How to Make Your Own Wedding Invitations

Ordering wedding invitations from a paper company is not only expensive, it's impersonal. I recently made my own wedding invitations, giving them a hand-made touch I know my guests will appreciate... and here I will provide a step-by-step guide by which you, too, can create your own wedding invitations for less.

1. The Basics

Shop at places like Target and Office Depot for affordable, imprintable wedding invitations. You don't have to use plain card stock paper (unless you want to). I found some really beautiful Anna Griffin invitations at Target for about $25 for a box of 25 invitations and envelopes, and 25 reply cards and envelopes. Even at that, it's a lot cheaper than ordering just the invitations for $3 a piece (or more) from a place like FineStationery.com.

2. Design Something Nice

If you have a program like Adobe Photoshop on your computer, take advantage of the ability to use layers, and play around with the sizing of your text... making sure you stay inside the printable area according to the instructions provided with your imprintable wedding invitations, of course. With my invitations, I made each line of text a different size, to mix it up a bit and give it a modern-classic look.

3. The Font is Everything

Pick a readable font to type all of your invitation in. You'll want something scripty, but if it's too slanted and the letters are too small or loopy, your guests won't be able to read a thing on the page. Here's a tip: find something you can read clearly from five feet away from your computer, without squinting (I used SandyTextHmk Bold). You can even go to sites like urbanfonts.com and search for a font to download that will fit your criteria... Just be careful of viruses.

4. Format Before Printing