--- title: 'Typefaces on an invitation, and what each one says' description: 'Script, serif or sans. Which face to use for the names, which for everything else, and the one mistake that makes an invitation look homemade.' source: 'https://envelope.love/blog/invitation-typefaces' category: 'Design' published: '2026-03-04' updated: '2026-03-04' --- # Typefaces on an invitation, and what each one says Script, serif or sans. Which face to use for the names, which for everything else, and the one mistake that makes an invitation look homemade. This is the plain markdown copy of https://envelope.love/blog/invitation-typefaces, published by Love Envelope for machine readers. The page itself carries the same words. An invitation is fifty words long. Almost everything it communicates beyond those words is carried by the typeface, which is why the same sentence can read as formal, warm or modern depending on nothing but the letterforms. ## Three jobs, not one The most useful idea in invitation typography. An invitation has three different kinds of text on it, and one typeface doing all three is the clearest sign of a template. - **The names.** The largest thing on the page, and the one people look at first - **Your own sentences.** The warm bit, the line about being delighted, the closing - **The furniture.** Dates, times, the venue, the dress code, the labels on a reply form Two or three faces, each doing one of those jobs consistently, is what makes an invitation look designed rather than typed. ## What each kind of face says ### Script Romantic, traditional, and instantly recognisable as a wedding. Beautiful for names and unreadable for anything else. Never set a date, an address or a dress code in a script. The number 5 and the letter S in a joined up face are a real problem at small sizes, and an address in script is the single most common reason a guest turns up at the wrong place. ### Serif The safest and most flexible. A serif reads as considered, works at every size, and carries formality without stiffness. If you use only one face, use a serif. ### Sans serif Modern, clean, and excellent for the practical lines. A sans serif date is easier to read than a serif one at small sizes, which is why so many invitations pair a serif headline with sans furniture. An entirely sans serif invitation can look wonderful and slightly corporate. It suits a city day and a modern venue. ### Display faces Anything unusual: a heavy condensed face, something geometric, something with real personality. Superb for names, dangerous everywhere else. ## The mistake that looks homemade Too many faces. Three is a design. Five is a ransom note. The second version of the same mistake is using two faces that are almost the same, such as two similar serifs. If a pairing is not obviously different, it looks like an accident rather than a decision. Contrast is the point. ## Look at your actual names This is the test that decides it, and it cannot be done from a sample. Names vary enormously in length, and a face that looks beautiful set as "Anna and Tom" behaves completely differently on "Christabel and Bartholomew". Type in your real names, at the real size, and look at what happens when the longer one wraps. That single check rules out half the options in about a minute. ## Capitals, and when they work Tracked out capitals are the classic invitation treatment for furniture: the date, the venue, the words above a section. They read as engraved and they are extremely legible. They do not work for anything longer than a few words, because capitals are read letter by letter rather than by shape. A paragraph in capitals is genuinely slower to read. And a script cannot be set in capitals at all. If your names are in a joined up face, they stay as they are. ## Size, and the phone test Most guests read this on a phone. Anything under about sixteen pixels is uncomfortable, and a beautiful small caps address is exactly the thing that becomes unreadable. Check the smallest text on your invitation on an actual phone before you send it. If you find yourself zooming in, so will ninety guests. ## It is one of three decisions Composition, colour, type. The composition decides the feeling, colour sets the tone, and type carries the voice. They are best chosen in that order. [Choosing an invitation design](https://envelope.love/blog/choosing-an-invitation-design) covers the first, [choosing colours](https://envelope.love/blog/invitation-colours) the second. --- Make yours. Six designs, your own words, and one link to send. Free to build, free for a day once it is live. Start an invitation: https://envelope.love/create