5 Ways to Make Easy and Stylish Handmade Wedding Invitations - By: Delilah H.

These days many couples are paying for their own wedding celebrations. Whether the happy couple choose to fir the bill or be it the lucky parents most of us know that the costs for hosting a wedding can be overwhelming. Many are seeking ways to make their celebration a bit more affordable without sacrificing style and elegance. One great way to cut some costs from the budget is to make your own wedding invitations. You can make your own handmade wedding invitations that actually look like you spent a fortune!
For many brides the invitation is up there on the list of wedding priorities. The invitation is the first impression the guests will receive from the wedding. They set the tone for the entire event. Brides want their invitations to be special, one-of-a-kind, and stylish. The only problem is that you must pay handsomely for style. Ordering from a commercial printer will set you back a couple hundred dollars at least and a lot of times much more. For handmade invitations you could be looking at anywhere from $300 - 400 all the way up to $1000.
By making your own handmade wedding invitations you not only get to customize and stylize them to match your wedding colors and theme exactly, but you will also cut the price of your wedding invitations in half. You get the perfect wedding invitation that is a one-of-a-kind! Here are ten ways to help make your very own perfect wedding invitation.

1. Layer papers! I like to start with card stock as a base. You can purchase card stock by the sheet or in reams of 500 sheets at any arts and crafts store or office supply. Check the scrapbook aisle of the arts and crafts store to find great card stocks in many colors and textures.
Take a piece of 8 1/2" by 11" card stock and cut it in half leaving you two pieces of paper measuring 5 1/2" 8 1/2". Next you need to choose a paper to layer with this card stock to create an elegant invitation. I like to use pretty patterned papers or vellum. Cut these papers in half as well. Print your wedding invitation text onto the patterned paper or vellum. Next trim the edges of this paper about 1/4" all around so that it is smaller than the card stock. Now attach the two papers together with glue, ribbons, or decorative brads. Viola! You've got an easy and beautiful handmade wedding invitation.

2. Use blank cards! This is a great and easy way to make your invitations. You can purchase completely blank greetings cards online or at retail stores such as arts and crafts supply stores, office supply stores, and many other retail stores. Print your invitations text to the inside of the card and then decorate the outside of the card to match your wedding colors or theme. A great way to decorate these would be to use nice handmade paper or decorative patterned paper. I like to use scrapbooking background paper to decorate these types of cards and add accents such as ribbons or dried flowers.

3. Visit a local copy shop! A great way to make the task of making your own wedding invitations a bit less stressful as well as cut the work load is to visit a local copy shop. Choose the papers you want to make your wedding invitations with and then print out the text for them onto some plain white printer paper. Bring these to the copy shop and have them copy the text onto the invitations for you. They also have other very helpful services such as precision cutting, folding, and scoring.

4. Print onto blank wedding invitations. OK so this option is not as open to customization as making them from scratch, but it does cut costs substantially. To make things even easier you can bring them to the copy shop to have the text copied for you. Overall it will cut your costs in half or more.

5. Print the invitations onto stationary. This is a very easy way to make your invitations that is a bit low key but still elegant. You can buy beautiful stationery from most office supply stores. There are papers that are basically decorative printer papers and you can also buy 100% cotton papers that are quite elegant as well. I recommend printing onto a nice cotton paper and then attaching some pressed flowers to the paper or ribbon.

The best way to start making your handmade wedding invitations is to go shopping and look at some papers and craft materials yourself beforehand to get an idea of what kind of materials you want to use. There are many other crafting tools available such as decorative paper punches and decorative scissors which could be used to go with a more elaborate design, or keep it quick and easy with some of the ideas I show above.

About the Author

Delilah Hatch has an extensive background in the graphic arts and printing industries, as well as a long time love affair with anything related to arts and crafts. She is a stay at home mom and creator and editor to an arts and crafts/ party invitations website www.do-it-yourself-invitations.com

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