How to Create a Botanical Wedding Invite in InDesign
Romantic botanical styles are one of our favorite wedding stationery trends here at InDesignSkills.
But there’s no need to splash out on expensive invites when you can create your own in InDesign, and have them printed cheaply through a POD (print-on-demand) site.
So save those precious wedding pennies, and follow this tutorial on how to create your own nature-inspired invitations.
What You’ll Need to Create Your Invite
To create the design pictured here you’ll need to download the following image and font files:
As well as access to Adobe InDesign you’ll also need to have access to vector software like Adobe Illustrator or Inkscape for editing the olive leaf graphics.
1. How to Set Up Your Invite Document in InDesign
Step 1
Open InDesign and click on Create New (or go to File > New > Document).
Click on Print at the top of the New Document window. Switch the Units to Inches, and set the Width of the page to 5 in and Height to 7 in.
Add a Bleed of 0.125 in, and click Create.
Step 2
Expand the Layers panel (Window > Layers) and double-click on the Layer 1 name. Rename it as Background and click OK.
Choose New Layer from the panel’s top-right drop-down menu. Name this layer Leaves and click OK. Create two more layers—first, Type Border, and, finally, Type at the top of the sequence.
Lock all layers except Background, which we’ll work on first.
Step 3
Expand the Swatches panel (Window > Color > Swatches) and choose New Color Swatch from the panel’s menu.
Choose New Color Swatch from the panel’s menu. Name the swatch Off-White, and with the Type set to Process and Mode to CMYK, set the levels below to C=4 M=3 Y=5 K=0. Then click Add and Done.
Create a second new swatch, naming it Peach and setting the levels to C=6 M=41 Y=37 K=0.
2. How to Build Up Color on Your Invite
Step 1
Working on the Background layer, take the Rectangle Tool (M) and drag across the page, extending the shape up to the edge of the bleed on all sides.
From the Swatches panel set the Fill of the shape to Off-White.
Step 2
Lock the Background layer and unlock the Type Border layer.
Use the Rectangle Tool (M) to create a second shape over the top of the first, also with an Off-White Fill.
Make this shape smaller, 3.5 in in Width and 4.5 in in Height, and position centrally on the page.
Step 3
With this smaller rectangle selected, go to Object > Effects > Drop Shadow.
Click on the colored square to the right of the Mode menu, and switch the Effect Color to Peach, before clicking OK.
Bring the Opacity of the shadow down to around 25%, increase the Size to 0.625 in and add about 10% Noise. Then click OK to exit the window.
Step 4
Create another rectangle shape over the top of this one, making it slightly smaller and leaving a small margin between the two.
From the Swatches panel set the Fill of this shape to [None] and the Stroke Color to Peach.
From the Stroke panel (Window > Stroke), increase the Weight of the shape’s edge to 2.25 pt.
3. How to Format Typography on Your Invite
Step 1
Lock the Type Border layer and unlock the top layer, Type.
Switch to the Type Tool (T) and drag across the border shapes, creating a text frame about a third of the way down.
Type in ‘Name 1’, and from either the top Controls panel or the Character and Paragraph panels (Window > Type & Tables > Character/Paragraph), set the Font to Sen, Size 19 pt, Tracking (letter-spacing) to 300, All Caps and Align Center.
Copy and Paste the text frame, to create a copy below, editing the text to read ‘Name 2’.
Step 2
Create another text frame between the two names, typing in an ampersand, ‘&’, and setting the Font to Cormorant Garamond, SemiBold Italic, Size 18 pt, Align Center.
From the Swatches panel adjust the Font Color to Peach.
Step 3
Create a text frame above the names, typing in intro text like ‘join us to celebrate / the union of’.
Set the Font to Cormorant Garamond Regular, Size 7 pt, Leading (line-spacing) to 15 pt, Tracking 300 and Align Center.
Copy and Paste the text frame a couple of times, positioning these below the names and editing the text to read the date, time and location of the event.
Set another text frame with ‘reception to follow’ at the bottom, set in Cormorant Garamond Italic, Size 8 pt, Tracking 200 and Align Center.
Step 4
You can divide up sections of information by setting a text frame between them and setting the Font to Cormorant Garamond Regular and Font Color to Peach.
Go to Window > Type & Tables > Glyphs. Set your Type Tool cursor in the text frame, and identify a bullet glyph from the list of glyphs in the panel. Double-click to insert it into the frame.
4. How to Add a Botanical Touch to Your Invite
Step 1
Open up the olive wreath vector illustration in Adobe Illustrator, or other vector software of your choice.
Isolate individual leaves and Copy and Paste them into new documents. File > Save As each as it’s own Illustrator or EPS file, with a transparent background.
Step 2
Head back to your InDesign document.
Lock the Type layer and unlock the Leaves layer below. Create a small image frame using the Rectangle Frame Tool (F), over the top-right corner of the type border.
File > Place, choosing one of your individual leaf images and clicking Open. Allow it to fill the frame completely, and scale and rotate to allow it to frame the corner of the rectangle shape nicely.
Step 3
Repeat the process, creating more individual image frames over both the top-right and bottom-left corners of the type border, and placing individual leaf images into each.
5. How to Export Your Finished Invite for Printing
Step 1
Go to File > Export, and choose Adobe PDF (Print) from the Format menu at the bottom of the Export window. Name the file and hit Save.
In the Export Adobe PDF window that opens, choose [Press Quality] from the Adobe PDF Preset menu at the top.
Step 2
Click on Marks and Bleeds in the window’s left-hand menu.
Some print services will prefer you to either include printer’s marks and a bleed, or only to include the bleed, so make sure to check your printer’s preferences beforehand.
Here, I’ve checked both All Printer’s Marks and Use Document Bleed Settings
Click Export to create your print-ready file.
And you’re done! Great job! You can send this PDF file straight off for printing.
Free template version of this tutorial coming very soon…
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