DIY wedding invitations?

Question

DIY wedding invitations?

Answer 1

Sorry other posters, but I beg to differ. Having a separate border does not always look like an kindergarten art project if it's done properly and quality materials are used. My invitations were done this way & I was told by many people that they were the most beautiful wedding invitations they had ever seen. That being said, I didn't do it myself, I paid an artist to do them. I thought maybe you would like to look over her gallery for ideas on how to do it right... scroll down the page to see lots of projects; most with glued borders! http://www.momentaldesigns.com/wet-paint/



Look through her whole site; she has many beautiful designs and ideas. I used her tree invite. The leaves and flower petals were my wedding colors, green & plum. One of the things that make her invites stand out is that she uses metallics to hand-paint the little details and you choose border colors that match to make it "pop". I went with a double border of chartreuse and plum and had her add a leaf here or there in metallic copper (fall wedding). They were amazing!



As far as glue type, I can't tell you what to use, but get some extra card stock and practice gluing them together so you use the right type of glue. You want to make sure it doesn't stain through the stock or chunk up and leave a bump. And make sure it is strong enough to hold together after they're mailed. Read this board I found for a discussion on the best adhesive for card stock...

http://boards.weddingbee.com/topic/best-adhesive-for-stardust-paper



For envelopes get the ones that are the same size as a half-sheet of paper (8.5 x 5.5). Make your largest border slightly smaller, then make each piece to be glued on top about 1/4 to a 1/2 inch smaller depending on how much border you want to show. You can probably get a good paper cutter and cut everything yourself. Keep in mind that I paid $7 a piece (a splurge on my budget but I only needed 50). You can get a high-end look for a lot less money if you makes these yourself.



If you are artistic and enjoy projects like this, then don't listen to the other posters. In the end, you will end up with something beautiful that is totally different than what can be purchased. Yes, some people don't think it is worth spending so much time on such a small part of the big picture, but half of the fun of wedding planning is working on the details. Concentrate on hand-doing the parts of your wedding that make you happy and hire professionals to work on the parts that don't... good luck!

Answer 2

The printing, cutting, and glueing are extremely difficult to do by yourself or with office max. You are better off buying the card stock in the right size with matching envelopes, than buying large card stock and cutting it. paper-source.com has some in various colors and sizes.



Also, sorry but the backing glued on to the invitation always looks like an art project. Keep it clean, keep it simple. If you want a border, work that into the design somehow.

Answer 3

I agree with the first person also - get the paper in the right size to begin with and build your border into the design rather than attaching a separate piece of card stock. The key to DIY is to keep things simple and not to overwhelm yourself. You don't want to stress yourself out about paper and glue - takes the fun out of the planning process.

Answer 4

This is exactly what I did :) I do graphic design and I also like crafts, so it was pretty easy for me. I just bought sheets of cardstock from staples, printed them out. Cut them down with my own cutter (you can get these at any craft store). I bought precut cardstock in my wedding color (they came with the same color envelopes), and I glued the invitation to the cardstock with rubber cement. I also punched some holes and added a bow, but of course you don't have to do that. I do wish I made the white cardstock a little bigger though, so the red border wasn't so big, but oh well. :)



Pic: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mrsbish/3961808733/

Answer 5

Another option is DIY kits. InviteSite makes uniquely designed invitation kits that you assemble yourself. So you save money but get something very professional looking. They also provide templates for printing yourself but be careful, some papers are not recommended to print on yourself. Some of their papers are hand made and most are eco friendly.

Answer 6

What I did, was I printed my invitations on linen paper, cut them myself with a paper cutter (along with the sheer paper and cardstock), layered the linen paper-sheer paper-cardstock, tied it at the top with a satin ribbon, and put them in matching linen envelopes. I did glue the layers together with a glue stick (one swipe down the center) just to keep everything in line.



But I got a home-made invitation a couple weeks ago where they just used glue, and it looked fine! Just don't put it EVERYWHERE. Keep it off the edges of the top layer and it should work.



Good luck!

Answer 7

Try a test run at home before you spend lots of money on supplies. As for the gluing, I would recommend using scrapbooking glue or tape, something that is repositionable. The tape would probably look the cleanest. But if it's repositionable, you can attach it and remove it again if it's not positioned properly.