Today’s wedding invitations come in a dizzying array of styles and colors. From fun and funky to sophisticated and elegant, the invitation can set the tone for your whole wedding. Whether you chose casual or formal, simple or elaborate, one thing’s for sure, invites can take a big bite out of you budget. Did you know that about 5% of a wedding budget goes towards invitations? Custom invites from boutique stores will average significantly more.
Do-it-yourself invitations can be a great option for those of you who have some extra time to devote to assembly, and want to save some money in the process. Gone are the days when DIY meant hours and hours of work, cutting, folding, gluing, and inserting. Today’s DIY invites are user friendly and easy to create on any home computer/printer. We’ve searched the net and come up with some fresh, stylish and affordable DIY invitations we think you’ll love.
This beautiful and elegant invitation from InviteSite features a gatefold design, lustrous silk paper with silver dots and closes with a mocha chocolate double-faced satin ribbon. All DIY invitation sets from Invitesite offer an invitation card, rsvp card and envelopes. Pre-cut, print ready paper and printing templates make it easy to create the finished product . They also offer lots of “how-to” tips as well as instructional video. Prices run around $3 per invite (not including RSVP card).
Want a design that’s all your own? These sophisticated and modern invitations come from EnvelopperInc. If you have an eye for design and want to start from scratch, EnvelopperInc. has a wonderful assortment of high quality papers, envelopes and ribbons. They offer a fabulous selection colors as well as finishes; metallic, textured or vellum. Mix and match colors, sizes and ideas, to suit your style. Visit their Gallery room for invitation inspiration.
I love these invitations from Do-it-youselfInvitations.com. They are fresh, simple and fun. Perfect for a Spring or nature-themed wedding. The invitations, RSVP, and Thank You cards are set up two or more per page to help conserve paper. Simply print the file onto card stock or your choice of paper, cut them to size using the cutting guides as instructed, and your done! You can even go a step further by attaching them to a fancy paper backing and adding ribbons or charms. Make them your own!
These gorgeous invitations are DIY from Martha Stewart Crafts. Compose and print your stationery from your computer, then decorate it with stamps, punches, and embellishments (sold separately). Create a theme by carrying a design element through your invitations, favors, decorations, and thank-you cards.
A few more words of wisdom about DIY invites:
Make sure you give yourself plenty of time and room for error. Work backward from your wedding date and plan to mail the invites out 6-8 weeks in advance. You will most likely make some mistakes when creating the first invitation (or two) so plan on extra time for labor and extra materials for trial and error. Have patience and know that once you get the hang of it the assembly should move along more quickly.
Recruit friends to help. Do you have a few girlfriends who are crafty and would be willing to lend a hand? Why not plan a girls night in, open a bottle of wine and start the assembly line. Turn what could be a tedious chore into a fun get together.
When designing, work backwards. Start with your envelopes. Imagine creating the most gorgeous (and labor intensive) custom invitations and then realizing that your envelope is 1/2 inch too small! Also, sometimes finding just the right color can be difficult. Know all your materials before you get too far into the process.
Print out drafts of your design and proofread… again and again!
The invitation size and appearance may vary a bit from what you see on your computer screen. Seeing it all on paper is a great way to make sure everything is easily readable, and for you to be able to make needed adjustments. Have several people proofread your invitations before you print everything out. Especially people who have never seen it before — a fresh set of eyes is an invaluable resource (and more likely to catch a mistake than you, who has seen it a million times). Read every. single. last. word. Spell-check is not always dependable when it comes to something like an invitation, where you use locations and names of places that won’t be caught whether it’s spelled correctly or incorrectly. Invitations, even DIY invites, are expensive. Too expensive to dump in the trash because of a spelling error or typo.
Good luck! What could be more of a “labor of love” than DIY wedding invitations? So enjoy the creativity and satisfaction that comes with any DIY project. Know that once you’ve created that perfect invite, your are one step closer to you special day!
Sources Weddingbee.com. Check out Mrs. Cupcake’s helpful hints about DIY invitations.
