Make Your Own Recycled Paper Wedding Invitations

Wedding invitations should be special and what better way to make them so by creating your own elegant cards? Of course, that's not the only reason to make your own invites, you can save a lot of money as well! It isn't even that difficult.

The quickest way to get through a large number of invitations is to have a couple of friends over to help and set up an assembly line. You can certainly do it all on your own, but if you have over 100 wedding guests, it could take a very long time! Another time saver is to buy a custom made stamp that has the details of the wedding on it. Choose a script or other flowing font for the stamp.

You will also need recycled paper, colored card stock and ribbon to complete your invitations. The recycled paper can be any type you wish. If you are having a very romantic wedding ceremony, go for one that is creamy with flower petals embedded in it. A beach wedding would do well with a rougher paper made from coconut husks. The options are endless. Look online for paper that you like or to find a source near you.

The colored card stock should not be glossy so it will hold the ink better. If you are running short on time or are doing the invitations yourself, you might prefer to just print the invitations up on your computer and cut the rectangles of card stock out. These will be pasted to your invite cards.

The more elegant option is to use the stamp, sprinkle the wet ink with embossing powder and then heat several of them at the same time to create sleek gold or silver embossed lettering. This takes more time, though and is best done if you have people helping you out.

To begin with, you will want to cut your recycled paper into rectangles that are the size of a postcard, 5" by 3". You can go to any paper store and ask them to do this for you for a small fee. Since they will have the large paper guillotine, the cuts will be faster and neater than if you do it yourself with scissors. As a busy bride, you have more important things to do than sit around cutting out hundreds of cards!

While you are getting the recycled paper cut, do the colored paper as well. It should be ¾" smaller than the recycled paper. The details of the wedding will go on this piece of paper. You should have them pre-printed if you plan to use your computer, otherwise, leave them blank for now. The embossing process will go much smoother if the rectangles are already cut out and you won't be having to measure everything.

Before gluing the card stock to the recycled paper, you will want to stamp and emboss them if you are going this route. Then glue an invitation rectangle to each large rectangle of recycled paper. If you want a special look, you could use wavy scissors to trim the edges of the invitation card stock before gluing it.

The final touch is the ribbon. If you are going with a more rustic look, you might want to opt for raffia instead. Punch two small holes on either side of the card, about ½" in from the edges, in the top edge. Thread the two ends of the ribbon through the holes so they come out in front. Then simply make a neat bow and trim the ends. Most silky ribbons will start to unravel, so you might want to seal the ends by passing them over a candle, being careful not to burn the invitation.

Now that you have your invitations, look for recycled or brown paper envelopes to send them in. Add a sprinkle of fun confetti to the envelope and you are ready to go!