How to make a wedding invitation video for WhatsApp

To make a wedding invitation video for WhatsApp, make it vertical (1080 by 1920 pixels), keep it between 30 seconds and two minutes, and put the couple's names and the date in the first few seconds. Make it from a template in a video invitation app, or have a designer make it, then send it to each family with a short message. If you want replies, add a link to an invitation page alongside the video.

What size and length work best on WhatsApp?

• Vertical, 9:16. Almost every guest watches on a phone held upright, and a vertical video fills the screen.
• 1080 by 1920 pixels. WhatsApp shrinks videos when you send them as media, and starting at this size keeps the text readable after that.
• 30 seconds to 2 minutes. A save the date can be under 30 seconds. A full invitation with five or six functions needs a minute or more.
• MP4. It plays on every phone without anyone downloading an app.

What should the video say, and in what order?

• The opening: a blessing if your family uses one (Shri Ganeshay Namah, Bismillah, Ik Onkar), then the couple's names.
• Who is inviting: the parents or the family name. Elders notice when this is missing.
• The date and city, early, so a guest who stops watching still knows them.
• Each function: name, date, time and venue. One screen each, long enough to read twice.
• A closing line asking them to come, and how to reply.

Text on screen should stay up for at least two to three seconds per line. People read slower on a phone than the person who designed the video expects, and elders often watch without their glasses.

How do you actually make it?

There are three routes. A designer can make it for you from your details, usually in one to three working days. A template app lets you swap in names, dates and photos yourself in an evening. Or a ready-made film can have your details and photo put in, which is the fastest if you like one of the films on offer. The comparison of the main makers, with prices from their own sites, is in our post on the best digital wedding invitation apps in India.

On ShaadiMode, the films come ready: caricature films with a painted couple or your own caricature, 3D invitation films in 15 worlds (11 made instantly), from a palace to a beach, where the two of you can appear as your own caricature, and Gaana Invite, a film with a song sung with your names. You add your functions and venues once, and every film uses them. On Plus (₹2,999 once per wedding) the 3D and Gaana films are made for each family, with their name in them and only their functions.

How do you send it so it looks sharp?

• Send it as a video, not as a forward of a forward. Each forward compresses it again.
• If quality matters for printing or a big screen, send the file as a document, which WhatsApp doesn't compress.
• Send one family at a time with their name in the message. A broadcast list only reaches people who have saved your number.
• Write two lines with it: who is getting married, and the link or a request to reply.

What does a video alone miss?

A video can't change after you send it, and it can't collect replies. If the sangeet moves from 7 to 8, you send a new video or a correction message to everyone. That is why many families send a video for the feeling and a link for the details: the link shows the current timings, the map to each venue, and a way to reply per person and per function.

Questions people also ask

Read next

• Wedding invitation video with song
• 3D wedding invitations
• Caricature invitations
• AI wedding invitations
• Best digital invitation apps

If you'd rather each family got their own copy with their name in it, the 3D and Gaana films do that. See the invitation films