If you’re planning and financing your wedding yourself, there are many ways to creatively save money without sacrificing style and elegance. In regard to wedding invitations, these come with numerous decisions to make. You must consider the design, font, weight of paper, ceremony card, reception card, RSVP card, directions card, envelope, writing of address, and postage. And all of this just to invite people to the actual event!
Before you begin to stress remember, you can cut down on the complexity and cost of wedding invitations in a few different ways. You don’t have to completely cut out a traditional paper invitation to cut down on expenses. From traditional to do-it-yourself to digital varieties, you can adopt various techniques in order to reduce the cost of your wedding invitations
Traditional
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Opt out of the extras
If you choose to design and purchase your invites through a traditional printer to send in the mail, there are some decisions you can make to cut down on the cost. One option is to opt out of unnecessary items. Save the date cards, separate cards for the ceremony and reception, and a directions flier are all non-essential pieces of an invitation. You can simply tell your guests the necessary information such as date and location. Thus, you can reduce the amount of pieces considerably without sacrificing the elegance of a traditional and professional print job. If you prefer to have an invite with several pieces, you can shop around for great package deals, keep your eye out on groupon, and negotiate a price with either a professional printer or even an Etsy vendor.
Forgo fancy envelopes
Aside from all of the elements of the invitation, you must also consider the envelopes. To save cash for your traditional invites, opt out of fancy envelopes that have design elements printed on them. Additionally, deciding against a square envelope will save you on postage since the postal system charges more for square envelopes. Though it is the first part of your invite your guests will see, it’s also the part they will throw out, so don’t spend too much on envelopes.
DIY
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Create a pdf and do your own printing
You can still do paper invitations without using a professional designer or printer. With an elementary understanding of graphic design and an accessibility to decent software, try designing them for yourself or have a close friend do it for free. If you’re not the creative type, you can search for free printable versions online. With a decent color printer at home, you could save a ton by downloading the free template, filling in your info, and printing them on card stock.
Craft them yourself
Another DIY option is to craft them yourself or with a few friends. This can actually be a great activity for you and your bridesmaids to do together. Find a design you love and copy it using supplies from arts and crafts stores. Remember to keep your eye out for sales and coupons to maximize your craft supplies for the least amount of money.
Do a photo invite
Another unique digital idea is to do a photo invite. This is a very popular option for save the dates, but can transfer to the invitations, as well. The necessary information for the invitation is fairly limited, and you can include a link on the photo that takes your guest to your wedding website with all the information they will need to be able to RSVP and attend your wedding. Depending on your printing capabilities, you could also print these at home, or for a fairly low cost through a local photo center.
Address them yourself
The last part of the invite process is something you can easily do yourself: addressing them! Professional calligraphy is extremely expensive. You can either write them out yourself or choose a font you love and easily print labels for the envelopes.
Digital
Image Source: mydigitalwedding.com
Invites and RSVP’s through your wedding website
Many couples are now choosing to do all save the dates, invites, and RSVP’s through some online forum. If you choose to design a wedding website, there are many companies that offer to invite and RSVP directly through the site as part of the package. This option keeps everything not only low cost, but also streamlined and organized as all the information is in one place – both for you and for your guests.
E-mail your wedding invitations
I know what you’re thinking: send an e-vite for my wedding? Yes. Well, yes and no. That is certainly one option. You can certainly find some websites which will send your wedding invitations for free. Or, if you are willing to invest a little money, you can move up to a higher echelon of sites which give you more elegant designs, still for an affordable price. Also, this option is environmentally-friendly. Paperless Post and Greenvelope are two popular options.
General
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Plan ahead
No matter what you ultimately decide on for your invites, make sure you plan ahead. Plenty of time allows you to search for deals, discounts, and coupons on items you need to purchase, whether that be professional invites, printing, or craft supplies. It also leaves enough room for you to complete the DIY aspects on your own time. Whether you are simply addressing the envelopes yourself, or crafting the whole design, you want to give yourself plenty of time in order to get them in the mail (or inbox) for your guests.
Always proofread
Whether you are creating them or someone else is, always make sure to thoroughly proofread the original before printing your invitations. The last thing you need is to have to re-print invitations after already spending money on the first batch.
There are lots of unique options for whatever you choose to do for your wedding invitations. Figure out what you have the time and money for, and get started early!
