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Miss-b
Beginner August 2016

Wedding Stationary! DIY vs Offline

Miss-b, 24 June, 2014 at 12:20 Posted on Planning 0 12

Hi! In everyone's experience have you found making your own wedding stationary works out cheaper vs buying offline for example for a cheapish company?

We are doing away with the 'save the date' card as I personally don't think its necessary and extra expense we can't afford, plus I intend to send out the invites with plenty of time because we are not doing the 'save the date'. So it will be the invites, place name card (but actually thinking of doing something different for that anyway!) we aren't getting married in a church so no order of service necessary.

Without being big headed I am crafty and I don't think I would have any issues apart from time, to make the invites etc but I was thinking that by the time you have bought all the card and accessories will it actually be cheaper? I know looking at threads a lot of you DIY but I'm thinking will I need to buy a guillotine and all sorts!!

We are planning a rustic country theme, but not too fussy!

Thanks Ladies Smiley smile

12 replies

Latest activity by Jens Hand Crafted Stationery, 25 June, 2014 at 16:03
  • BAMS
    Beginner November 2014
    BAMS ·
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    I did mine myself but I was really lucky that we have a fantastic printer at work which they said I could use so I just did my design and then added a bit of bling so they only cost me £1.80!!

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  • Paula @ Ollievision
    Paula @ Ollievision ·
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    My husband made ours. He's an architect so he went and drew the church then used that as the front image for the invite. He used standard text inside (imagine a 3 fold A4 sheet with the church as the first 1/3)

    As it was one sided (before folding) it was photocopied at the printers onto card which was then scored and folded.

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  • mustard_mitt
    Beginner September 2015
    mustard_mitt ·
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    I'm buying ours as digital downloads from Etsy and will then print them on the office printer and then use the office guillotine to cut them up. That's for both STDs and Invites. All in all with the paper, download & printing I reckon it should cost me about £50 for both STDs and Invites and then it's just any extras and postage on top.

    Obviously I plan to reimburse the company for using their equipment but in the past they've allowed people to print wedding stationery for free as long as you ask permission... (and invite the boss!)

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  • ClaireD*
    Beginner May 2014
    ClaireD* ·
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    We were talking about this in a thread last week.

    If you want pretty homemade looking invitations, with embellishments and lots of tabs or inserts for various things, these will probably cost around £4+ each from a card maker. So in theory, you may save some money by making them yourself, especially if you already had bits and bobs at home, and a guillotine already. I didn't take that route through lack of competence, and lack of time.

    You can get stunning graphically designed ones printed as flat invitations or cards that will be a hell of a lot cheaper to do. eg. if you wanted an entrance-ticket style invitation, a chalkboard style one, or any particular pattern like Damsk, these print really well as notecards for as little as 50p each.

    I used to recommend Zazzle for the printed ones, and I still do so for looking at their website for inspiration and to see what's possible, but I have got annoyed at Zazzle recently with their customer service. Got smashing invitations, no problem. Got our thank you notecards printed recently and the printing was slightly off centre which annoyed me. Took 2 weeks of complaining to get a refund, as they ignored my emails for the first 10 days. Luckily I paid with Paypal and submitted a complaint to them too, and they found in my favour, the same day Zazzle also agreed to refund me. Was kinda hoping I might get refunded twice, LOL. Not happened yet....

    Anyway, I'm less annoyed at Zazzle now I've had the refund, and I've managed to trim all the thank you notecards down with a craft knife, meaning I've got the cards I wanted in the end, and for free....

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  • jen-lou
    Super July 2016
    jen-lou ·
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    I think it all depends on what type off invite you want etc., I made ours 100 invites cost around £25 including printing. I went for these from hobby craft

    https://www.hobbycraft.co.uk/craft-uk-limited-5-x-7-inch-scalloped-edge-white-cards-and-envelopes-x50/571901-1000

    so it wasn't too bad and only need the guillotine to cut the insert to stick inside the card. Instead of buying a guillotine I could send you mine when i've finished, it'll only cost you the postage, but I guess it all depends on the size you need and when you need it though (my one you can put A4 paper in portrait only, it doesn't fit landscape). It's up to you though just let me know.

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  • Mrs C
    Beginner March 2011
    Mrs C ·
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    I wanted pocketfolds and they were much cheaper to make myself. I could then also make sure all my other stationery matched.

    I bought all the card from PDA card and craft (Cryogen - you can order singles as samples), printed them on my cheap kodak inkjet and decorated with ribbon from ebay. I can't remember the exact cost but it was definitely cheaper and I had exactly the design I wanted. It does take more time than you think though, so start early!!







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  • LittleSnowflake
    Beginner January 2016
    LittleSnowflake ·
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    Mrs C yours look extremely professional :]

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  • Melancholie
    Beginner December 2014
    Melancholie ·
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    I ordered online from Announce It. They send out a proof so you know what you're buying before you order. They can personalise the invitations and print the addresses on the envelopes for you as well. I got 42 invitations with the complete personalisation package for less than £100 and they look far more expensive than that.

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  • lm1985
    Beginner September 2016
    lm1985 ·
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    I will be making all my invitations for the ceremony/reception and evening. I have bought different sizes also. Managed to get 150 cards for £25. SO i am estimating that the invites and order or service etc will cost about £100. I will have my maid of honour and OH's family to help with making them so they all match. I am also very crafty and make cards so this is the best thing for my creativity to come out in. x

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  • cosmictrout
    Beginner August 2014
    cosmictrout ·
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    We were going to design / print our own but then work went crazy for both of us and we realised we definitely wouldn't have time. So I found this company who make really beautiful letterpress invitations at a very good price:

    www.strawberrysorbet.co.uk

    I highly recommend them, they are wonderful to work with and it was nice to support a small UK business. We have had lots of comments on how lovely the invitations are.

    We then designed our own inserts, which I printed and guillotined at work, and designed a custom stamp from English Stamp Company, which we used on the envelopes.

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  • Miss-b
    Beginner August 2016
    Miss-b ·
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    Thank you so much for the advice ladies Smiley smile

    I think I would like to make them myself as it has the personal factor to it, and its the first hint of your wedding that people get, but with a small budget I just need to be as cost effective as possible!

    jen-lou thank you for the kind offer, I will let you know if I want to take you up on this!

    Mrs C yours look wonderful! And I will definitely be checking out the websites that everyone has recommended!

    Hmmm lots to consider..

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  • A
    Beginner March 2015
    AshleighS ·
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    Wedding stationary is the bane of my life. I have found it to be the worst part of planning a wedding!

    Me and H2B decided against making our own wedding invites as neither of us are very crafty (or so we thought), so instead we trolled through millions of internet sites, wedding fair stalls and magazines trying desperately to find beautiful and affordable wedding invitations - eventually we found some we both liked and booked them asap.

    Then after weeks of debating we decided we really needed Save The Dates as well for both day & night guests as we are having a weekday wedding. However, this time to save on money we attempted DIY Save The Dates & I have to say not only did we really enjoy ourselves they turned out fab! (I think anyway lol) ~
    If I had more time I would definitely have tried my hand at making the invites and I only wish I had given it ago before ordering mine.

    My advice is try it Smiley smile Good luck x

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  • Jens Hand Crafted Stationery
    Jens Hand Crafted Stationery ·
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    Lots of girls on here have made fantastic DIY invitations and their are some great companies around to buy your supplies from. I'm sure you'll get a lot more recommendations to come...

    Just remember to factor in time for making your invites. As a given, some of my day invites takes around 20 minutes each to do, now times that by 50 - that's a lot of man hours! And I have a routine with what I'm doing too Smiley laugh

    So if you plan on DIY invites, I'd start getting ideas together, buying supplies and make a start on having a play with designs, you might take a few attempts until your completely happy with what you want. Remember you need a good RSVP date on them, so work out your time scales and when you want to have them completed by and ready for sending.

    Also start thinking about your wording.. What details you may like to include such as; room rates and codes, directions, addresses of venues, can you use confetti, cash bars, gifts, transportation if your providing any, do you want to include children in your day? It all amounts up but a little but here and there each night will pull it all together.

    Gathering address of those who your going to post to. And remember to take one of your invites to the post office to be checked for weight and measurement to ensure the correct P&P goes on them... After all that making, the last thing you need is your guests having a pay extra and collect their invites.

    i hope some of this helps and good luck! Can't wait to see what you come up with.

    Jen x

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