Customise your wedding invitation: fonts, gradients, colours and share codes

Start with the accent colour

The accent colour is the one that appears on buttons, dates, dividers and highlights. Open your card, find Look and pick a colour: the preview changes as you drag. Choose a colour from your wedding palette, such as the sash or the flowers, and the whole card follows it. The accent colour works on every template.

If you do not like the result, use the reset button next to the colour and the card goes back to the template's own colour.

Pick the fonts

Paid templates let you change the typeface in three places: the names, the headings of each section and the running text. The font list shows every font in its own letters, so you can see what you are choosing. Move the pointer over a font and the card shows it for a moment without keeping it; click a font to keep it.

A script font suits the names, a serif or a display font suits headings, and a plain serif or sans font is best for the text, which is why the text list only offers those. If you keep changing your mind, use Reset fonts and the template's own fonts come back.

• Names: a script such as a flowing signature, or a classic serif for a quieter look.
• Headings: a serif with some character, or a display font in capital letters.
• Text: keep it simple and readable on a small phone screen.

Size, weight and gradient text

Under Text style a paid template lets you make the text of the whole card larger or smaller, lighter or bolder, and turn on a gradient that runs from the text colour to the accent colour. Each section can have its own choice that goes over the card's, so you can make the heading of the venue section bold and leave the rest as it is.

To put a gradient on one line only, such as the couple's names, use the small sparkle button next to that text field in the section. The other text stays plain. A gradient looks best on large text; on small text it is harder to read, so keep it for names and headings.

Save your design as a code

Once the card looks right you can export it. In Look, the Share this look box has Export code and Import code. Export shows one short line of letters and numbers that holds your accent colour, fonts, text style, pages, sections and the texts in them. It does not hold the name of the card or its link.

The code is not random and is not stored anywhere: it is your design written down in a compressed form, so the same card always gives the same code. It starts with the name of the template, which is how it knows where it belongs. It works for every account, including the free template.

1. Open the card you want to copy the design from and choose Export code.
2. Copy the code and keep it somewhere safe, or send it to a friend who uses the same template.
3. On another card with the same template, choose Import code, paste it and confirm.
4. Check the card, change anything you like and press Save. Nothing is saved until you do.

What a code will and will not do

• It only imports into a card that uses the same template it was made with. A code from one template is refused on another, and the message says which template it belongs to.
• It replaces the look, the pages and the sections of the card you import it into. The name and the link of that card stay.
• It carries the texts you typed, including names, dates and phone numbers, so send it only to people you trust.
• A code that was cut short or changed by a typo is refused rather than half used.

A few ideas

Making cards for both families? Design one, export the code and import it into the second card, then change the names. Making a save the date and an invitation? Build the invitation first, import the code into a new card, and trim it down. Want to try a bolder look without losing your work? Export a code before you experiment, so you can import it back.

When the design is ready, the WhatsApp guide has messages you can use to send it, and the checklist lists what to check before you do.

Questions