Wedding Invitation Issues

Hello! Congratulations on your engagement!

It depends on what type of invitations you are wanting to send. I hand made ours (50, including rsvp cards) for about £30. This included buying a heart stamp (festive heart stamp from not on the high street) that I will use elsewhere on decorations. You can buy packs of blank cards with envelopes from hobbycraft or on ebay really cheap. I went for kraft card (brown paper style), lace ribbon and a floral patterned wrapping paper as I am going for a rustic floral frenchy theme (getting married in France!). I printed out the inserts to stick inside. Haven't got a pic to hand sorry, but am planning on doing a flash soon!

Another hitcher pointed out a really good website for free fonts that you can download - www.fontsaddict.com which gives much more choice than word etc.

I really enjoyed making the invitations, and plan to make the table plan, menus, order of service / order of the day stuff in the same way! I didn't look into buying online so can't help you much there I'm afraid! x

It's entirely up to you. My friend made hers for 50 and she hated every second of it. I was with her quite a lot as she was getting so stressy/upset over it, and they cost her quite a lot of money as well (ink, card, decorations, bows etc). She also spent a lot of time. She said to me that if she could go back she would rather have spent more money and had them made for her. So I am following her advice and buying mine as I saw what it did to her! ?

I was also really surprised at the cost of invites, didn't think they would cost so much or that I would care so much about how they looked.

I am toying with the idea of making my own, I will be including the invite, rsvp, directions, hotels and taxi companies...and possibly a menu card.

Some websites offer the opportunity to buy samples, so was thinking of getting a couple ideas from those and seeing if I can recreate them.

x

You could make something simple really easy. I had a printer do mine. All they had on the front was "tying the" and then 2 holes where I tied ribbon in a knot. Details inside with a wedding website with all the RSVP, Travel and other details on the website.

Cheap as chips but simple and effective.

I saw some on ebay that I liked and am going to copy that design. they're just simple pocketfolds and inserts.

I ordered the pocketfolds from PDA card & craft as they were pretty cheap and just bought some A4 card to print the the inserts and then cut to size. I plan to do that bit at work in my lunch breaks so I don't need to worry about printing costs ?

We got all of your stationary from Vistaprint; a coupld of evenings on the computer and it was all done. Great quality and there was no way on earth you could have made them cheaper. Why make life hard for yourself?

Hi,

You can guy printable invitations off of Etsy. They aren't as much stress as designing the whole lot yourself but they don't cost as much as ready made invites. Templates start at £15 and go up to £50. You just print and mount onto card (if you wish).

x

I designed my own and got them printed through Sense Creative. About £30 for 100 a4 sized card at 300gsm, folded twice (bit like a menu) To DL size. I think they also do a design service for an extra charge. Then I got a pack of silver DL envelopes for a few pound on eBay.

I'm going to make ours but then I love all that crafty stuff so I'll be in my element. I'd say it depends on how many and if you're that way inclined. If you shop around on ebay etc you can definitely get them cheaper by hand making. I personally don't rate hobbycraft. Expensive and you can find much nicer bits and bobs if you shop around. I made our save the dates. 50 for about £20. They would have cost a lot more to buy. You can actually get really professional, lovely looking invites hand making them. Have seen plenty on here! And some examples online are easy to copy.

I'm a bit like *Mrs M to be* and enjoy all of that crafty stuff so plan on doing everything myself. There are possibly less expensive and time consuming options but it's lovely making them all yourself especially if you like that sort of thing.

I have done it now as gifts for my cousin, my brother and two friends and it's time consuming but I think the maximum we spent on materials was £70 that was for 50 pocket fold day invitations with inserts on coloured card and then mounted on the pocketfold, 50 RSVP cards, 50 gift list cards and 70 evening invites with insert backed onto coloured card and then ivory card. I recommend papermill for card (they have a website) they do a gorgeous shimmer/pearlescent ivory or white card which looks lovely on invitations. Once you have the design worked out on your computer (I just use powerpoint) its easy to print them and create the invites. Top tip would be to find one you like and have a go at making something similar to see how long it takes you and try to work out the potential cost. Another top tip would be a glue tape (like a tippex mouse) rather than wet glue.

I'm cheating slightly. I love the hand-made look but being without a printer and being totally inept with technology in general I have ordered very plain pre-printed invitations costing 50p each and will stick my own embellishments on them. It's costing me the grand total of £49 for the day invitations, evening invitations, rsvps, envelopes and the embellishments so I'm rather happy.

I'm making my own, but then I regularly card make so have lots of equipment and ink etc... already. Haven't actually xosted them yet but am certain they will be xheaper. Also means they are unique and match my colours and themes exactly

I went down the vista print route turned out to be much cheaper x

I hand made ours. The invites, RSVP, menus etc. all in all including all bits for seating plan, tables and order of service I've spent about £70 xx

And this was the RSVP and had to incorporate menu choice xx

I suppose it really depends upon how many invitations you are looking to send out and your budget! DIY can be a great option if you have the time and are fairly creative. On the other hand, without being biased, I have had customers come to me who have gone down the DIY route, having spend quite a lot of money, and then given up in frustration. I would say do what you feel comfortable with. There are lots of cheap craft materials to be bought on ebay etc. But bought invitations don't have to be expensive if they are relatively simple. I have made bespoke invitations for as little as £1.00 each. Do you have a particular theme/design in mind? Please contact me if you would like any help. I may be able to help you myself or point you in the right direction.

Good luck!

Hi emjjarvy!

Your invitations sound great, you dont fancy making me some do you? hehe! I love the idea f going home made as I think it adds a real personal touch. For £30 thats great value too!

Thanks, feel free to keep me updated on any more ideas you get x

Hey Hoddy,

thanks for your reply! This is the problem I'm facing! I like the idea of home made but worried about the cost and time needed to get them all done as were having quite a few quests coming and I don't think the H2B would be too happy if we reduced the amount of family coming

I did find a good site on another forum though that may be of some help to any ladies in my situation! apparently you can customise and personalise these to your likings and its 50% off at the minute!

It might be a winner! Heres the link http://www.youandyourwedding.co.uk/competitions/50-off-wedding-stationery-at-paper-themes/104.html

Keep the advice coming in girls, it really is appreciated. xx

Carly-D90,

Your invites look beautiful, really pretty without being too over the top fancy! Great job!

Think I'm going to shop around and maybe go for an option where i can personalise invitations on a website to save on time. So excited now for the big day!

Any other tips and advice for me? I'm all ears

xx

Mrsjoinson2b,

I too love crafts and everything, hence my dilemma! im trying to get a personal touch without spending days on end making them and spending extra! It certainly is a tricky one!

when is your wedding? All this planning is getting me so excited

xx

MrsOh,

You sound like your in the same situation as me! thank god im not the only one! hehe!

It would be great to get all the different invites needed in the same style and everything as you say!

I know Paper Themes do loads of personalised sets and stuff with the option for samples so they could be worth a look, as I was telling Hoddy

Let me know what you decide to go with! xx

I think I'm going to do something similar; have a cousin who is a graphic designer who can hopefully help me out with layout, then a friend who works at a printers will print them for me, then I'll add some bits on top

Ladies, good news! I think I have finally found my invite! Let me know what you think, be honest xx