How to Make Your Own Invitations

Aren't we lucky these days to have access to technology to do things for ourselves for which we had to rely on professionals in years past?

For years, brides, graduates and party hosts, have had to call on professional printers to produce classy, etiquette-perfect invitations for their upcoming events. People were limited in the fonts, paper sizes, graphics and colors used in their invitations to the offerings made by each particular printing house.

Today, with access to computers, printers and photocopy machines, you can produce professional-looking invitations at great savings.

I keep an idea file which consists of invitations have I received. There may be some wording on an invitation I liked or it was made with an elegant paper or it may have contained an eye-catching graphic. I never reinvent the wheel when I can steal a good idea.

Begin with a word processor or typewriter. You may use the wording on an invitation you have recently received as a guide, or you can come up with your own unique format. One source of wording for wedding invitations can be found at http://www.2020site.org/wedding/churchwedding.html.

For graduations and other types of invitations there are also many templates to follow which are easily located on the internet. Perhaps you'd like to try something totally original for your event such as the graduation announcement featured at this web address: http://www.cardsshoppe.com/wording/wording-graduation.htm.

A word processing program makes choosing a font style and size simple and centering and spacing your invitation wording is a breeze.

Once you have the wording set up, you are ready to print the document.

I'm the cut-and-paste queen. While those of you who are more tech-saavy won't have to rely on actual scissors and tape to achieve the desired results, I have discovered that you can simply tape any items onto your printed document and photocopy the page. You shouldn't be able to see the tape or the lines where one paper is laid over the other. If any lines show up on the photocopied paper, it's easy to use white-out to cover them.

You may have already added graphics to your document on the computer, in which case tape and scissors are unnecessary.

Another way to add an image to your invitation is to use stickers. Your local scrap booking store will have stickers appropriate for all occasions.

You should now have more than one person proofread the invitation for you as it is guaranteed you will not be able to see mistakes in your work until after the invites have been completed - at which point any errors will stand out like a beacon in the night.

The next step is to choose paper upon which to print the invite. I favor lightweight marbled cardstock and have found that this type of paper costs about 20 cents per page. Buy a few more pieces of cardstock than you think you will need.

Then place the black and white master in the copy machine. Put it on the glass rather than through the feeder so it can be precisely positioned. Run a copy to be sure that the original is centered. Next put your colored cardstock into the by pass tray. Run one copy of the colored paper to be sure all is well. Now you may run the number of invitations you need.

For more formal events, you may place the invitations in matching envelopes which you can purchase at the same time you buy the cardstock for the invitations. For casual get-togethers, you may simply fold the invitation into thirds and seal it with a sticker.

The picture featured with this article shows an invitation I designed for a bridal shower I hosted a couple of years ago. You will note that names, addresses, email addresses and phone numbers have been obscured to protect the innocent and not-so-innocent.

I used a paper punch to make two holes centered near the top of the paper and threaded a short length of fabric ribbon through the holes. The roll of ribbon was purchased at a local Wal-Mart store for less than $5.00. I cut and pasted the graphic that was featured on the couples' save-the-date cards.

Upon seeing the invitation, the groom's family expressed surprise that I had professionally printed invitations for the shower. It was just the reaction I'd hoped for!

Sources:
http://www.2020site.org/wedding/churchwedding.html
http://www.cardsshoppe.com/wording/wording-graduation.htm