E-invitations

How to send e-invitations by text, email, WhatsApp or Messenger

An e-invite is just a link, so it travels anywhere a link does: guests tap it and the invitation opens in the phone's browser, with nothing to download. Above all, use the channel each guest already reads. In most families, that means two or three of them.

• Text messageThe surest bet for guests in the U.S. who don't use WhatsApp, including older relatives.
• WhatsAppHow you reach relatives in Mexico, Colombia or Central America. It's also where the free RSVP button sends the answers.
• EmailFor coworkers or the parents from school. Also, put the date in the subject line.
• Facebook MessengerFor the cousins you only talk to on Facebook. It's the same link, too.

One tip that saves headaches: send it person by person, or family by family, instead of dropping it into a 200-person group. People answer a message that has their name on it.

What to write in the message that goes with your e-invitations

The link does the heavy lifting, but your two lines decide whether people open it today or next week. Here are four versions you can copy and adapt.

What they have in common: a name, a date, the link and one clear ask. Skip long paragraphs; the invitation already has the address and the schedule.

When to send e-invitations, and when to remind

Because e-invitations arrive in seconds, it's tempting to send them late. Don't: people still need to ask for the day off or book a flight.

• 6–8 monthsSave the date, if people fly in. For a wedding or a quinceañera with relatives traveling from another state or country, a digital save the date goes out first.
• 8–10 weeksWeddings and quinceañeras. The full invitation, with an RSVP deadline.
• 3–4 weeksBirthdays, baptisms and baby showers. Local parties need less lead time.
• 2–3 weeks beforeRSVP deadline. Set it for when the venue asks for your final number.
• 1 week before the deadlineOne reminder, only to the people who haven't answered.
• The day beforeA short "see you tomorrow" with the same link, so everyone has the map at hand.

And if a date or an address changes along the way, you don't send new e-invitations. You edit the invitation and the same link shows the new details to everyone who opens it.

Keeping track of RSVPs without a spreadsheet

The worst part of any party used to be the list: who said yes in the chat, who said "maybe" on the phone, who never answered. Here is how InvitaciónYa handles it.

• Free version. The RSVP button opens WhatsApp with the message written, so answers arrive as chats. The Guest RSVPs upgrade ($3) adds the dashboard below.
• A personal link per guest. With Express, each guest gets a link with their name and seats, so nobody confirms more than that.
• Paste the whole list at once. No typing guest by guest.
• Adults and kids, separately. As a result, the caterer gets the right count.
• Who opened it. So you know who to call.
• Change of plans. A guest who said yes can change the answer, and you see it.
• Reminders written for you. "Remind the pending ones" opens WhatsApp with the message ready.
• Download to Excel. Then, when the venue asks for the final list, you send the file.

If confirmations are the main reason you're switching to electronic invitations, read our page on online invitations with RSVP, which covers the dashboard in depth.

E-invitations vs. paper cards by mail

Printed cards still have a place. However, when half your guests live abroad, the math changes fast.

The middle ground most families land on: e-invitations for everyone, and a few printed cards for the grandparents or the padrinos. With PRO, those cards carry a QR code that opens the invitation.

Is an e-invite for a wedding bad manners?

The honest answer: for most weddings today, no. What makes an invitation feel careless is not the paper, it's the way it's sent.

A wedding invitation dropped into a big group chat does feel like a flyer. The same invitation sent to each couple, with their names and a clear RSVP date, feels personal.

Where a printed card is still the kind gesture: a very formal wedding, or older relatives who don't use a smartphone. Mail those few and send the link to everyone else. Nobody minds that the cousins got theirs by WhatsApp; they'll mind if they can't find the address on the day.

Electronic wedding invitations that don't look like an email

Electronic wedding invitations got a bad name from plain emails with an image attached. Ours open like an event. In Grand Theatre, a velvet curtain opens in real video; in Secret Garden and Doors of Cartagena the cover is a video too. Others open with a sealed envelope, a ring box or a boarding pass, and then the music starts.

Below the opening comes what guests need: your photos (a cover and up to four more), the ceremony and the reception with their own map buttons, the schedule, the dress code and a note about gifts. You can also watch several of them opening on our YouTube channel.

One honest note: the "video" part is the invitation itself opening on the guest's phone. We don't deliver an MP4 to post. For every wedding design, with prices and previews, see the digital wedding invitations page.

Designs to start your e-invitations

The wedding ones open a live preview; the others take you to every design for that occasion.

• Grand TheatreWedding · $15
• Wax Seal EnvelopeWedding · $15
• Sage ArchWedding · Free
• Glass SlipperQuinceañera · $15
• Piñata!Birthday · $15
• Cloud and OliveBaptism · Free

Planning something else? There are more than 80 designs in all. Browse the quinceañera invitations, the digital birthday invitations or the free digital invitations you can publish today.

What e-invitations cost at InvitaciónYa

One payment per invitation, when you've already seen it finished. No subscription and no charge per guest.

From the U.S. you pay by card or PayPal. For how digital invitations work from start to finish, see our main guide. If your party is spread across countries, our page on virtual invitations covers that case.

Questions people ask before sending e-invitations