Riad Template — Complete Guide

Riad is an invitation built like a Moroccan courtyard house. Your cover photo stands in a horseshoe arch whose band is laid with zellige — glazed geometric tiles — in a colour you pick, framed in metal mouldings with a star for a keystone. Pierced metal lanterns hang either side and glow. The countdown is set in star-shaped tile medallions, your story is told through arched windows, the evening's programme runs down a tiled path, the gallery hangs in a colonnade of keyhole arches, and the reply card is bordered in tiles and sealed in metal.

Riad is one of Fotify's simpler designs: its look comes from one tile colour you choose — any colour at all — plus the walls, the tile pattern and the metal.

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

Riad 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 Riad different

Standard templates change colours and fonts over the same shared layout. Riad 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.

Signature design elements

A horseshoe arch — your cover photo in a keyhole-shaped arch with a band of zellige, two metal mouldings and a star keystone, set in a rectangular metal frame
Zellige in your colour — the tiles are drawn, not photographed, in three patterns: interlocking eight-point stars, a carved lattice of octagons, or arabesque flowers of interlaced circles. Your colour is the main glaze, paired with a classic second glaze (a blue meets saffron, an emerald meets terracotta) on a cream grout
Lanterns — two pierced metal lanterns hang beside the arch, their light coming through star-shaped piercings, with a soft flicker
Three walls — whitewashed lime, the warm rose of Marrakech, or an indigo night
A carved lattice screen — the page closes on a mashrabiya-style screen with lantern light behind it and an arched plaque in front
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
Made for Arabic and Hebrew — titles are set in El Messiri, drawn for Latin and Arabic together; Arabic body text reads in Amiri, a classical naskh, and Hebrew in Frank Ruhl Libre

When to choose Riad

Riad suits celebrations that want warmth, pattern and lantern light:

Weddings — above all Moroccan, Andalusian and Middle Eastern weddings, or any wedding in a courtyard, a garden or under the stars
Henna nights — pick the indigo night walls and a saffron or pomegranate tile colour, and rewrite the cover line
Engagements — a page in your own colours, with your photo under the arch
Family celebrations and parties — rewrite the cover line and the section labels in edit mode

Riad never adds a religious phrase or a greeting of its own: every line you see is either a neutral default or your own words.

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 weddings.

For a South Asian celebration with jharokha windows and henna patterns, try Mehndi. For an Italian coast wedding in majolica tiles, try Amalfi.

Applying Riad to your event

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

Riad 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 Riad options are kept in case you switch back.

Riad options

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

1. Tile colour

The glaze of the zellige, the countdown medallions and the buttons. Pick it two ways:

A suggested swatch — Majorelle blue (default), Emerald, Terracotta, Saffron, Teal or Pomegranate
Pick any color — the last chip opens your device's colour picker, so you can match your flowers or your wedding colours exactly. The colour's code is shown beside the chips

Any colour works. The tiles keep your colour as picked unless it would vanish against the cream grout (a very pale yellow becomes an ochre there). Buttons, the countdown numbers and coloured text use a shade of the same colour deep or light enough to stay readable on your walls. A grey stays grey, with a deeper grey as its second glaze.

2. Walls

Whitewashed lime (default) — ivory plaster
Marrakech rose — warm pink plaster
Indigo night — a deep indigo courtyard with cream text, where the lanterns glow brightest

3. Tile pattern

Eight-point stars (default) — stars of two crossed squares, with crosses between them
Carved lattice — octagons and small squares, a star cut into each octagon
Arabesque flowers — interlaced circles on cream, their overlaps forming four-petal flowers

The pattern you choose is laid everywhere tiles appear: the cover arch, the dado along the foot of the cover and the close, the bands of the message panel, the story windows without a photo, the programme path and the border of the reply card.

4. Metal

Brass (default), Silver or Gold: the lanterns, the mouldings round every arch, the rules, the eyebrows over each title and the seal on the reply card. Where the metal is text it is deepened (or lightened on the night walls) until it reads clearly.

5. Lanterns

On by default: two lanterns hang beside the cover arch and glow, flickering softly and swaying a little, and their light shows through the lattice screen at the close. Turn it off for the tiles alone. Guests whose device asks for reduced motion see the lanterns still.

6. Cover line

The small line over your names, between two stars (up to 60 characters). Leave it blank to use the default ("You are invited"). Try "Together with their families" or "Henna night".

7. Closing line

The line on the arched plaque at the end of the page (up to 80 characters). Leave it blank to use the default ("Our door is open to you").

Every piece of text Riad 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

Riad's cover replaces the standard header. On a phone the arch stands above the text; on a wide screen beside it:

Your cover photo in the horseshoe arch, keeping the horizontal crop you set. Without a cover photo the arch is filled with tiles round a metal rosette
Two lanterns hanging beside the arch (option 5)
The cover line between two stars (option 6), then your event name large, the date and time with a small star between them, and the place in italics. 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
A Kindly reply button that scrolls to the RSVP form. It only appears when your RSVP section is visible, and never on a save-the-date page
A tiled dado between double metal rules along the foot of the cover

Your names are printed exactly as you typed the event name. Long names step down a size so they never break mid-word.

Section heads

Each section opens centred, like an inscription over a doorway: a small label in metal capitals between two stars, the title, your subtitle where the section has one, and a metal rule broken by a star.

Message — the letter

Your message on a plaster panel with a band of tiles along its top and foot, a double metal frame inside its rim and a rosette set into its top edge. A short message is centred; a long one aligns to the start of the line.

Countdown — tile medallions

Each unit — days, hours, minutes and, if you show them, seconds — is an eight-point star of glazed tile inside a metal rim, its number in the middle and the unit underneath. 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) — a colonnade of keyhole arches

Every photo in a keyhole arch outlined in metal with a star keystone: two across on a phone, three across on a wide screen (four photos stand in one row). A short last row is centred.

Story — arched windows

Each milestone is a pointed horseshoe window holding its photo — or tiles, when it has none — with its date, title and text. On a phone the window stands beside the text; on a wide screen the windows stand in a row, the text under each.

Itinerary — a tiled path

Each day opens with its heading on a small plaque (only when the day has a date or a label). A strip of tiles runs down the side of the programme, a glazed star on it at every moment, and each moment sits on its own card beside it: the time in metal, the moment, its place and any note. Only your own entries are shown, in your order; your entry icons are not shown — the star is Riad's marker.

RSVP — the tiled reply card

The reply form sits on a plaster card framed by a border of tiles in your pattern, with a metal rule inside it and a metal seal pressed over its top edge, under the label, the title and your RSVP deadline. On a save-the-date page the card holds the save-the-date note instead of the form.

Gifts, Event Details, Location and Save the Date

These share their structure with Fotify's other picker-coloured designs, dressed in Riad's plaster cards with an inlaid metal line, and icons on small glazed star tiles:

Gifts — every registry, payment option, charity and wishlist item on its own card, grouped under small labels when you offer more than one kind. Payment details sit in an inset box with a Copy button; pay links, scan-to-pay QR codes and wishlist reservations appear as buttons on each card
Event Details — a card per topic: the dress code with your suggested and avoided colours as swatches, where to stay and getting there as small cards (with a Book button where you added a link), and the FAQ as questions that open on tap
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
Save the Date (Calendar) — one card with a strip of tiles along its top, the title, the event date and Google, Apple (downloads the calendar file) and Outlook buttons

Closing

A carved lattice screen with lantern light behind it, and in front of it an arched plaque with a rosette: your closing line (option 7), the date and place and a Kindly reply button. The tiled dado runs along the foot of the page.

Sections that use the shared layout

These sections keep Fotify's shared layout and are dressed in Riad'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 plaster card, with titles in El Messiri and buttons in your tile colour. Photos in custom sections are capped in height so a tall portrait never takes over the page.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Where do the names on the cover come from? A: From your event name, exactly as you typed it. Riad never splits or rewrites it, so write it the way you want it shown.

Q: Does Riad work in Arabic and Hebrew? A: Yes. The layout mirrors for right-to-left languages, and the fonts change with the language: Arabic titles in El Messiri and Arabic text in Amiri, Hebrew in Frank Ruhl Libre. Arabic labels drop the letter spacing and capitals that would break joined letters. The arch, the tiles and the lanterns are symmetrical, so they look the same either way; the cover photo's crop stays as you set it.

Q: I picked a pale colour. Why are the buttons darker than the colour I chose? A: The tiles keep your colour, but text and buttons use a deeper shade of it so they stay readable. On the indigo night walls they may use a lighter shade instead.

Q: Will Riad add a blessing or a greeting to my invitation? A: No. Riad's default lines are neutral ("You are invited", "Our door is open to you"). Anything religious or personal appears only if you type it yourself — in the cover line, the closing line, your message or in edit mode.

Q: Can I use my own photo inside the arch? A: Yes — it is your invitation's cover photo. Change it in the invitation's cover settings; the horizontal crop you set is kept.

Q: Does the page move? A: Only the lanterns, gently: their glow flickers and they sway a little. Turn Lanterns off for a still page; guests whose device asks for reduced motion always see them still.

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 designs with arches and tiles: Mehndi, with jharokha windows for a henna or wedding celebration, or Amalfi, an Italian coast wedding in majolica tiles
Let guests share their photos with a QR code: read about Fotify for weddings and digital invitations with RSVP

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