DIY Wedding Forum

Advice needed for DIY invites!

(I didn't know if this should go here or in "Invites and Paper," but ultimately decided to post here. Forgive me if I should have posted in I+P!)

Is anyone doing their own Save the Dates/Invites/Programs etc.? I figured it would be an awesome way for us to save money and add personal touches because I'm pretty crafty. I already designed a STD that we love, but now I'm trying to decide if we should have them professionally printed or print them ourselves on our home printer. Cardstock appears to be pretty expensive, but I think it'll still be cheaper than having them printed. Any suggestions?

Re: Advice needed for DIY invites!

  • We did our own invites and thank yous - I bought cardstock from Staples, and we took it to the UPS store for them to copy (we could have just used the UPS cardstock as well).  Turned out wonderfully.  Just be a little careful with colour - I painted red and yellow roses, and the yellow turned out a bit brassy through their copier.  Not enough that I needed it changed, but enough that it was the first thing that drew your eye.
    **The OMH formerly known as jsangel1018**
  • Thanks so much, @mrscomposer! I appreciate it! :)
  • I also designed my own STDs and I printed them myself on cardstock. I made them like postcards and I love them! :) It was a pain in the butt to cut them all out into the right size/shape (like a postcard) though, hours were spent! lol So if yours aren't the full size of the paper maybe swinging for a pro printer to print the exact size will be worth the trouble? 
  • Catprint has decent prices if you're worried about printing yourself. I used them for STDs with postcards and will use for invites. The quality has been great so far. They offer cutting if you want or you can choose the correct size of paper for your format. :)
    Wedding Countdown Ticker
  • I designed the Save The Dates for my sisters wedding and she had them printed through vistaprint. If you sign up for their emails they send out some kind of coupon at least once a week. She was able to order 200 postcards for less than $20 I think.
    image
    Wedding Countdown Ticker
  • Awesome! Thanks so much for all your wonderful input, ladies! I will definitely be going with a professional. Keeping my eye out for Groupon deals and coupons. :)
  • Catprint has decent prices if you're worried about printing yourself. I used them for STDs with postcards and will use for invites. The quality has been great so far. They offer cutting if you want or you can choose the correct size of paper for your format. :)
    I second Catprint. We used them for our STDs. I was super happy with the quality, and I love that they let you have a physical proof.
  • We did our own invites, programs and TY cards. For the invites and programs, we used Michael's templates. In their wedding aisle, they have boxes of invites/programs, so we used 40% off coupons (can get in the Sunday paper and on your phone) to buy them and then printed them at home. Once you buy them, you go to the website on the box and type in the UPC code to download the right template. It's extremely easy.

    We bought a new printer for the whole process to make sure they were good quality. We were both really happy with the results and the printer was a good investment.
    *********************************************************************************

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  • Wedding chicks has a few DIY STDs that I used for mine, since i wanted to add a photo. I got them printed at our local printer and stuck it to some cardstock and added some magnets. 


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  • edited January 2015
    i plan on doing my own STDs!
  • I made my own invites (using a template i bought on etsy) and printed them myself.  If doing it over again, I would have definitely had them printed for me. It was just a hassle printing and cutting the card stock.  
  • jv523 said:
    I made my own invites (using a template i bought on etsy) and printed them myself.  If doing it over again, I would have definitely had them printed for me. It was just a hassle printing and cutting the card stock.  
    Same experience here. I'm glad I saved a lot of many but it was time consuming.
  • @minttobemrsb and @kat1114 I checked out CatPrint and I'm really pleased! They have way more paper options than VistaPrint, Staples, and WeddingPaperDivas etc, at a way cheaper price! I've requested a sample kit of papers and envelopes. Can't wait to finally order my save the dates!! Thanks so much for your recommendations! I really appreciate it! :)
  • An idea for all the annoying cutting - sometimes, even if it's cheaper to print them, you can take them and have them cut by a print shop. I know Office Depot costs $3.00 for 250 sheets, quarter cut (so postcard size). It's worth doing to me for the lack of frustration. I can't cut a straight line to save my life.
    Daisypath Wedding tickers
    image
  • Vistaprint has an option to upload your own designs for your Save-The-Date cards, and you can wait (if you can wait) for a sale to get them cheaper:

    http://www.vistaprint.com/gallery/IEEAYAYBAAAAAAA=/invitations-announcements/save-the-date.aspx?xnav=IandAHub_ProductTiles_1_A3T_cta1

     ~ K

  • southernbelle0915 said!  Also if you download the Michael's app on your phone the coupons are available.  I also get mailers now too since I have signed up. :)
  • edited May 2015
    Hey all--thanks again for all your advice! We ended up going with CatPrint (per @minttobemrsb and @kat1114 's suggestions) and they came in yesterday! Very pleased with the results and can't wait to get these babies sent out! We will most likely work with them again for our invites. They were very wonderful to work with! :) 

    (Edited to remove pictures--too much personal info!)
  • minttobemrsbminttobemrsb member
    First Anniversary 5 Love Its First Comment Name Dropper
    edited February 2015
    Hey all--thanks again for all your advice! We ended up going with CatPrint (per @minttobemrsb and @kat1114 's suggestions) and they came in yesterday! Very pleased with the results and can't wait to get these babies sent out! We will most likely work with them again for our invites. They were very wonderful to work with! :) 

    Awesome! I'm so glad it worked for you. Your STD is very pretty! I love the craft paper :) We did postcards to save on postage and everyone really liked them. Then invitations will have these two pieces plus a business card size insert with the website info. Sorry for the quality- taken from my phone. 

    edited to take pics down. I don't like leaving them up since they have our names on them. 
    Wedding Countdown Ticker
  • @minttobemrsb Thank you so much! :) I really enjoyed getting back in touch with my crafty side... it feels a lot more personal knowing that I designed them myself! 

    Your invites look awesome! I'm so glad to know that others have also taken the DIY invites approach successfully. I'm so energized and excited to do more DIY-ing now!
  • @minttobemrsb Thank you so much! :) I really enjoyed getting back in touch with my crafty side... it feels a lot more personal knowing that I designed them myself! 

    Your invites look awesome! I'm so glad to know that others have also taken the DIY invites approach successfully. I'm so energized and excited to do more DIY-ing now!
    Thanks! Same here. I'm a crafty person anyway so I figured why not. I agree that it feels so personal and proud almost. I started everything early so that I don't get overwhelmed. I'm adding ribbon to wrap around and act as a band. I'm not DIY-ing too many things (some thing are best left to the professionals lol) but the things I knew I could handle while saving a ton of money!
    Wedding Countdown Ticker
  • I ordered lots of samples from Minted and Wedding Paper Divas and got an estimated on what I wanted, and then I decided to DIY them. I bought paper and envelopes at PaperSource with a 20% off coupon, and I got our envelope liner from Staples with a 10% off coupon. If there isn't a PaperSource near you, you can shop online. This ended up saving us about $400, and they look great. 
  • Attn, @nzigah01, promotion of your Etsy shop is against The Knot's forum policies.
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