What Is a Gatefold Wedding Invitation? | Birdhouse197

A gatefold invitation levels up a standard card. It opens from the centre, folding outward on both sides, revealing your design a little at a time. It's a bit of extra theatre, and it sets the tone for the day before a guest has even reached the details inside.

If you've been comparing formats and aren't sure what a gatefold actually is, or whether it's the right choice for your wedding, here's everything you need to know.

What Makes a Gatefold Different

Gatefolds give us plenty of space for design and illustration, while still leaving enough room for the essential details. If you want to include extra information on the back, whether that's accommodation, gift lists or a day-of timeline, there's plenty of room for a larger, finer details section too.

Everything stays in one place, on one lovely, textured piece of card. It's become the go-to format for a lot of our couples, and it's usually the first thing we suggest when someone wants something that feels a little more special than a standard flat card.

Our Favourite Gatefold Right Now: The Victorian Portrait Silhouette

Our newest design, the Victorian Portrait Silhouette gatefold, is the one we're proudest of right now. We love that couples can include their own portrait or cameo silhouette to personalise it. It's spooky without tipping into full Halloween territory, which is exactly the balance a lot of our couples are looking for.

One Thing to Know: Foil and Gatefolds

A gatefold can be printed in almost any colour or gradient, which opens up some genuinely beautiful options. Foiling, however, uses a specific printing process and card type that generally isn't well suited to folding, so across most of our range, foil is reserved for our single card and three piece formats.

There's one exception. Our Bleeding Heart gatefold is foiled, in a smaller A6 size that suits the process. It's a design we spent time getting right, and it's exclusive to that collection because the scale and illustration work together in a way we haven't been able to replicate elsewhere yet. It's a little more of an investment than our standard gatefolds, but for couples who want foil and a gatefold, it's the one to look at.

Practical Details: Size and Posting

Gatefolds are 5x7 inches, a standard size across the UK, US and most international postage. It's always worth checking your own local postage rules, but 5x7 is about as standard as wedding stationery sizing gets.

Gatefold, Single Card, or Three Piece Suite?

A quick way to think about it: a single card is the simplest and most budget-friendly option. A three piece suite adds an RSVP and details card as separate pieces, which suits couples who want more information laid out clearly. A gatefold keeps everything together on one larger, foldable card, giving your illustration room to breathe while still fitting all the details in.

There's no wrong answer. It comes down to how much you want to include, and how much of a moment you want the opening of the envelope to be.

Gatefold Questions We Hear Often

What size is a gatefold wedding invitation?
5x7 inches, a standard size for UK, US and most international postage.

Can I add foil to a gatefold?
Foil is available on our single card and three piece formats as standard. The one exception is our Bleeding Heart gatefold, a smaller A6 design made specifically to work with foil.

Can I put my own wording or extra details on the back?
Yes. Gatefolds have plenty of room for a larger details section, so information like accommodation, gift lists or timings can all sit on the same card.

Get in Touch

If you're deciding between formats and want a hand choosing the right one for your wedding, we'd love to help.

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We work with every couple personally, from first enquiry through to delivery. Ships worldwide.

Love, George and Joshua 🔮