Gala Template — Complete Guide

Gala is an invitation set like an opera-house programme. Your cover photo plays on a stage framed by a gilded proscenium arch, between deep velvet drapes, with a gold crest on the keystone. The whole page is printed on heavy card with a blind-embossed border, gold-leaf hairlines and a silk tassel hanging from its corner.

Gala is one of Fotify's simpler designs: its look comes from one velvet colour you choose — any colour at all — and a card, ivory or black.

This guide covers how Gala looks, the options unique to it, how to apply it to your event, and how it lays out each section of your invitation.

Gala is available on every plan, Free included.

For an overview of the template gallery and the picker, see How to Customize Your RSVP Invitation.

What makes Gala different

Standard templates change colours and fonts over the same shared layout. Gala replaces the layout itself: its own cover and closing, its own section heads, and its own treatment of the message, countdown, gallery, story, programme and reply card.

Signature design elements

• The stage — a gilded proscenium arch with a velvet valance hung in swags, two curtain legs tied back with gold, and a row of footlights. Your cover photo plays between the curtains; without a photo, the house curtain is closed and lit by a pool of light
• One velvet — pick it from the suggested colours or from the colour picker. Gala uses it for the drapes, the inside of the countdown frames, the silk tassel and, on the ivory card, the buttons
• Heavy card — ivory or black, with a deep blind-embossed border and a double gold hairline pressed inside it
• A gold crest — engraved with up to three characters you type, or with a star when you leave it blank, set on the keystone of the stage, on the reply card, at the head of the message and at the close
• A silk tassel — hung through an eyelet in the top corner of the cover card
• A formal dress line — your own words, like "Black tie", in gold small capitals under the date and place, and again at the head of your Event Details section
• Programme typography — Gilda Display, a fashion serif with fine hairlines, for the names, titles and numbers, with Montserrat for the reading text and the widely spaced small capitals
• Always readable — whatever colour you pick, even a pale yellow or a near-black, the text and the buttons are adjusted until they read clearly

When to choose Gala

Gala suits formal evenings with a sense of occasion:

• Charity balls and fundraising galas — your cause's story as programme notes, and your donation links in the gifts section
• Award nights — the programme of the evening set out act by act, with a dotted leader to each time
• Company galas and anniversary dinners — the velvet in your brand colour and your organisation's initials in the crest
• Opera, theatre and opening nights — a stage on the cover, curtain-up countdown frames
• Black-tie weddings and parties — the dress code on the cover, an engraved reply card

Whatever the occasion, the photos your guests take matter as much as the invitation. Guests can scan the event QR code and add their photos to the shared gallery. See how Fotify works for corporate events and weddings.

For an embossed keepsake card stamped in foil, try Milestone. For a 1920s speakeasy with a secret door, try Speakeasy.

Applying Gala to your event

1. Open your event, click Invitation in the sidebar, then the Invitation tab
2. In Design Template, click Change template if the gallery is collapsed, and find Gala under Designs (it is listed under the Corporate filter, and under Elegant, Party and Wedding too)
3. Optional: press Try it on to see Gala with your own invitation details in the live preview — nothing is saved until you press Use this design
4. Or click the Gala card to apply it straight away
5. Open Gala options below the gallery to pick your velvet and the other options described below. Changes save automatically

Gala works on every plan. On free events a small "Made with Fotify" badge appears in the bottom corner of the invitation; any paid plan or an active subscription removes it.

Switching to another template later is non-destructive: your event content stays exactly as you entered it, and your Gala options are kept in case you switch back.

Gala options

Gala has six options of its own. They take the place of the standard colour and font controls, which Gala doesn't use.

1. Velvet

The velvet of the evening. Pick it two ways:

• A suggested swatch — Emerald, Sapphire, Burgundy (default), Black or Champagne
• Pick any color — the last chip opens your device's colour picker, so you can match a brand colour or the venue exactly. The colour's code is shown beside the chips

Any colour works. A mid or deep colour becomes a deep velvet of the same hue (a bright red turns into a crimson velvet); a clearly light colour, like champagne, becomes a light silk instead. The text on the velvet and the buttons always use a shade that reads clearly.

2. Card

• Ivory card (default) — warm ivory stock with gold leaf in an antique tone, and buttons in your velvet
• Black card — near-black stock with bright gold leaf, and gold buttons

3. Crest monogram

Up to 3 characters, engraved exactly as you type them in the gold crest — on the keystone of the stage, at the head of the message, on the reply card and at the close. Use your organisation's initials or the hosts'. Leave it blank and the crest shows an engraved star instead; Gala never makes initials from your event name.

4. Dress code line

A formal line of up to 40 characters, set in gold small capitals between two hairlines under the date and place on the cover, at the head of your Event Details section (under its title) and again at the close — e.g. "Black tie", "White tie" or "Cocktail attire". Leave it blank and no line is shown. This line is separate from the dress code card of your Event Details section, which keeps its own description and colours.

5. Cover line

The small line above the stage on the cover (up to 80 characters). Leave it blank to use the default ("The pleasure of your company is requested at"). Try "The Board of Trustees requests the pleasure of your company at" or "You are invited to".

6. Closing line

The line at the end of the page (up to 80 characters). Leave it blank to use the default ("We look forward to welcoming you").

Every piece of text Gala prints on the invitation — the cover line, the Kindly reply buttons, the section labels and titles, the countdown units, the closing line — can also be rewritten directly on the page: switch the live preview into edit mode and double-click the text. Section titles you have already set in their own settings (story, countdown, gifts, where to stay, getting there, FAQs) are edited in place the same way.

How each section is treated

Cover

The programme card replaces the standard header:

• The cover line (option 5) in gold small capitals
• The stage — your cover photo between the velvet curtains, keeping the horizontal crop you set, or the closed house curtain when you have no photo, with the crest (option 3) on the keystone
• Your event name in Gilda Display. Long names step down a size so they never break mid-word
• The date, the time and the place under a gold rule — the time follows the Show time setting of your invitation's cover, the date and the place follow Show date and Show location, and every guest sees the date you picked, whatever their time zone
• Your dress line (option 4), when you typed one
• Kindly reply — a button that scrolls to the RSVP form. It only appears when your RSVP section is visible, and never on a save-the-date page
• The silk tassel, hanging from the top corner of the card

Section heads

Each section opens like a page of a programme, centred: the section's label in gold small capitals between two short hairlines, its title in Gilda Display, a gold rule with a small lozenge and, for the story and gifts, your subtitle or gift message.

Message — a letter from the hosts

Your message on a sheet of the heavy card with an embossed border and a gold ornament in each corner, under a letterhead with the crest and a gold rule. A short message is set in Gilda Display; a long one switches to the reading face and aligns to the start of the line.

Countdown — curtain up

Every unit hangs in a small gilt frame with your velvet inside it, its number in Gilda Display and its name in gold underneath. When the page opens, a velvet curtain inside each frame rises, one after another. It counts down to your event's date and time in the venue's time zone, and shows your completed message once the moment arrives.

Gallery (Carousel)

Your photos hang like portraits in a foyer: each in the same gilt frame with a fine card mat, two to a row on a phone and three on wider screens (two for two photos, and a single portrait for one).

Story — programme notes

The story of your cause, your organisation or your hosts as a timeline: a gold hairline runs down the side of the page and every milestone hangs from it at a small gold lozenge, with its date in gold small capitals, its title in Gilda Display, its text and its photo in a small gilt frame. Every milestone is set the same way; one without a date or a photo leaves that part out.

Itinerary — the programme

The evening on one programme card with a double gold frame. Each day is an act, its date or label set between two gold rules (a day heading appears only when the day has a date or a label). Every entry is a programme line: the moment in Gilda Display, a dotted leader ruled across to its time, and the place and any note beneath. An entry without a time has no leader. Entry icons are not shown.

RSVP — the reply card

"Will you join us?" with your RSVP deadline under it, and the reply form on an engraved reply card: an embossed groove and a gold hairline with a gold ornament in each corner, and the crest seated on its top edge. On a save-the-date page the card holds the save-the-date note instead of the form.

Location, Gifts, Event Details and Save the Date

These four sections share their structure with Fotify's other picker-coloured designs (Meridian, Thread, Prism and Duotone), dressed in Gala's card and gold: heavy cards with a gold hairline pressed inside the edge, gold small-capital labels, Gilda Display titles and buttons in your velvet (gold on the black card).

• Location — a map card beside an address card with your address, your directions and an Open in Maps button. When a map can't be shown, the map card draws a pin with the venue's coordinates; without coordinates the address card spans the row
• Gifts — every registry, payment option, charity and wishlist item is its own card in a grid, grouped under small labels (with a count) when you offer more than one kind. For a fundraiser, add your donation pages as charities or payment options. Payment details sit in an inset box with a Copy button, and long account numbers wrap inside the card. Pay links, scan-to-pay QR codes and wishlist reservations appear as buttons on each card
• Event Details — your dress line (option 4) under the section title when you typed one, then a card per topic: dress code with your suggested and avoided colours as swatches, where to stay with each hotel as a mini-card (distance, price range, promo code, notes and a Book button), getting there with an icon for each kind of transport, and a full-width FAQ card where each question opens on tap
• Save the Date (Calendar) — one card with the title and the event date on one side, and Google, Apple (downloads the calendar file) and Outlook buttons on the other

Closing

A closing card with a double gold frame: the crest, your closing line (option 6) in Gilda Display, a gold rule, the date and place, your dress line and a Kindly reply button.

Sections that use the shared layout

These sections keep Fotify's shared layout and are dressed in Gala's style:

• Photo upload, QR code, Table assignment, Playlist, Sub-events, Special treatments and custom sections

Each sits in the same column as the rest of the page on a heavy card, with titles in Gilda Display and buttons in your velvet (gold on the black card). Photos in custom sections are capped in height so a tall portrait never takes over the page.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Where do the letters in the crest come from? A: Only from the Crest monogram option, exactly as you type them (up to 3 characters). Leave it blank and the crest shows an engraved star; Gala never makes initials from your event name.

Q: Where does "Black tie" on the cover come from? A: From the Dress code line option, exactly as you type it. Leave it blank and no line is shown. The dress code card in your Event Details section is separate and keeps its own text and colours.

Q: Can I use Gala for a corporate event? A: Yes. Set the velvet to your brand colour with Pick any color, choose the ivory or black card, and put your organisation's initials in the crest. Use the Cover line for something like "The Board of Trustees requests the pleasure of your company at".

Q: I picked a light colour. Why do the drapes look like pale silk? A: A clearly light colour (champagne, a pale yellow, white) becomes a light silk velvet rather than being darkened into a different colour. The text and buttons around it are adjusted so they stay readable.

Q: I don't have a cover photo. Will the cover look empty? A: No. Without a photo the stage shows the closed house curtain in your velvet, lit by a soft pool of light.

Q: Does Gala work in right-to-left languages? A: Yes. In Hebrew and Arabic the layout mirrors: the tassel moves to the other corner, the story's line runs down the right side and the programme's leaders run toward the times on the left. The stage is symmetrical, and the cover photo's crop stays as you set it.

Q: Does the page move? A: Only gently: the cover settles as the page opens, the tassel sways a little, and the curtains in the countdown frames rise once. Guests whose device asks for reduced motion see a still page.

Next steps

• See How to Customize Your RSVP Invitation for the template gallery and how to try a design on before applying it
• Compare the other formal designs: Milestone, an embossed keepsake card stamped in foil, or Heirloom, an engraved black-tie wedding suite
• Let guests share their photos with a QR code: read about Fotify for corporate events and digital invitations with RSVP

Need help? Get in touch through the in-dashboard help widget.