Making own invites - where to start?

Hi ya

Did you want a hand finished look to the card s or did you want a more contemporary printed style?

Handmaking your cards can be very rewarding but the finish does need to be of a good quality to stop them looking like you've made them IYSWIM. Also, is heart's going to be your theme? Will you be having red in your colour theme/flowers/outfits etc? If not, what are your colours?

Research different styles of invitations by using google images to find designs you could use.

If you wanted a printed invite that you designed, you can use/buy copy right free images from www.istock.com. It is only £7.50. For example if you were using hearts there are all of these images/illustrations to choose from (sorry long link)

http://www.istockphoto.com/file_search.php?action=file&oldtext=heart&oldTextDisambiguation={"language":%204,%20"maps":%20[]}&abstractType=1023&fileTypeSizePrice=[{"type":%20"Image",%20"size":%20"All",%20"priceOption":%20"1"},%20{"type":%20"Illustration%20[Vector]",%20"size":%20"Vector%20Image",%20"priceOption":%20"All"},%20{"type":%20"Flash",%20"size":%20"Flash%20Document",%20"priceOption":%20"None"},%20{"type":%20"Video",%20"size":%20"None",%20"priceOption":%20"1"},%20{"type":%20"Standard%20Audio",%20"size":%20"None",%20"priceOption":%20"1"},%20{"type":%20"Pump%20Audio",%20"size":%20"None",%20"priceOption":%20"1"}]&text=heart&textDisambiguation={"l":%201,%20"m":%20[{"t":%20"heart",%20"l":%201,%20"c":%20["1_20831"],%20"cA":%20["1_20831",%20"1_20469",%20"1_2453",%20"5_123"],%20"ts":%20[{"tID":%20"5_123",%20"la":%20"Heart+Suit+(Card+Suit)"},%20{"tID":%20"1_2453",%20"la":%20"Human+Heart+(Human+Internal+Organ)"},%20{"tID":%20"1_20469",%20"la":%20"Animal+Heart+(Animal+Internal+Organ)"},%20{"tID":%20"1_20831",%20"la":%20"Heart+Shape+Symbol+(Conceptual+Symbol)"}]}]}

Handmaking can work out cheaper though it depends on quanity thickness of card for printing and if you are having additional pages printed for RSVP and information page. Ebay is definatly the place to buy things for card making but Hobbycraft and the Range are also very good.

HTH

Ruth

x

I made our invites and got all the stuff from wedding crafter, i bought a sample pack first to have a play about with and that cost about £3, like you ive never made a card in my life but i dont think i did too badly........................

It cost around £50 for everything to make 60 invites - 30 of each, that included the inserts and envelopes.

I have just posted the invites today!!!!! ?

Hi ? I am making my own invites, and I started by going to paperchase and buying a couple of card blanks and some coloured paper, and the local sewing shop for ribbon, then I made some mock-ups with blu-tack. H2b is printing the inserts at work so that saves us a bit too. It does work out fairly cheap (I'm paying around £100 for 80 invites plus the postage cost) and once I've made the invites I think that making all the rest of the stationary will be easier too!

These sites were really useful:

http://www.weddingcrafter.co.uk/

http://www.thehandcraftedcardcompany.co.uk/

http://www.ribbonoasis.co.uk/

I think handmade invitations can still work out quite expensive. I used Vistaprint for mine - they were Fab and very cheap. They have thousands (OK maybe hundreds) of templates and you can manipulate them to create what you want. We paid less than £40 for 60 invitations (with envelopes) and 50 magnets (little keepsake reminders).

I really am tempted by Vistaprint GeordieBarbie. Not expensive and no hassle too

Which ones did you go for?

I used www.pdacardandcraft.co.uk for my card and inserts and they are fab - really reasonable and have a huge selection of cards and colour. They deliver really quickly too.

I think my invitations - around 120 in total with envelopes cost me £80 to make

I ordered a banner from vistaprint a few weeks ago and it's still no come! Glad i ordered it early! It's to go in the back window of the van and says"Just Married, Mr and Mrs Tonner, 18th June 2010" with rainbows and stars hehe! I wish it would arrive

Cool!!! Which delivery did you choose? First time I used the slowe delivery - 21 days - but it came bang on time. Second time i did the middle one (7 days) and was only late cos of the postal strike!

Quality was really good - couldn't complain - and yes, less hassle!

This is the one we chose from Vistaprint and the 2nd pic is how it looked after i'd changed it ?

I got the 21 day deliver but i can't even remember when i ordered it haha! I use snapfish for everything, comes in 4 days!

Hobbycraft is a good place to start if there's one near you.

I don't think it works out much cheaper but I think you have to weigh up the satisfaction of having made your own invites (and then everything else that goes with it to match, names places, order of service, menus, table plan etc etc), against the professionalism of having them printed.

Personally, I would love to make my own but don't think I would ever have the time or the patience, and don't think I would get them anywhere near as nice as some of the professionally printed ones I've seen.

Good luck tho, let us know how you get on.

I bought my card from pda just like Gillsy. Its precut & will fold to make pocketfold invites. 50 cards cost me £30 & they're a cool irresdient (sp) colour. I'm intending (if i ever get round to persuading H2B for us to start making them) to print the inserts at his work or mine to save costs on plain white paper. I'm looking forward to making them & think its something else that we can do together towards the wedding (if i can do them 1 handed!!).

I think you could end up spending more on making them yourself if you/'re not careful as there's so much out there but if, like us, you're making them as you're on a tight budget chances are you can make them for whatever you can spend on them.

I mad my own and I think definitely cost me a lot less than buying them, I bought the card in A1 sheets and cut it down. I think card was about 15 pounds, paper was about 12 for 200 sheets (but bought a lot more then I needed and I had inserts on doubled-up paper ) envelopes were about 15 pounds for the invite and RSVPs and thats about it - just some glue I guess. it did take me absolutely FOREVER to make them though!

as you can see its just paper stuck together and folded. I used a flower-shaped hole punch for the envelope - also was really cheap from tesco.

22tango, they are BEAUTIFUL!

How did you design the where to stay and information cards?

As we have a baby of 9 months, I think giving myself the task of making invites as well as Cake/Jewellery/Table Decs/Table planner etc etc is a bit much. I do need to write my own Information cards though, and will just print them on good quality paper on my Mums printer

Now...just to decide on which design to go for...so many choices!!!

Thankyou for all your help ladies x

Thanks Loubs!

the info cards are all the same width but different lengths - so each one is slightly shorter than the other - that way they show the title only when you stack them up. they all have the text and the line on the side in the same place - so basically you work on the same document and just change the text and re-save it, then cut it shorter than the previous one.

I don't know if any of this makes sense..... I found it easier to do 4 text boxes with a frame so once they are all printed up you just cut it to the frame.

Wow Tango they're stunning. Well done you, soooo creative. What size is the main part of the invite?

Did you have to buy some fancy software for the design, its really lovely! They look professionally made. Maybe you've missed your vocation

They really are lovely invites! i would never guess they are hand made.

Ive dowloaded some fonts from a site that i found by googling then you dont have the same boring fonts that are on microsoft. There are LOADS to choose from! then i have bought a flower cutter and cut out 3 flowers in the corner of the card i printed the details on and stuck it on a larger squared colour paper and the n stuck that on a larger white squared card. Hobby craft is good.

Can i ask, where did you get the design/images from? I love them!

I just got all my card through from PDA on Friday, and I too am anticipating it taking me forever to print and stick together 170 invites! Ah well, we dont have a social life coz of saving for the wedding so its not like I have anything else to do! lol

Thanks for the compliments, as some of you may know I'm the least organised hitcher and haven't done much WP so far so its nice to have something to flash! lol. Lucy, i drew the images in Illustrator - just leafs and lots of flowers, the birds I made ages ago for something else so just 'recycled' them. I'm lucky to have illustrator and photoshop etc which really helps. Im a graphic designer but haven't done any illustration in ages (work in-house for a cosmetics company - not v exciting at all). I think my dream job would be to do things like this and make money so I don't have to work in a place I absolutely hate with a mental boss ! ☹️

Wow, im very impressed, its lovely. could i be really cheeky and ask if i could pinch the design in some way?? Dont worry if thats not possible or if you dont want to!! To be honest, if i had created something so lovely, i wouldnt want to share!!! ?

sure go for it, sharing is caring! (or is it the other way round?). let me know if you need anything.

Just getting even cheekier now........ dont suppose you have an image file with the bird and flower design?!?!?

Sure - my PC has crashed and OH is in the process of wiping everything and then re-loading (and shouting!) so I'll have to wait untill that's back up and running before I can send / do anything though. what's your email I'll drop you a line.

That'd be great, thanks! is there a way of giving you my email without the whole world seeing?? im rubbish with computers!

YHM

Ive emailed you. ?