Inspired by my wife's do-it-yourself flowers article, I decided to tell the story of creating our wedding invitations. When we were planning our Milwaukee wedding, we did go out and browse different wedding invites - wow, they were expensive! Since we were trying to stick to a budget, but still give our wedding its own unique flair, I decided I'd create the wedding invitations myself.
I do have a background in graphic design, as well as many of the graphic design computer programs need to accomplish this task (I mainly used Adobe Illustrator). However, if you have some creative ambitions and a design program such as Microsoft Publisher, you should be able to design wedding invitations of your own.
First you need to think about the format of the wedding invitations and what you'll include. Here's what we had in ours:
- Invite
- Reception card, which tells guests the time and location of the reception
- Response card that guests use to RSVP
- Envelopes
- Address labels
We wanted to brand our wedding, so we called it "Q - A Wedding Event". Out last name is Quigley, which is where the Q comes from. I used this "Q" as a design element throughout the invites, reception card and response card. Our wedding color was blue, so I made each printed piece blue.
Now that I had these printed pieces designed, I needed to get them printed. I used a printer in Brookfield, Heritage Printing. I've used Heritage at work, so I knew I'd get quality work at a good price. If this is your first time designing something, I'd recommend talking with a printer before starting the design to get their specs and the types of files they accept.
With the printed pieces set, I needed to figure out how to mail them. I found these great clear-frosted envelopes, which allowed the invite to show though. I used clear mailing labels on the envelopes, which I also decorated with the "Q" design element.
In the end, the invites turned out great and were much more unique than anything we could have bought in a store. For more information, check out our sister site's page on how to make your own wedding invitations.
Tags: Invitations Budget DIY
