How Do You Put a QR Code on an Invitation?
An invitation is the one printed piece where a QR code has to be useful without being loud. Make the code below, then read on for the size it needs, which card it belongs on, and why dark stock, foil and vellum are the three things most likely to stop guests scanning it.
Opens in Google Maps. Coordinates work too - "37.4224, -122.0841".
The code opens your business's "Write a review" form. Paste the Place ID, or a Google Maps link that carries one.
A UPI link carries no checksum, so a mistyped ID produces a code that scans perfectly and pays somebody else. Paste the ID from your payment app rather than typing it, and send yourself one rupee before printing.
Paste it exactly as copied. KoloQR does not assemble the payload - it encodes the one your bank issued, and checks it before you print it.
SVG, PNG, JPG • Max 2 MB
What Size Should a QR Code Be on an Invitation?
Print it at 1.5 to 2.5 cm. An invitation is read at 25-35 cm, and the ten-to-one rule puts the comfortable size around 2.5 cm; 1.5 cm is the floor, and only on smooth coated stock with a short link behind it. Textured or cotton card wants the larger end.
- The Formats, in Millimetres - A6 is 105 x 148 mm and 5 x 7 in is 127 x 178 mm, with A7 (74 x 105 mm) common for the details or RSVP card. A 2 cm code takes about 3% of an A6 face, which is small enough to sit quietly in a corner.
- Quiet Zone - four blank modules on every side, which is what the quiet zone is for. On a 2 cm code that is roughly 3 mm with no script, rule or border crossing it - and calligraphic type with long ascenders is the usual thing that does.
- Textured Stock Costs Sharpness - cotton, laid and hammer-finish boards scatter ink across the fibre and soften every module edge. On textured card, print at 2.5 cm rather than 2 cm and keep the ink solid.
- Shorten the Link - a wedding site at example.com/anna-and-tom encodes into far fewer modules than a long hosted URL with a query string. Fewer modules means bigger squares at the same size, which is the whole game on a small card.
There is a manners question as well as a measurement one. A QR code on the face of a formal invitation reads as administrative; on the accompanying details or RSVP card it reads as helpful. The card that carries the practical information is the card that should carry the code.
Generate QR CodeWhat to Link an Invitation QR Code To
An invitation has room for the occasion and almost nothing else. These six destinations carry everything the card cannot, and each saves a guest an email to the host.
The RSVP Form
The reply, with dietary requirements and plus-ones, straight into a spreadsheet rather than onto a stack of returned cards. It is the single most useful code an invitation can carry, and the one that saves the host the most work.
A Wedding or Event Website
Timings, dress code, directions, accommodation, the running order. Everything that would need a second printed insert lives on a page that can be updated after the invitations are posted.
Directions and Parking
A maps link that opens navigation to the venue entrance rather than to the postcode centroid. For a rural venue this is the difference between guests arriving and guests phoning.
Add to Calendar
A calendar code drops the date, time and place into a guest's phone in one tap. It is the quiet fix for the invitation that gets admired, propped on a shelf, and then forgotten.
A Gift List
The registry or the honeymoon fund, without printing a line about money on the invitation itself. The code keeps the request out of the formal card and one tap away on the details card.
A Photo Album to Fill Later
The same code, reused on the day's table cards, pointing at a shared album guests upload to. It turns an invitation into the first step of collecting the photographs afterwards.
How to Make a QR Code for an Invitation
Five steps from a link to a card at the printer, with the two checks that matter on stock nobody wants to reprint.
Generate QR Code- 1
Set Up the Page First
Build the RSVP form or the details page before the invitation goes to design, and give it a short address on a domain you keep. The code is the last thing to make, not the first.
- 2
Decide Which Card It Sits On
Put the code on the details or RSVP card, not on the face of the main invitation. That keeps the formal card formal and gives the code a surface with room around it.
- 3
Build the Code
Open the generator above, paste the link, and match the ink to the rest of the printing. Keep the modules clearly darker than the card - a soft grey on ivory looks right and scans badly.
- 4
Add a Line of Text
'Scan to reply' or 'Scan for details and directions', set small beside the code. Guests who have never scanned a code from a card need to be told that this one does something.
- 5
Proof on the Real Stock
Print one card on the chosen board, under warm indoor lighting, and scan it with two phones. Cotton and coloured stock behave differently from the white paper in your office printer.
Dark Stock, Foil and Vellum
Three invitation finishes account for nearly every code that fails to scan: dark card, metallic foil and vellum overlays. Dark stock inverts the pattern, foil mirrors the phone's light back into the lens, and vellum sits between the camera and the code, scattering it - and all three are chosen precisely because they make an invitation feel special.
- Dark Card Wants a Light Panel - inverted codes, light on dark, are read by many phones and not by all. On navy or charcoal stock, print the code inside a light panel rather than reversing it out - the minimum contrast scan test shows where the limit sits.
- Never Foil the Code - a foil-stamped code reflects instead of absorbing, and reads as a bright blank under any lamp. Foil the names and print the code in flat ink.
- Vellum Blocks the Scan - a translucent overlay diffuses the pattern enough to defeat most cameras. Keep the code on a card the guest can see directly, not under a sheet they have to lift.
- Letterpress Deforms Modules - deep impression rounds every square edge and casts a shadow inside it. Print the code flat, even where the rest of the invitation is pressed.
Wax seals, ribbon and belly bands are the other three things that end up over the code. Whatever the finishing, keep the symbol and its quiet zone on a part of the card that stays visible when the invitation is assembled, not just when it is designed.
Generate QR CodeBefore the Invitations Are Posted
Invitations are printed once, on expensive stock, and sent to people who will not tell you the code failed. These checks are the substitute for that feedback.
Keep It Off the Main Card
The formal invitation carries the occasion; the details card carries the logistics. A code belongs with the logistics, where it looks like a service rather than an interruption.
Print the Address as Well
Not every guest scans, and older guests often will not. A short readable URL and, where it matters, a phone number keep the invitation usable for everyone on the list.
Test on a Warm-Lit Table
Invitations are opened indoors, often in the evening. Scan the proof under a table lamp rather than at a bright desk, because that is the light the code will actually meet.
Check the Form on a Phone
Every scan opens on mobile. An RSVP form that needs pinching and zooming loses replies from exactly the guests who were trying to be helpful.
Keep the Link Alive Until After the Day
Guests scan invitations weeks later, and again on the morning itself for the address. Keep the page up until the event is over, then redirect it to the photographs.
Match the Ink to the Card
A dark, solid code on a light panel scans; a tone-on-tone code chosen for elegance does not. If the design needs subtlety, get it from the shape and the layout rather than from low contrast.
Questions? Answered
1.5 to 2.5 cm, with 2.5 cm the safe choice on textured or cotton stock. An invitation is read at about 30 cm, and the ten-to-one rule puts the comfortable size at 2.5-3 cm. Below 1.5 cm you are relying on smooth board, a short URL and good lighting all at once.
Not if it sits on the details or RSVP card rather than on the face of the invitation itself. Guests read the main card as the occasion and the enclosure as the logistics. A small code with a line of explanation beside it reads as consideration, not as a shortcut.
Not reliably when reversed out. Light modules on a dark background are read by many phone cameras and refused by some, which is a poor bet on an invitation you send once. Print the code inside a light panel on the dark card and it behaves like any other code.
No. Foil mirrors the phone's light back into the lens and the code reads as a bright blank, while letterpress and embossing round the module edges and cast shadows inside the pattern. Keep those finishes for the names and print the code in flat, solid ink.
Yes. A calendar code carries the date, time and location in the pattern itself, so one scan offers to save the event to a phone. It is the most underused invitation code there is - see event QR codes for what it encodes and how phones handle it.
The RSVP form, or a details page carrying the timings, dress code, directions and accommodation. Both remove a printed insert and can be corrected after posting. Whatever you choose, put it on a domain you control so the address survives the year between sending and celebrating - see QR codes for weddings for the full set of cards a wedding uses.
Usually not. Vellum scatters the pattern enough to defeat most phone cameras, and guests will not think to lift the sheet. Keep the code on a card that is visible when the invitation is assembled, alongside any belly band, ribbon or wax seal.
No. A static code is free, never expires and depends on no subscription staying paid between the invitation going out and the day itself. Point it at a short URL on your own domain and you can change what it opens - RSVP first, photographs afterwards - without reprinting anything.
Keep Exploring
Pages that pick up where this one leaves off - the same setting, the same kind of code, or the next thing worth deciding.
Weddings
One code on the invitation, linking guests to your RSVP form, the schedule and directions, and a shared photo album afterwards.
Photographers
Client galleries, print reorders, portfolio links and guest photo uploads, on cards, albums, prints and event signs.
Tickets
Entry codes and information codes on the same stub - how to separate them, size them, and stop thermal stock fading before the door opens.
Event QR Code
Put the date, time, and venue straight into someone's calendar in one scan.
Twitch QR Code
Open your Twitch channel from a stream overlay, a convention stand, or a merch insert.
Menus & Table Tents
The code sits 40 cm from a seated guest in dim light on a laminated card - what that costs in size, finish and page speed.
Why KoloQR?
- Create QR codes for websites, menus, Wi-Fi, PDFs, and business cards
- Customize colors, logos, and unique shapes
- Download high-quality PNG and SVG files
- Built for both print and digital
