Making Your Own Wedding Invitations

Guide to making your own Wedding Invitations

Step 1 – Choosing a design

Firstly you will need to either create a new design or you will need to find a design that you like and would be able to re-create.  If you choose the later option then if possible it may be a good idea to order a sample to see how the invite has been made.  This will give you a good insight into what materials and accessories you need.

Top Tip - we would like to offer is to avoid printing any parts of the design unless you have a very good printer.  Most home printers are not really up to the task of creating a professional look.  Obviously this doesn’t include the insert text that will need to be printed.

Step 2 – Finding all the materials required

Once you have selected your favourite design the next step is to make a list of all the materials you will need in order to be able to re-create the look.  There are many internet based companies that will sell you the required materials at a very competitive cost.  If you cannot find something that you require you can always join one of the various wedding or craft forums on the Internet.  Here you will find many helpful people that will be able to point you in the right direction.

Top Tip – Buy the minimum qty of each item you require and make a mock up sample first.  You don’t want to buy everything you need only to discover that something is the wrong colour or you actually don’t like the design.  Some internet retailers will also send you a free sample colour if you ask them nicely.

Step 3 – Assembly

The next step is by far the most important when making your invites look as professional as possible so it is worth investing the extra time and care.  Before you start it is a good idea to consider two very important key questions –

1)      How will you cut your material?

2)      How will you glue your material?

Firstly we will take a look at the cutting aspect.  You will need to consider how much cutting you will need to do when you consider what equipment to buy.  For example if you have a complex design and you need to make a lot of long straight cuts then it may be worth investing in a guillotine.  You can pick these up over the Internet for as little as £30 so they needn’t cost the earth.  However if you only have a small amount of cutting to do then you may only require a pair of scissors.  Again you can pick up a very good pair of scissors from many internet based craft shops for as little as £4.00.

Secondly you will need to consider how you will glue each item to the card.  The main types that are normally used are – PVA glue, Pritt Stick, Spray glue, double sided tape and a glue gun.

• Pritt stick is ideal for sticking paper to paper as it dries slowly allowing you to correctly position the objects and doesn’t soak into the paper.

• Spray Glue is again perfect for paper but it can get a little messy if you have not used it before. 

• Double sided tape is again perfect sticking paper to paper.  Although very difficult to re-position once the tape has made contact with the paper.

• PVA glue is good for very small jobs and holding reasonably heavy objects in place.  Avoid using it to stick paper to paper as it gets soaked up creating a wave effect.

• Glue Guns are also useful for gluing heavy objects onto paper but can be messy if you’re not careful.

5 essential tips when making your own wedding invites

1)      Allow yourself plenty of time to plan and make the invites.  Time quickly slips away when you have many different things to organise for your wedding.

2)      Request as many samples as you can afford.  Remember a good picture can make a bad invite look good and vice versa.  They will also give you a good insight to how the invites are made.

3)      When choosing the design make sure you consider that the invites will need to travel through the post.  There are companies that sell small boxes for them but this will increase the overall cost.

4)      Make sure you calculate the full cost of making the wedding invitations and other stationary items to make sure you are saving money (if that is your main goal).

5)      Most importantly have fun and be creative!

Finally, why make them, when you can buy them for less than the cost of the materials?