Log in to become a member of David Silva's Fan Club!
Looking for cheap wedding invitations? One of the easiest, most enjoyable, most personal and yet often overlooked sources of cheap wedding invitations is to make them yourself.
There's never been a better time to make your own wedding invitations. A little creativity, a little time, and you can create a wedding invitation that your friends and family will cherish for years to come. Depending on what you include and how much you do yourself, it's even possible to create your invitations for as little as fifteen to thirty cents a piece.
Before you get started, though, keep in mind that you'll want your invitations to reflect the theme of your wedding. For example, a very formal wedding should include invitations which are equally as formal. This generally translates to engraved black, silver, or gold text against a cream or white paper. No graphics. The text is confined to the right, inside fold of the invitation. Blotter tissue is often used for an added touch of elegance.
For a more casual wedding, invitations should be casual, a little more creative and personal. Graphics are fine in this instance. Calligraphy is often used in place of formal typesetting. Personal touches, such as paper flowers or poems or photographs can be included. If you're wedding is a theme wedding, say perhaps a Victorian theme, then your invitations might include a sheet of lace or elaborate calligraphy or a photograph from the era.
This really is your opportunity to be creative. Cheap wedding invitations do not need to appear cheap, nor do they need to restrict the vision you have for your wedding.
Okay, let's begin with how you can create a formal wedding invitation, doing it yourself and saving dramatically over the cost of sending the job out to a professional printing company. First, you have to decide what you want included. There's the invitation, of course. It's sent in an envelope, which traditionally encloses a second envelope to protect the invitation, though this is no longer considered a necessity. There's the RSVP card, which generally includes its own return envelope. There's a reception card if the reception will be at a different location than the wedding ceremony. And finally, there's a card with directions detailing how to get to the wedding.
Of course, not all of these options are necessary for each and every formal or traditional wedding. You'll have to decide which ones are right for your particular needs and which ones you can comfortably live without.
Now, in creating cheap wedding invitations for a formal wedding, you don't want to be too artsy-craftsy, and you don't want to find yourself facing a huge printing bill. Fortunately, there's an alternative that can give your invitations a very elegant, appropriate appearance while costing very little ... wedding invitation kits.
These come in a wide variety of choices, from beautiful printable invitation sheets ($3.95 for 50) to blank, rich and luxurious card stock ($8.00 for 50). You can find everything from complete seal and send invitations to cotton handmade papers. All you do is complete the design on your computer and run the invitations through your home printer or take them to Kinkos.
These kits can easily be found online simply by doing a search for "wedding invitation kit." You can also find them locally, often at your office supply store or at general retail stores such as Target. To spruce them up even more, pick up tissue paper sheets from your local arts and crafts store, cut up the sheets and include them as blotter paper in your invitations. You may even be able to have them embossed through a service such as Kinkos, though this will add significantly to the overall cost.
For the less formal wedding invitation ... just about anything goes. For instance, a handcrafted card on heavy, cream-colored paper with a sheet of tissue paper is more than sufficient. If you'd like to make it even more personal and unique, you might add a photograph, or have a friend who is skilled at calligraphy write out each card individually. Paper flowers can be a nice touch. Poems, too. Or your own artful design.
Your local craft store should have a variety of wax seals, embossed seals, fine vellum papers, multi-colored ribbons, and other items you can use to make each invitation even more unique and personal. The key is that you're investing your time in place of the often out-of-reach expense of ordered wedding invitations. The end result, however, can be invitations that are truly yours, that friends and family will cherish for years to come.
Cheap wedding invitations don't have to be poorly made, embarrassing representations. In fact, more so than ever before, with a little creativity and smart shopping you can save a small fortune and still have the wedding invitations of your dreams.
Pick up your copy of Anna Sher's new ebook, Money Saving Weddings, and learn more invaluable tips and tricks to saving money on your wedding. And don't forget to visit Anna's blog: Wedding Planning.
The author of this article has chosen to make this article available with free reprint rights. Click here to copy this article.
Disclaimer: All information on this site is provided for informational purposes only! By no means is any
information presented herein intended to substitute for the advice provided to you by any health care or other professional
or organization.
