How to Make Your Own Wedding Invitations

Ordering wedding invitations from a paper company is not only expensive, it's impersonal. I recently made my own wedding invitations, giving them a hand-made touch I know my guests will appreciate... and here I will provide a step-by-step guide by which you, too, can create your own wedding invitations for less.

1. The Basics

Shop at places like Target and Office Depot for affordable, imprintable wedding invitations. You don't have to use plain card stock paper (unless you want to). I found some really beautiful Anna Griffin invitations at Target for about $25 for a box of 25 invitations and envelopes, and 25 reply cards and envelopes. Even at that, it's a lot cheaper than ordering just the invitations for $3 a piece (or more) from a place like FineStationery.com.

2. Design Something Nice

If you have a program like Adobe Photoshop on your computer, take advantage of the ability to use layers, and play around with the sizing of your text... making sure you stay inside the printable area according to the instructions provided with your imprintable wedding invitations, of course. With my invitations, I made each line of text a different size, to mix it up a bit and give it a modern-classic look.

3. The Font is Everything

Pick a readable font to type all of your invitation in. You'll want something scripty, but if it's too slanted and the letters are too small or loopy, your guests won't be able to read a thing on the page. Here's a tip: find something you can read clearly from five feet away from your computer, without squinting (I used SandyTextHmk Bold). You can even go to sites like urbanfonts.com and search for a font to download that will fit your criteria... Just be careful of viruses.

4. Format Before Printing

Print out at least one test sheet on a plain piece of copy paper before you start printing the real invitations. That way you can check the formatting, and make sure your words aren't going to be running off one side of the invitation, before you accidentally ruin one. Once you have the formatting right on the test sheet (you can check it by placing the test sheet over the invitation, and seeing if the words line up where they should underneath), you can start printing the real ones.

5. Check Your Ink

Before you start printing, check the amount of ink you have left in your printer, so you'll know if you need to run out and buy a new print cartridge before you begin printing (I did). You won't be happy if your invitations start printing out with lines through them... Also, make sure you have your print settings tweaked to just the right ratio of quality and economy before you begin, so they won't be too light to read, but they won't be overloaded with ink, either (and smear, as mine did at first).

6. Hand-Feed The Monster

After several tries, I came to the conclusion that it's better to hand-feed the invitations into your printer as you print them... This means that you empty the paper supply of your printer and put only one sheet in at a time... It takes longer, but you will be much happier with the results. If you just put a stack of card stock or vellum paper in your printer and try to make 15 or 20 copies (or more), you'll have some that will pull two sheets through at a time, and some that will just get caught in your printer and jam it up (we had a big problem with that, since we were using vellum paper). Hand-feeding is a much more reliable way to go.

7. Assemble The Masterpiece

Depending on what kind of invitations you get, you may or may not have to assemble your invitations after printing. Mine, for instance, had a piece of elegant card stock with a pre-printed design on it, a piece of vellum (on which you print the text for your invitation) to go on top, and a ribbon to tie the two together. They looked beautiful when put together, but I had to assemble each of them individually, by myself. (Here is when friends and family really come in handy, if you have a couple hundred invitations to send out.)

8. Don't Forget Reply Cards

If you're wanting an RSVP from your guests, the classic way to get it is by using a reply card. They're very simple to print, and are usually included in most Wedding Invitation Kits. Just make sure you also print the address you want your guests to mail them back to on the corresponding envelope, and include a stamp for good measure.

9. Extra Thoughts Count

For out-of-the-way destinations, it's always nice to include a map, or directions at least. I went on mapquest.com, typed in the address of our location, and took a screenshot of the map that appeared, which I then cropped to show only what I wanted in Adobe Photoshop. After that, I divided a letter sheet into quarters and printed the maps 4 to a page, with directions underneath each. It's relatively easy to create something to help your guests, which they will thank you for later. And you can even add a personal note on the back side of the map to explain what you'll be going on to do after the wedding, or just to thank them for being a part of your life and say how much they mean to you. Your extended family will appreciate this especially.

10. Seal Them With Style

A great way to finish off your invitations is with a seal on the back of the envelope. You can buy elegant-looking sticker seals (in fact, some invitations even come with them), or you can go all out and buy sealing wax and a stamper (as we did). It adds a very personal touch, especially since you can choose from many different kinds of stampers, allowing you to pick out just the design you want--and you can even choose what color of sealing wax you prefer. It's the final touch to creating a set of unique, personalized invitations.

You don't have to spend a lot of money on your invitations to make them look great. Overall, we spent less than $2 a piece on ours... and I'm really proud of them. Take a little time to work on them, and you can create something beautiful, that your guests will treasure in years to come.