Rock, scissors, paper

Choosing the right paper for your wedding invitations is a bit like choosing the right base for your Sunday night pizza. If it is too thin or too thick, the end product won’t be so inviting. The key word here is quality – cutting corners with paper will only make your invitations look a bit ordinary.

But amongst the cream of the crop there are sill myriad paper options available to you – white, coloured, glossy, matt, thick, thin, textured, smooth, handmade, recycled… To narrow your choices down, decide on the style of invitations you’re looking for and your budget. Here are a few options you might like to consider:

• Recycled paper has a natural and textured look that can be rather classy in an earthy, casual kind of way.
• Handmade paper is a hip alternative. But we’re not talking about the greyish scrap of paper you made in kindergarten with newspaper. We’re talking about amazing handcrafted paper that incorporates decorative elements such as dried flowers, dried seeds or tiny shells.

photo credit: 2bsquared designs
• Simplicity is back in fashion. If this is the way you want to go, you might like to have a look at cotton or linen paper. These papers are the superheroes of the paper family – super strong and super ink-friendly. They have a rich texture to them that will make your invitations look and feel very classy. If you can’t afford 100% cotton or linen paper, you should be able to find cheaper versions blended with other recycled fibres.
• Printed translucent is a translucent high quality paper – a bit like tracing paper – that comes in many weights, colour and prints. When backed with a thicker card, it give a nice romantic touch to wedding invitations.
• Metallic paper is the newest kid on the block. It’s easy to print and comes in all the colour of the rainbow. Plus it gives wedding invitations this modern foiled look.

What’s your type?

Finding the right paper is important but it’s only the beginning – what’s a pizza without the topping? You need to think about the typeface and printing technique that will best suit the style of your wedding invitations.

But not everyone has the money to make their wedding as lavish as they’d like. Despite what you see on TV and in magazines, most people have limited wedding budgets. So, if money can be saved on any aspect of the big event, it can make a difference. If your parents are paying for the wedding; they’ll definitely appreciate it if you save them some money. And if you’re paying for it yourself, then any savings will really hit home. After all, no one wants to begin their marriage by being seriously in debt!

Thankfully, you don’t have to sacrifice the integrity of your wedding day just to save money. With the help of some judicious shopping and following the suggestions below, you can have a terrific wedding or commitment ceremony at  a price that won’t make you wish you had eloped:

Make your own wedding invitations
In years gone by, you would have been laughed at (or pitied) if you wanted to make your own wedding invitations. But nowadays handmade wedding invitations are actually quite chic. Not really a crafty person? Don’t worry. There are an array of free printable wedding invitations that you can download and produce on your home printer. If you want to keep them simple, you can just print and mail them. But if you’re feeling more creative, you can decorate them with purchased three-dimensional embellishments, ribbons, vellum and other extras. As long as you keep them looking clean and classy, just about any style is fair game.

Make your own wedding favors
Try giving your guests something handmade, instead of pricey store-bought wedding favors. Free wedding scrapbook paper can be used to make elegant origami paper sculptures, which will be guaranteed to be one-of-a-kind. If you’ve never made origami sculptures before, don’t worry. There are many wonderful origami templates available for no charge on the web. Make sure you begin well before the wedding, though, since it will probably take a while to generate enough sculptures. To accelerate the process, get your bridesmaids and family in on the act.

If origami wedding favors don’t suit your style, you can use the wedding scrapbook paper and a gratis envelope template available on the Internet to make custom packages for Jordan almonds or even bird seed for your guests to toss as you depart the church or wherever you’re holding the wedding.

If you’re creative, I’m sure you can find many other techniques to cut corners that won’t diminish the ambiance of your special day. In fact, if you decide to “go handmade,” chances are you’ll only add to the charm of your wedding. The Internet is full of money-saving ideas and projects for wedding ceremonies and receptions, so some online research done beforehand can save you quite a bit. that way, when your family is established decades from now, you’ll be able to tell your kids that your wedding was both cost-effective and fashionable.

Just because you choose to have DIY wedding invitations doesn’t mean they have to look second rate. There are literally thousands of couples who have made their own wedding invites that look professionally made, so don’t despair if you haven’t got the budget to pay for custom designed invites!

Here is a great example of a couple who hand made their invitations, yet they still looked professionally made!

If you’re wondering how to make that fabulous pocket fold to store your invitation bits and pieces have a look below for some detailed DIY instructions.

Pocketfold invitations are very popular at the moment, but purchasing them in any great number can get very costly. Making them yourself is a great alternative if you have a strict budget and plenty of time up your sleaves before it’s time to send out the invites. This pocket-fold is constructed from a single sheet of 30cm x 30cm scrapbook card and cost me less than 40¢ to make. You’ll need to visit your local wedding supplies shop, or stationery outlet to get the supplies you need. It definitely makes a difference using good quality card or paper and accessories. The best way to make your DIY wedding invitations look good is to use the best wedding stationery that you can afford.

1. Start with your sheet of 30cm x 30cm card or paper and use a paper cutter to cut it down to 17.5cm x30cm. Keep the remaining piece for making the pocket.
2. Using a Scor-Pal, or a scoring blade and a straight edge, score the paper at 6cm and19cm.
3. Fold along the score lines and use a bone folder to create a crisp crease. Voila! You have the outer folder!
4. To make the pocket, take the remaining 12.5cm x30cm piece of card stock and cut a 9cmx19cm rectangle.
5. Score the rectangle at 1cm on both 9cm sides, and at one of the 19cm sides.
6. To get a nice, clean fold without overlapping, you have to miter the corner. To do this, take your scissors and cut the two bottom corners (where the score lines intersect) at an angle.
7. Fold in the three sides. The edges of your mitered corners should meet, but not overlap.
8. Apply double-sided tape to the 1cm sides.
9. Adhere the pocket to the inside of the folder.
10. Decorate the pocketfold with a strip of paper to create a bellyband to hold it all closed.

And there you have it! One pocketfold ready to house your wedding invitation and accompanying inserts.

Photo Wedding Invitations

What better way to personalize your invitations than by making photo wedding invitations? A picture of you and your other half would be a nice change for your guests to receive, rather than a ‘stock standard’ printed invitation.

If you are having engagement photos taken professionally you won’t even have to go to the expense of another professional photo shoot, as the engagement pictures are perfect for your invitations.

If you can get the photos in digital format then it makes it easy to send to your invitation designer to integrate into the whole invitation theme. If you only have a hard copy, don’t worry as designers can still work with this by scanning it into a digital format.

If you’re on a budget (as most brides are) then you might like to make your photo invitations yourself. Ask a friend or family member with a good quality digital (SLR is best) camera to take some photos for you. If you’ve already got a picture of the two of you that you love, then great! You’re one step ahead.

Once you have your photo in digital format on your computer, simply insert it into whatever software you’re using and continue with the design just like you would any other wedding invitation.

If you’ve decided to make your own wedding invites you might be stuck on deciding the perfect wording for wedding invitations. There are many good websites on the internet that are full of love poems, traditional wedding etiquette invitation wording and tons of funky ideas to make your invites special and unique.