Let me see your invites

I have made the outside of my invite - there are some hitchers who have amazing invites - but here is mine x

Thank you, how did you make them? xx

I should have my three proofs by the end of the week so will flash them then. They are from Follow Studio.

Thanks. xx

Ours was just a plain book - card outer and three pages of A4 folded and stapled down the middle, designed by us and produced by me using nothing more than Microsoft Publisher and a bit of work with Photoshop..

Front cover was a picture of us overlaid on to a forest image (as we're getting married in the New Forest) and "Your Invitation" in a border of Hunter Green, our secondary colour (main colour ivory, of course). The border was much thicker than this but this is the image.

Inside front cover was the invitation information, following pages showing maps, directions, local accommodation and all sorts of other useful information that our guests were likely to ask, and then the RSVP card was a loose insert with stamped reply envelope, and a silk petal (again in Hunter Green). As the RSVP was inserted and not part of the pack, it means that the actual pack stays together and you don't have to tear off anything when you send it back, so nothing gets lost.

These were printed by me on a colour laser printer and mailmerged so that the addresss box was on the rear outer cover in the right place for a C5 white window envelope - so all we had to do was collate, fold and stuff, and not address again.

I custom-wrote an Access database to keep track of our invitations, which includes who was invited to the wedding breakfast and who was invited to the evening reception only, so we were able to put in the correct RSVP invitation when filtered out to afternoon or all day when printed.

It also means we can track who has responded and who hasn't, and what numbers we're looking at at the touch of a button, so we can also then write out at any time to everyone with any relevant information (such as if the day's timings change slightly, or any changes imposed upon us by the hotel such as bar opening times etc).

In many ways, ours were quite "plain and boring" compared to some of the invitations you see round here in little boxes with ribbons and butterflies all over them, multilayered and calligraphied - but many people have commented that they have appreciated having all the information in an easy to read and retain format. It might not suit you, but it suits us.

It might help if you posted a picture of yours if you're seeking opinions - it may be that there's actually nothing wrong with what you have in mind...

Sample 1..

I am awaiting the glue to dry before starting my second mock up invite, this one is a different style to the one above. xx

Mine aren't homemade so no point flashing but if you google "Homemade wedding invitations" you'll get lots of ideas.

Nothing particularly wrong with that - just a couple of comments.

1) Is there a significance in the three hearts?

2) What orientation are the inserts? I'd have thought they'd be top to bottom, rather than left to right as you seem to have it at the moment. It looks to me that you should have the invitation top left and hearts bottom right, rather than bottom left/top right as you do at the moment?

3) Assume the blue is your 'colour'?

4) The only thought is that the end of the ribbon looks frayed - might want a dab of clear nail varnish or lacquer across the back of it before you cut it to final length to stop it fraying?

I'm guessing she just hasn't rotated the photo. Thought that was obvious though.

Thanks, that is where I have got my second idea from.

Not necessarily - wasn't sure if it was a top to bottom or left to right pocketfold, that's all.

1) There is no significance just thought it looked nice..

2) I haven't rotated the photo as didn't know how to.

3) My colours are turqouise, Ivory and Silver.

4) Thanks, didn't think of that one, don't have clear nail varnish or lacquer though. Anything else I could use?

Can't think of anything offhand. You don't need an expensive clear nail varnish though - your local pound shop probably has something perfectly adequate!

Here you go this is what you need:

https://www.calicolaine.co.uk/

I knew there'd be something out there ... will probably grab a bottle of that ourselves as I'm sure there'll be a need when we start thinking about favours etc.

Hey - the cards I bought from craft store - lace type paper is wallpaper - just added ribbon - need more ribon though to finish them - going to print the inside on computer and write names in calligraphy - was not complex, made about 50 of these in one afternoon x total cost was about £36.00 including roll of lace wallpaper which was £20.00 on its own x

I made my own DVD invitations for the day and more traditional style for the evening

My 2nd mock up invite.

This was my first draft... I have an almost finished second draft one now but no photos as yet.

I have now changed the layout of the invitation part and the inserts are now a little 13x13cm booklet rather than individual cards.

All printed on this lovely sparkly card...

The front will have a piece of card and some ribbon... this is the layout

I will put ribbon horizontally across the blank section at the top, about a third down in this style...

but I am having trouble making the bow look as nice as this!

Mrs C, lovely invitations but a small point and only because you say you haven't finished yet.... the "sil" part of your RSVP should be "s'il".

I thought so too but had seen it written both ways....... ?

It's a contraction of "si il".

dont worry aboutthe 2nd draft pic, il see the finished product when it falls on my doormat ?

I ❤️ flow... she so funny! ?

Hiya, I recognise the papers, ribbon and diamantes you have used from the paper mill, whether this is just coincidence I dont know but it seems that way to me. They offer a wedding co-ordinator service in most of the stores. I was one in the Liverpool store until recently when I left to carry on my own wedding stationery business. Its a free appointment service and they will be able to help you. I think you should definitely invest in a good pair of sharp scissors to begin with as theres no excuse for it when you use good scissors, its as simple as that, you wont need to put nail varnish on or anything like that, always cut at an angle and practice your knots so that they come out straight. Also another tool well worth investing in is a creasing board, this will make life much easier for you to get nice sharp creases so you don't have to try and get it straight and neat on your own. These are £8.99ish and then you'll need a bone folder for £1.99 (again if you go to the paper mill they will demonstrate this for you). Hope this helps anyway!

I dont know what u mean Mrs!!!

?

This was my first mock up. I used organza ribbon and found it didn't fray. Got all my cards from a local craft village and downloaded insert templates from the tinterweb somewhere.

buy either grossgrain (slightly ribbed) ribbon as this wont fray when cut....or cut the satin ribbon at an angle...and when you do, dab a very small amount of PVA glue on the ends

also PDA card & craft sell gatefold cards already scored for you

Love the idea of DVD invitation.

It's quite twee but it is our wedding invite!

It starts with an intro to OH- baby pics, big birthday pics etc, followed by one for me. Then it tells the story of our relationship- holiday pics etc, how we met, then our engagement and then goes onto the invite with all the info. All set to music.

It's about 5 minutes long, I had massive fun making it and it went down extremelly well with guests.

Heres the invites i've made:

Hiya,

Your invite looks fine but I understand what you mean.

You just need to have a polished finish.

1) You need to score the card before you fold it, otherwise the paper looks ugly and not neat.

2) I think your ribbon would look more elegant if you tied it in an actual bow.

3) Have you considered a paler blue for the ribbon? It's a matter of personal taste but I would have liked a softer blue or perhaps mix the blue with another lace ribbon(cream?)

4) I assume the invite wordings are going on the blue card inside, Another option would be to write the wedding info on cream/white paper (same colour as the main card), and then stick that to the blue card. Note that the white/cream paper should be smaller so that it looks like the blue card is a picture border.

ps I like your card. It's the same as mine (except colour) but I haven't made a full working prototype yet........