with A Pop Up Element

Pop-up cards are fun for everyone and adding this element to your wedding invite makes it playful and unique! This Thailand destination wedding card had a pop-up fan making a reference to the location.

ALSO SEE: The Best Save The Date Invites for Indian Weddings

3. Quirky Playing Cards

We loved how the right colours and design were used to come up with a beautiful playing card set. This innovative wedding card replaced the King & Queen with the Bride & Groom in the appropriate attire for each function! So the groom’s in a safa for the Wedding insert while he’s wearing a pair of sunglasses on the Pool Party insert. The other side of the “playing card” inserts had Function Details.

4. Super Fun Invite Wordings in a Trending Theme

Geometric botanicals – the card’s theme itself is a combination of two hot trends in the wedding world. Add to that the casual, fun tone with things like “Wedding – that moment when you realise it’s too late to run!” and “Dress Code Is Very Simple – Just Keep Your Clothes On!” – and this is the perfect creative wedding invitation wording for friends!

5. Honest & Funny Wedding Invitation!

This card is playfully worded with “Shit Just Got Real” and “Doomsday has arrived” phrases sprinkled all over! It’s perfect if you want a creative wedding card to send to your friends that will make them laugh 🙂

6. Cute Sketches of Bride & Groom

Sketches are an elegant option if you don’t want funny caricatures.

This Swati Katyal design combines sketches with cute illustrations to give it a truly unique look for an Indian invitation card!

7. Gorgeous Photos for a Unique Wedding Card!

To be honest, photos in wedding invitations often end up looking “overly personalised”. But if you have photos that look like they came out of a magazine’s pages, go ahead and make your unique photo invite! You just have to look at the card below to see what we mean –

8. Text Is The Design Element

While everyone’s adding bold patterns and bright colours, you can go the other way and make the text the main design element! The right font and backdrop are important to get this right, and we loved this Inskedge invite for the nice balance it created to pull this off.

9. Rustic Meets Modern

Here’s another card that’s all about the clever use of the right font to create a unique wedding invitation design. The burlap and lace add a touch of rustic to what is an otherwise modern invite!

BONUS! Our Guide on How to Word your Reception, Sangeet & Other Functions Invites

10. Art Deco Theme

From the era of the Great Gatsby, this theme looks stunning in a wedding invite.

11. Modern Take on Peacocks

There’s nothing new about using Peacocks in an Indian wedding card, but these invites give the traditional Peacock a modern twist. It’s an updated look and it’s making us wonder how many other invitation cards are out there that give a modern feel to conventional Indian elements!

12. Simple Yet Elegant Jewellery Design

If you’re the bride, you might like this simple yet unique Jaipur-inspired wedding invite design. The jewellery highlighted with a hint of gold makes it a unique wedding invitation.

13. Location As A Theme

You can also recreate your wedding destination on your card.

Like how this designer took Jaipur’s traditional handicrafts and Indigo love to create a beautifully unique Indian wedding invitation –

Or how this designer literally recreated the Sringeri Temple in Karnataka for this pastel and gold card –

14. His & Her – Similar Designs for Bride & Groom!

Sometimes, couples go to the same invitation card designer and get two different versions of the same card made! This couple had a His & Her suite made by Pretty Gilded Design that includes a floral & blush version for the bride and a navy version for the Pilot groom!

15. Fold-Out Card

You don’t always need to go for a standard jacket with 3 inserts. Sometimes, you can choose a fold out card that has a watercolour interpretation of your Beach wedding and wow your guests!

16. Boarding Passes for your Destination Wedding

While this is a common suggestion for destination weddings, we loved how these two boarding pass designs were unconventional with an interesting look!

17. Short Weekend Getaway for A Destination Wedding

So, your destination wedding is a short weekend getaway for your guests. Give them a pass like this with all the details on a single insert. What’s not to love?

18. Postcards

Send them postcards and tempt them to join you in all the fun at your destination wedding!

19. Trendy Clear Acrylic Invite!

Acrylic has become a major trend at Indian weddings this past year (mostly in decor), and this wedding invitation uses it beautifully as the insert material.

20. Puzzle Pun

We loved how fun this invite is! The bride and groom asked their guests to put together a puzzle – and that’s how they will see the final invite!

“As our children join their lives together, you’re requested to be a part of the celebration by joining together these pieces of the invitation card.”  The parents added meaning to why they used a puzzle with that note.

It’s also a good idea to also send a Program Card that holds together all the crucial information so that the guests can have the practical details on a handy sheet, once they’re done having fun with the puzzle.

21. Plant the Page!

Eco-friendly weddings are another trend that we’re happy seeing Indian couples adopt. While e-vites are the easiest way to go eco-friendly, sometimes you just need to do printed wedding invitations. If that’s the case, you can opt for paper that’s embedded with seeds. These can be planted by the guests after your wedding.

Don’t forget to include a note that gives guests detailed instructions on how to plant the paper:

“These are handmade papers embedded with marigold/basil seeds.

Method for using card paper – 

Fill your pot 2/3 full with good potting soil. Take your plantable paper and cover the soil in the prepared pot with the paper. Spread a 1/8 to 1/4 inch layer of soil over the plantable paper pieces and tamp down gently. After planting the paper in your pot, give it a good soak. You want the paper and the soil to be nicely damp. Keep the paper moist at all times, the water is necessary for germination.”

22. Lasercut Layers

Spin a fairytale, similar to the concept of a shadowbox invite, with these innovative wedding invitations. They use the lasercut method to incorporate beautiful elements to the invite.

23. Flower Shaped Invite

This gorgeous beauty was created in the shape of a flower and was made even more beautiful with pastel shades and hot foiling & embossing. In order to fit the inserts seamlessly within the flower, they were designed in a similar octagonal shape.

24. Super Unique Invite: In The Form Of A Book!

If you’re book nerds, consider getting an invite made in the shape of a novel. This is as unique as it gets!

We also loved the designer incorporated florals in the invite.

25. Doubles Up As A Childhood Game

If you have a board game you loved as a kid, can you add it to your shaadi ka card? Simran Monga, the invite designer behind this innovative concept, says yes! She created a playful wedding invitation for her sister, where you can flip the invitation box to reveal the game of Ludo. Of course, she included dice and tokens.

While these are entire cards based around creative ideas, there are smaller ways in which you can make even your basic wedding invite interesting – 12 easy ways to make your wedding invitation stand out!

Which creative wedding invitation did you like the most?