15 Best Online Wedding Invitations

In the midst of wedding planning, many couples come to a standstill at an important question—”Should we go with a digital wedding invitation or a traditional wedding invitation?”

Of course, there are pros and cons to both. You might decide to do a mix of physical and digital invites. If you’re leaning towards the latter, we’ve rounded up the best companies that send online wedding invitations and made some recommendations for our favorite designs.

Pros and cons of online wedding invitations

From the environmental impact of electronic invitations to their budget-friendliness, here are a few of the top reasons why couples opt for wedding evites. However, from the keepsake aspect to offline guests, there are also some reasons why couples choose to avoid digital invites.

Pro: They’re an eco-friendly alternative.

It’s no surprise that wedding invitations typically require the envelope, the invite, and, often, the wedding RSVP card, plus an insert with wedding weekend details.

That’s a lot of paper, and even though there are greener alternatives (such as invites made with recycled paper), wedding evites are the most eco-friendly.

Con: They’re nontraditional.

While online wedding invitations have come a long way over the years, some guests may not consider them quite as special as a traditional, mailed invite. If you’re concerned that online wedding invitations are tacky, take a look at the huge selection below of classy invites, and you’ll soon change your mind.

Pro: They can be more budget-friendly.

Planning a wedding on a tight budget? The best affordable wedding invitations are often online. Wedding evites are typically more cost-effective than printed invitations (both because of the paper and the stamps).

Based on a study of over 27,000 newlyweds, The Knot found that the average cost of wedding invitations was about $590 in total. Brides found that the average cost was a whopping $5,000 to $8,000, with paperless invitations costing no more than $100.

However you look at it, remember that these costs can vary greatly. But, generally speaking, your wedding evites will cost much less than a traditional wedding invitation. Design some affordable wedding invitations online, and you’ll have more money to spend on the rest of the wedding.

Con: They aren’t a keepsake invitation.

Having your invitation as a keepsake is one of the best parts of a wedding scrapbook or a framed collage. Of course, you can print out your wedding evite, too, but the keepsake aspect of a traditional wedding invitation is a bit different. Often, couples will frame the envelope and the rest of the contents alongside the invite—such as the RSVP card or a special stamp they used.

Pro: You can avoid printing delays.

In some cases, printing delays can lead to frustration and a delay in getting out important information about your celebration. Head this off at the pass by foregoing printed invites and having the immediate gratification of a paperless one.

Con: Some guests are offline.

If your grandma or a great-great-uncle doesn’t have an email address, it can be tough to nail down exactly how to send them your wedding evite. This isn’t a deal-breaker, but it’s something to remember if you plan on moving forward with digital wedding invitations.

Pro: Guests can RSVP in a click.

The sometimes necessary follow-up isn’t eliminated with digital wedding invitations, but it typically does make it a bit easier on your guests.

Con: Paper invites may get lost or damaged in the mail.

There’s no way to know for sure if your wedding invite might end up getting lost or damaged in the mail.

When you opt for an electronic invitation instead, you do eliminate the risk of receiving your beautiful invite straight back into your mailbox.

Still undecided? Remember you don’t have to lean 100% one way or the other. For example, you could send online wedding invitations to most guests but print physical ones for older family members.

15 Best online wedding invitations

If you’ve chosen to send online wedding invitations, you’re in luck. Today, some incredible companies are producing beautiful wedding evites. Here are some of the most popular choices among couples:

1. Evite

Evite is a social planning website that’s used for everything from weddings to birthday parties. They offer an affordable option with nice wedding invitation template designs where you can select your envelope and “stamp.”

2. Greenvelope

Greenvelope has a good selection of the best digital invitations. They make RSVP tracking easy and independent artists craft their designs. Based on the season, color, or theme that you’re going for, you can fine-tune these wedding evites to give them your own unique style.

3. Paperless Post

Paperless Post lets you customize card invitations, flyers, and wedding invitations. You know that your wedding evites will be stylish, as they partner with fashion icons such as Kate Spade New York, Kelly Wearstler, and Oscar de la Renta. For the eco-friendly couple, check out their lineup of stunning digital wedding invitations. We’re swooning over the digital greenery arrangement in the Herrgarde invitation.

4. Bliss & Bone

Bliss & Bone creates immersive and interactive affordable custom wedding invitations that match all kinds of wedding themes and styles. As well as their digital offerings, you can also order physical stationery, including save the dates, menus, and thank you cards, to complement your online invites.

5. Etsy

Online marketplace Etsy is a haven for all kinds of personalized wedding goods, including some of the best digital wedding invitations. You can browse through thousands of designs from various sellers, or buy a template and customize it yourself. Etsy’s digital invitations are usually sent as PDF or JPG files, which you can email or text to your guests.

6. Punchbowl

Punchbowl is an online invitation service that specializes in digital invitations and cards. Choose from hundreds of beautiful and modern designs, or upload your own if you're looking for something unique. Punchbowl’s digital invitations are interactive and mobile-friendly, which means you can invite guests by email or text message, track RSVPs, chat with guests, and send reminders.

7. Canva

Got an artist in the wedding party? While Canva might be more design-focused rather than helping you with the entire process, it’s arguably the best app for digital invitations if you want to be fully in control.

Canva offers a wide range of designs that allow complete personalization. Save your design in your chosen format and email it out accordingly. If you’re hoping to save money on this part of the process, using the best digital invitation app means you could actually do your online wedding invitations for free.

8. Greetings Island

Greetings Island is an online invitation service that lets you create and send free digital invitations and cards for all kinds of occasions, including weddings. You can also create an event page to collect RSVPs and manage your guest list. Got a specific online wedding invitation style in mind? Greetings Island offers a range of styles and themes for your wedding invitations, like floral, rustic, modern, vintage, and simplistic.

9. Blackbird

Blackbird was designed for all kinds of digital invitations and also helps you collect and organize RSVPs (or track down missing ones!). Customize your invitations with your own photos, colors, fonts, and layout, and share them through any channel you prefer, like email, social media, or text. Once you've signed up, Blackbird’s design lab lets you start every online wedding invitation from scratch.

10. Smilebox

Smilebox has thousands of designs for free online wedding invites to suit all couples' styles. Send custom RSVPs online in minutes with Smilebox's wedding invitation creator. Better yet? If you need to update any details on the invite, Smilebox updates them automatically and sends a new update to your guests.

11. Vistaprint

As well as a huge range of beautiful physical wedding invites, Vistaprint has a big range of stylish, classic online wedding invitations that can be personalized to your tastes. It's also one of the most budget-friendly options around: perfect if you've got a smaller wedding budget to play with.

12. Minted

Minted specializes in wedding stationery, both of the digital and printed variety. Perfect if you're looking for something unique, it's home to curated collections from independent artists and comes with benefits like a free wedding website. Minted’s digital invitations are interactive and mobile-friendly, which means you can invite guests by email or text message, track RSVPs, chat with guests, and send reminders, too.

13. Riley Grey

Riley Grey is a top choice for a more curated experience when it comes to wedding stationery, both physical and digital. On the digital side, they have many online wedding invitations. On the physical side, they offer free samples and free shipping across the US. They also have plenty of other resources for seamless wedding planning, particularly on the RSVPs side.

14. Say I Do

Complement or replace traditional Invites or Save the Dates with Say I Do's easy-to-navigate process. You'll be walked through the steps of adding your guest list, personalizing your online wedding invitations and adding all of the important details before Say I Do sends them off for you. They also pride themselves on "stylish reminders" for guests who might need a prompt for that RSVP.

15. White Clover

White Clover isn’t specifically a website for online wedding invitations, but when you host your wedding website there, you can throw in online invitations to simplify the process. Their best feature? Real-time availability, where guests can update their RSVP whenever necessary (although hopefully not too often) rather than having to message you themselves.

Online invitations at Zola

Looking for an alternative to evites? If you do go the route of paper invitations, there are many ways to stay conscious of the environment while also creating that physical invitation you’ve always dreamed of.

For starters, you can print your invitation on our recycled paper. This thick, carbon-neutral paper has a subtle but visual texture. It’s soft and 100 percent made of post-consumer waste. You can also opt for a mix of digital and traditional. Try doing your save-the-date postcards and thank-you cards online while sticking to the traditional route for wedding invitations.

Choosing whether you want to use wedding evites or traditional invites is a matter of preference. In the end, you’ll weigh the options of budget, style, and sentimentality, and you’ll make the perfect decision.

If you need any help along the way, feel free to contact us so that we can discuss the options. We love working with our couples to help them find the ideal blend of whatever they’re searching for.

From the Zola team to you, we’re wishing you the best of luck as you move forward with wedding invite preparations. We’re certain that whatever you create, in the end, will be just beautiful.