Wedding stationary is one area brides-to-be can really save money. A quick look online at wedding stationers like Wedding Paper Divas shows that even the cheapest simple wedding invitations cost from $1.59 per invite, and then only if you order over 125 invitations.
This article shows how to make your own very cheap wedding invitations that are stylish and modern, yet totally affordable at just a few cents per card.
DIY Wedding Invitations
The key to making DIY wedding invitations cheap is to keep it simple and to cheat a little, by using your computer to do most of the written work. All an invite needs to do is tell your guests where and when the wedding will take place; it doesn’t have to be a work of art and you don’t need to spend hundreds of dollars on something most people will throw away after the wedding.
Depending on the size of your wedding, you may be able to make all the invitations yourself; if you need to send out more than 50 invitations, however, you can always use the skills of your bridal shower girlfriends to help put them all together after you’ve decided on the final design.
How to Make Your Own Wedding Invitations
Before setting out to make your own wedding invitations, go along to your local arts and crafts store to see what paper and card stock is available. There will usually be a big display stand with every color of card and fancy paper you can imagine. A4 card/paper is usually the size available in the most colors, but if you don’t want a half-fold A5 size card, then you can always cut the card to make smaller invitations, saving even more money in the process.
Pick a color to match your wedding theme and decide on some complementary colors to use for designs on the card. In the picture above, for example, I used a purple base card with pink and white parchment paper for the heart designs. I also used a contrasting metallic purple gel pen to add interest to the design. Buy the quantity of card you need together with any other materials like silver pens and metallic thread to assemble your invitations, not forgetting the envelopes of course.
Cheap Modern Wedding Invites
You don’t need calligraphy skills when it comes to creating cheap yet stylish modern wedding invites. Just follow the steps below to make your invitations:
- On a plain sheet of A4 paper, decide on the wording for your invitations and leave a space for a small design feature.
- Open up your computer using basic software like Microsoft Word and play around with the fonts until you find one you like.
- Now print the wording onto your chosen card using a color that is slightly lighter than the card; you can then cheat by carefully writing over the wording with a stylish pen in whatever color you wish, for example, silver as in the above picture.
- Next, choose a simple design to use as a theme for the card. Basic shapes like hearts or stars can be found in your Microsoft word package; just print a few out on a sheet of plain paper in various sizes, decide which size shape fits your card, then print and cut out the final shape to use as a template.
- Using the template, cut out lots of hearts, stars or whatever, using the contrasting colored paper and just glue them to the base card.
- To add style to the invitation, you can print the inside wording on parchment paper and attach the inner sheet using some metallic thread.
Tips for Matching DIY Wedding Stationary
Here are some tips for making use of your stylish wedding stationary design:
- Use the same design on orders of service, the wedding table menu and even on glass candle holders to use as table centerpieces.
- You can also put the design onto RSVP cards if you wish, although e-mails and text messages can be just as effective and don’t cost you any extra money.
- If you have a very large wedding with hundreds of invitations, consider buying your card stock online in multi-packs to save money or negotiate with your local arts and crafts store for a discount.
Budget Wedding Invitations
It’s easy to save money by making your own very cheap budget wedding invitations. Even if the style and design is simple, the fact that they are homemade will show how much work you have put into them and, after all, it's fun.
Sources: Wedding Paper Divas.com accessed February 18th, 2011
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You may also be interested in saving money on your wedding by making your own bridal bouquet, creating your own cheap wedding table centerpieces or learning how to cut costs on your wedding cake.
Helen Smeaton - Helen Smeaton runs a cycling and hiking business and is also a freelance writer and web designer. Read her profile for more information
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