Does that invite even look inviting?

Wedding invitations shouldn't make you think of a child's birthday party! (And is Hudson twining 4?)

I'm a font junky.

There, I said it. I have a weird addiction. Everything I read - and I mean EVERYTHING - runs through my internal font filter before my brain even finishes reading the words for their meaning and context. Thoughts like: "Ooo, that's nice. I wonder what it's called and where I can get it?" "Why on earth did they choose that font?" "I love the way they mixed those font choices together!" "Really? That font? On a billboard where people have 3 seconds to read it?"

"Yes, it's beautiful but do they realize how much work it's causing my eyes and brain?"

"Perfect font choice! Well done!" "I'm familiar with TLDR (too long didn't read) but this is a WFCR (wrong font couldn't read.)"

Yes, it's noisy in my head sometimes!

{Insert technical nerd stuff here.} Did you know that there are over half a million fonts in the world? So obviously I'm not the only one who appreciates the vast variety of typefaces. In fact, there's even a font psychology - the study of how different typefaces impact human emotions and perception - something that [good] advertisers use well. Fonts are a visual element; just as important as graphics and images. {Nerd stuff ends.}

What on earth does this have to do with wedding invitations? EVERYTHING!

Just because a font is swirly and evokes feelings of romance does not mean it belongs on a Save the Date, Invitation, RSVP card or any other part of your stationery suite. Not all handwritten, calligraphy or brush fonts are created equal.

Case in point. I was redesigning a website for a friend recently and one of the ways she wanted it updated was the font choice. Just like color schemes or clothing styles, fonts can "date" a website. While she was playing around on Pinterest, she came across this beautifully feminine font, advertised as one of the "fonts of the year." And she loved it and asked me to use it.

I downloaded it and started working on the different pages, only to find that her beautiful font worked when it was used for one or two words as a header. When I used it in a paragraph, the text was barely legible - unless you zoomed in to 300%! And since most websites for businesses like hair salons are viewed on mobile devices, that wasn't an option at all.

This can also translate to those online invitation templates. Just because a graphic designer put the template together, doesn't mean you should assume their font choices are perfect. Same rule of thumb as the website - if you have to zoom in to read the words on the template because of the font, imagine what it would look like printed on an invitation where you can only zoom in by using your mom's trifocals.

To their credit, a lot of the modern invitations that have minimal imagery or none at all, use clean sans serif fonts that are a lot easier to read - like this one. Your eye doesn't have to strain because letters look the way your modern brain expects them to. But have you ever tried to read the Declaration of Independence?

Unless you work with those kinds of documents every day, your eyes really struggle to make sense of all the squiggles. Why? Because we don't write like that anymore.

Actually, how many of us write at all? My youngest son graduated high school a couple of years ago and, through 12 years of schooling, he'd had less than a year of formal training in longhand cursive. Yikes! But then his world communicates through a keyboard. Apart from his signature - and Adobe will create one of those for you too - or being able to read handwritten letters from his mom, I guess it doesn't really matter anyway. But there's no reason for us to replace bad penmanship with bad font choices.

When I'm designing for customers, here are some things I'm always thinking about:

• Do I have it saved in my Preferred Fonts folder? (Yes, I have one of those!)

• Does the font "fit" the theme of their layout? (e.g. a newspaper with headlines in the infamous Walt Disney font! Newspaper reporters don't want you to be thinking about Mickey Mouse when you're reading their report on a murder investigation.)

• If I'm using a script-type font, does it work for both the larger focal points, like the names, and the smaller ones? (e.g. "Dick & Jane" vs. "You're invited to the wedding of")

• If I'm using more than one font (since script-type fonts rarely look good in all sizes), does the simpler font feel complementary? Or are they fighting against each other?

• If I'm using a script-type font, do the number options in that font read as well as the letters? (e.g. Saturday, May 30 - what does the 3 and the zero look like? Most script-type fonts are created for letters, so usually I need to use a different font for the numbers.)

My friend with the website redesign project trusted me enough to not insist on using the font she'd found online. And my hope for all of my customers is that, with my love for all things font and 20+ years of experience, they can trust me with the font choices I make for their stationery.

The perfect font can be a beautiful thing. And your wedding stationery should be a beautiful thing.

If you're not 100% satisfied with the look of your DIY invitations (web template or otherwise), contact me for a free evaluation ... and I'll give you 25% off the cost to redesign it.

Because I love weddings and I love font.

Because I'm the Bride's Secretary: the wedding gift you give yourself!