Planning a wedding on a budget requires creativity to ensure that you save money as much as possible, while still achieving a beautiful wedding. One area for potential savings is with your invitations. Professionally printed invitations can cost you at least $3 each plus postage, but you can make your own DIY wedding invitations for a fraction of the cost!
Here are some of our best tips for saving money when making your own wedding invitations.
Start by looking at pictures of wedding invitations online for inspiration. When I did this, I found that one of my favorite styles was layering, with multiple colored papers stacked and glued together. This style of invitation can be costly to purchase, usually at prices of $3 per invitation or more. However, this look is simple to create on a tight budget if you’re willing to DIY.
Craft stores and other retail outlets should have a variety of specialized cardstock that will suit your needs. Try shopping online for your papers, you can find really great deals and online coupons that might not be available in store. Purchase colored card stock in the color you want for the back of your invitation and cut it to a size that fits in the envelopes you want to use for the invitations.
A good paper cutter can really help if you’re planning to make DIY wedding invitations. If you don’t have one, you can usually find them available for use at copy shops. Additionally, you could consider purchasing one at your local craft store– just don’t forget your coupon! If you need to order it, be sure to check shipping quotes so that your overall cost still fits into your budget.
Format the text of your invitation to fit on a page ½-1″ smaller than your large pieces of card stock. (For example, your cardstock pieces might be 5″ x 7″ and your smaller paper might be 4″ x 6″.) Once you have the layout completed, print a test invitation and cut it down to size. You’ll want to get an idea of exactly how the finished product will look. Consider using a pre-created invitation template or design them yourself in Canva.
Unless you’re doing some sort of foldable design, you’ll need to purchase wedding envelopes. Whether you want a classic square flap design, a euro-flap envelope, or envelopes with gold foil edging, there are many options for where to buy envelopes for your wedding invitations. Check out this post with some of our favorite websites to buy wedding envelopes.
You can easily print your DIY wedding invitations at home using a basic inkjet or laser printer. Just make sure you have plenty of ink! If you’d rather have your stationery professionally printed, we recommend using Overnight Prints to print your wedding invitations.
Pro Tip: Flat Printed Invitations will be more affordable than other methods of printing.
Many couples include RSVP cards in their invitations, but this is an added cost because of the cards and envelopes, especially if you pre-stamp the envelopes. One alternative is setting up a free wedding website where guests can RSVP online. Just say “RSVP at www.weddingwebsite.com” on your reception card. Alternately, give an RSVP phone number or email address.
If your wedding and reception are taking place at different locations, you may need to create a reception card as well. This card is usually about half the size of your invitation and is printed on coordinating paper. It should include information such as where the reception is taking place. If there is room, you can also include hotel information or a wedding website on the reception card.
The last step is to create an assembly line to put together your invitations. A piece of double-sided tape across the top of your page with text is the easiest way to hold it to the colored card stock. Another idea is to punch two holes through both layers of the invitation, near the top, thread a piece of ribbon through and tie it in a bow on the front. Stuff your envelopes, stamp and address them, and you are ready to go!
If you aren’t hand-addressing your invitations, you could consider printing the addresses onto your envelopes. You will need to start by making a spreadsheet of your guest list addresses. Then you can use Microsoft Word or InDesign to do a mail merge to export your guest addresses into single file format. Then, you can print your addresses onto your envelopes, or onto sticker labels to adhere to your envelopes.
One final consideration before digging in on your project is the cost of mailing your invitations. Before finalizing the paper, envelopes, and contents of your homemade invitations, take a completed test invitation to the post office to see how much it will cost to mail. If your invitation weighs more than one ounce, you will have to pay an extra 20 cents in postage to mail each one. While 66 cents in postage doesn’t seem like a lot, it can quickly add up, particularly if you’re planning a big wedding.
I’m going to walk you through the process of how I created my 3-Layer DIY Wedding Invitations myself, using my graphic design software and printing at home, as well as all of the costs involved in doing so.
The invites are 3 layers in different shades: Seaglass, Opal, and Ice Blue. The paper I purchased will yield the 3 pieces for each invite, plus a response card and map card to also go inside the envelopes. The Ice Blue layer is the only printed layer of the invite itself. I used the custom print size settings to print the design onto the top layer of the invitation before assembling the layers.
I created cutting templates so that I could take the papers to Kinko’s to get the papers cut. They charge $1 per cut.
Their industrial paper cutter can do exact measurements and cut 100s of sheets at a time. It cost me $16 plus tax to get the paper cut.
It was so worth it- imagine cutting 100s of pieces of paper and trying to do it accurately! Save yourself the headache and take your paper to Kinko’s! I cannot stress this enough.
Get the Layered Invitation Cutting Templates Here:
PRO TIP:
A Note About Cutting: Be sure to print your designs on your paper BEFORE trimming/cutting. I didn’t do this, and feeding the pre-cut papers through my printer was an absolute NIGHTMARE. Take it from me… you don’t want to do that. I highly suggest printing the designs (multiple on a page) first and then having them cut or cutting them yourself. Save yourself the agony. Trust me.
I assembled the invitations with a tape runner I purchased at Walmart. You can see the assembly process below. I just centered the layers using my best judgment and attached them with the tape runner.
In total I spent $167.85 for all the papers, but if we want to break it down to cost-per-invite, here’s the tally:
Back Layer: I got 2 pieces (5 x 7 inches) of SeaGlass per sheet
(100 sheets for $54=.54 per sheet) so that is .54/2= .27 per piece
Middle Layer: I got 2 pieces (4.5 x 6.5 inches) of Opal per sheet
(100 sheets for $21.95=.22 per sheet) which is .22/2= .11 per piece
Top Layer: I got 3 pieces (4.25 x 6.25 inches) of IceBlue per sheet
(100 sheets for $54=.54 per sheet) which is .54/3= .18 per piece
For the reply cards (3.5 x 5 inches) I got 5 pieces per IceBlue sheet which is .54/5= .11 per piece
Envelopes were .19 apiece
.27 + .11 + .18 + .11 + .19= .86 PER INVITE for the paper.
As far as printing, I printed them myself on my home printer. COST= FREE! (See some DIY printing tips here.) My printer kept telling me the ink was low, but I was able to finish the job. I printed 100s of sheets with no quality loss, so thankfully I didn’t have to replace the original cartridges.
Instead of messy glue sticks, I used this amazing product: the Scotch Tape Runner. You can find in the crafting section at Walmart, but you can also order it on Amazon. I got one of these and 2 refills. They cost around $5-7 for the dispenser, but the refills are a little less. These little runners were so easy to use and work great, so I cannot recommend them enough.
If you factor in the cost of the paper, cutting, and other supplies, it adds up like this:
$16 for cutting + around $15 for the tape runners= $31.
Divided by 125 invites= an added .25 per invite.
So… add that to the .86 and that’s about $1.11 total, with assembly costs.
That’s it, folks!!! And they are under the weight limit you won’t have to pay extra postage!
Plus, I still had tons of paper left over to use on other crafts like Menu Cards, Signage for the wedding, etc. I was so thrilled with my savvy accomplishments… I can’t even tell you.
I’ve gotten lots of questions about my DIY Wedding Invitations so I decided to share them here as a bit of an FAQ. Please feel free to ask additional questions in the comments:
I scanned in the swirly ornament from a stamp I had and then repeated it to make the pattern. If you aren’t a professional designer, there are plenty of great Printable Wedding Invitations from our friends at Download & Print. I also created several Free Printable Wedding Invitations for you to use!
I laid out the invite in Adobe InDesign, which is professional design software. You can get a free 30-day trial here, or sign up for a subscription.
I started knowing that I wanted a layered invitation. I created boxes in InDesign in 3 different sizes in my colors to make the 3 layers, then I centered them to see how they would look once printed.
To make the cutting templates, I just created a box the size of the layer I needed cut. So for instance, the backing layer was 5×7. I created a new file and placed as many 5×7 boxes that could fit on a standard sheet of paper. That number ended up being two for the 5×7 size. For the smaller pieces like the RSVP, I was able to fit up to four per page.
The font for the monogram is Delouisville, which I found a free download on Dafont.com, a great site for free fonts. The other two fonts are MrsEaves and Bickham Script Pro. If you’re looking for premium wedding fonts that are inexpensive, you could browse Creative Market!
You don’t need a fancy professional printer, I just used a basic home inkjet printer. My current favorite is the Canon MG 7720. Depending on the type of finish of the paper you use, you may be better off using a laser printer.
I wish I could tell you some magical trick, but honestly, I eyeballed it. One key factor was the precise cuts by Kinkos. Those perfectly squared cuts made it much easier. If you’re worried about this aspect, I definitely suggest getting your paper cut professionally.
Thankfully, I was able to print to the edge of the pieces on the top layer of the invite. However, printing on custom-sized paper was a challenge. It took a long time and lots of scrap paper to figure out the perfect printer settings. It was more of a headache than it was worth. I recommend printing your designs on standard letter size, and then getting them cut to size.
If you’re willing to invest the time and energy into DIYing your wedding invites, you can save money!
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Note: This post was originally published in 2014. I no longer sell editable templates or offer customizations, and have closed my membership.
I have been receiving a lot of emails asking if I thought making our own wedding invitations were worth it, or if it would cost the same to custom order the invitations instead. I hope this post helps you determine what is best for you.
I did a lot of research on invitations to check pricing before deciding to make our own. I knew I wanted something really special and it just wasn’t in our budget to buy exactly what I wanted, which is why I decided to go the DIY route. Not to mention I love playing around with Illustrator and Photoshop when I have the time and enjoy a good challenge. I actually made my sister-in-law’s invitations a couple of years ago and had a lot of fun with it. However, if you are short on time or prefer something more simple without the lace/twine/ribbons/buttons, then it may make sense for you to buy custom invitations, or even buy a digital file to print out on your own. Yes, it will most likely be less expensive to make them yourself, but you have to decide if your time is worth it.
To cut down on time you can even download my FREE Printable Wedding Invitation Template from this post.
Total: $154.26
I already had the paper trimmer, glue, scissors, printer and ink on hand. I also already had the kraft paper but I included it in the amount above anyway since that may be something you are less likely to already have. We made sure to have enough material for 50 invitations but ended up having a lot of extras. So even if you need to send out 100, 200 or more wedding invites your cost could still be worth it!
In fact, we used cardstock paper for our mason jar drink tags and straw flags. The extra lace and ribbon was used on our DIY wedding wands, jute twine was used for banners and tags and also with leftover buttons for the boutonnieres and my fabric wedding bouquet. The craft punch was used for our DIY S’more Kits, and we still have tons of cardstock paper (and other items) left over! So we definitely got our money’s worth.
Here are a few photos showing some of the products being used on other projects:
I printed out the guest addresses and our return address on each envelope because my handwriting sucks and I wanted them to look pretty, lol. Most companies charge to do this. I did also buy clear round Avery labels to print our monogram on and place on the back of the envelopes. They were $15 for 120 labels and you may or may not want to do this regardless of whether you DIY your invitations or purchase them. There are also other options such as round kraft stickers or personalized labels you can buy at craft stores or at online shops like Etsy, which would probably be less expensive. You could also use washi tape. I just had to go with what was in stock and nearby because I sorta procrastinated and was trying to send out the invites at the last minute, woops.
Here are a couple examples of what it would cost to order invitations from a couple of my favorite invitation shops. I’m going to base these off 50 invitations so you can compare it to what we made:
Minted:
50 Invitations & white envelopes @ $147
50 Enclosure cards @ $102
Total: $249 and this does not include the pocket fold envelope, any embellishments or printing addresses on the envelopes
Love vs. Design:
50 Invitations & white envelopes @ $130
50 Enclosure cards @ $115
Print return address on 50 envelopes: $27
Total: $272 not including printing guest addresses on envelopes, pocket fold envelope, or any embellishments
Magnet Street:
50 Foldover Pocket Invitations @ $300 (it is waaay less expensive the more you buy – $355 for 100 invitations)
50 Enclosure Cards @ $62.50
Print Return Address on 50 Envelopes: $22.50
Total: $385 not including printing guest addresses on envelopes, or any embellishments
Wedding Paper Divas:
50 Invitations @ $139.50
50 Enclosure Cards @ $79.50
Total: $219 not including the pocket fold envelope, any embellishments or printing addresses on the envelopes
You may know of another website that is cheaper but I was finding that just the invitation alone was close to what it would cost me to make our invitations with all the extras. I know that not everyone has the time or patience to DIY their wedding invitations, but if you do then it may be totally worth it. We mostly worked on these at night or during the weekend, and yes even my (now) hubs helped out.
That will depend on your budget, how much time you have, and if you enjoy working on the projects that personalize your wedding. For us it was definitely worth it, I love the way they turned out AND the fact that I get to share them with you!
Please note that the amount of postage will depend on how thick your envelopes are after adding the embellishments, this is regardless of whether you make them yourself or buy them with embellishments. I believe the invitations cost us about $0.80 each to mail. However, it’s always a good idea to check with your individual post office for rates depending on how thick or uneven the envelopes are.
I hope this helps you decide what is best for you. So, are DIY wedding invitations worth it for you?
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