Traditional wedding invitations are beautiful of course, but they often don’t reflect a couple’s unique personalities. With today’s weddings, you are now free to choose wedding decor and themes that fully reflect the loves and interests of the bride and groom. In the spirit of freedom of expression, I asked our designers to come up with some offbeat wedding invitation designs.
What is offbeat? It’s a word that means unconventional or unusual. Other ways to describe it are quirky, unique, idiosyncratic, unorthodox, alternative, experimental, or novel. Sometimes it might even be described as bizarre and eccentric. Basically, it’s surprising others by doing something they would not expect you to be doing.
A person with an offbeat personality will stand out from the crowd because they will often do things that others wouldn’t do. They don’t follow trends generally. Instead, having a high need for individuality, they follow what they themselves find appealing and are more likely to start trends. In fact, they are often revolutionary in their ideas, are highly creative, and are great at coming up with new concepts. They would not consider customs and traditions to be overly important and they are not afraid of taking risks.
Given the personality traits of an offbeat sort of person, what would you expect their wedding invitations to look like? In general, people expect to receive fairly traditional wedding invitations, regardless of the personalities and tastes of the couple. These invitations often include flowers, ribbons, and elegant script fonts. But these sorts of invitations really don’t make a lot of sense for an offbeat person. While they are beautiful, there is nothing risky or overly individual in their design. When someone receives a unique offbeat wedding invitation, it is often very refreshing, especially if the offbeat invitation design coincides with the known personality of the couple.
Personally, I think more people should consider introducing things they love into their wedding invitation designs and wedding themes and decor. It is your wedding after all and if you want it a certain way, then go for it. An offbeat and unique wedding may be just the thing to make your day very memorable and to share your true personalities with your guests!
So, without further ado, here is a selection of offbeat wedding invitation designs. Perhaps there is a perfect design in here for your wedding.
Offbeat Wedding Invitation Designs
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Pop art comic book wedding invitation: Some people absolutely love 1950’s and 1960’s pop art style. Pop art employs images of popular, rather than elitist culture in art. Using irony, parody, and often times humor, it emphasizes banal or kitschy elements of any given society such as that found in advertising, comic books and mundane cultural objects (think Andy Warhol Campbell’s soup can). The key characteristics of pop art include: recognizable imagery (popular media and products), usually very bright colors, flat imagery (like those seen in comic books and newspaper photographs), and images of celebrities.
In the spirit of pop art style, for my offbeat wedding invitation, I created this pop art comic book (comic strip) style wedding invitation in bright, fun colors. Like a lot of pop art style, it’s meant to be having a little bit of fun at the expense of some of the hyperbole that surrounds romantic love in our culture.
- Octopus wedding invitation: Now, many couples are opting for tropical island destination weddings these days. But how many are considering using a fun invitation like this one from OddLotPaperie? How fun and unique is it to use this destination wedding invitation featuring octopus tentacles!? I also love the vintage feel. In a way, it’s a bit like a pop art style too and reminiscent of old pulp fiction novel covers. So, if you’re a couple that are octopus fans, maybe this is just the right invitation for your offbeat destination wedding.
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Halloween sugar skulls invitation: Halloween weddings in general are very offbeat and unconventional. Sugar skulls on wedding invitations are even more so. Most people don’t associate Halloween or skulls with weddings, but for certain couples it is perfect for them. If you realize that, for the most part, Halloween and the Day of the Dead (sugar skulls) remind us to live life and love each other to the fullest because life is short and we don’t get a second chance at it, then you can see how these can be incorporated into a wedding celebration. In my mind, Halloween and the Day of the Dead are both a celebration of life… a fearless attitude towards the things that people fear. A marriage requires a fearless commitment to another person and an optimistic view of the future and an ability to overcome challenges. In my opinion anyway.
If these are things that interest you, you might like this offbeat Halloween sugar skulls wedding invitation design by ThePaperMill.
- Smartphone chalkboard wedding invitation: Sometimes offbeat is also just a bit bizarre. Mix and match trendy styles and odd things and you’ve got yourself an offbeat idea. In this invitation, NiteOwlStudio has mixed a trendy, yet vintage style chalkboard design with cute little cartoon his and her hipster style smartphones or cellphones. It’s cute and fun. Fun for quirky hipsters and geeks.
- Pagan celtic handfasting wedding invitation:
Sometimes people choose to return to very traditional roots when choosing their wedding theme. In some cases, people are returning to ideas from history and having what are called modern pagan (neopaganism, wicca) handfasting ceremonies. These ideas are rooted in pre-christian folklore. Handfasting weddings often contain elements of celtic design, such as celtic knots and crosses.
If you’re a couple that is interested in a pagan handfasting wedding, then this celtic cross handfasting wedding invitation by TheEdgeWeddings might be of interest to you.
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Special event poster wedding invitation: Special event posters are often beautifully designed. They are full of bold fonts, beautiful images, and really draw your eye. That’s the idea after all. To get your attention. Some offbeat couples might love a wedding invitation design made to look like an event poster. It’s your way to shine! Definitely doesn’t look like a traditional wedding invitation.
This event poster style wedding invitation by StarStreamDesign is gorgeous! During the age of the selfie, it is fun to have a wedding invitation that features a photo of the couple as well.
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Glamping or camping outdoor wedding invitation: Some couples are just huge fans of the outdoors and camping. You’ll find these couples hiking in the mountains or the forest every chance they get. They might even enjoy hunting, fishing, and mountaineering. If your idea of an awesome weekend includes back-country camping, white water rafting, and/or hanging by a campfire eating toasted marshmallows, then a wedding theme around your passions might just be a great idea. Lots of camps and campgrounds actually have pretty decent facilities to host a camping or glamping (glamorous camping) wedding. Some of these facilities are even quite luxurious in a rustic way. This idea is offbeat because most people think of luxury and elegance when it comes to weddings. However, a wedding at a camp can become a great fun-filled weekend full of activities such as hiking, biking, swimming, and brushing up on your survival skills.
If you’re thinking of having an offbeat camping themed wedding, then this woodsy camping or glamping wedding invitation design from TheSpottedOlive might be of interest to you.
- Cartoon animal wedding invitations: People are animal lovers and they often love cartoon animals just as much, if not more. So, an offbeat sort of couple might choose a whimsical cartoon animal wedding invitation like the ones shown here featuring cartoon cats, owls, and monkeys.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this selection of offbeat wedding invitations. Although these may not be to your particular tastes, I highly encourage you to add some individualized touches to your wedding. Even if you choose to go with a mostly traditional wedding, you can always still add small unique touches to your wedding decor to make the event even more special.
About Shannon
Shannon is a graphic designer for Wasootch, a special occasion stationery and gift shop that specializes in unique and affordable wedding and bridal shower stationery. Interested in Shannon's designs? Check out her shop on Zazzle, her shop on Etsy or check out her designs on her new partner website Lemon Leaf Prints.