invites/diy really?

calicchc

i really wanted to DIY my invites. why am i the only idiot who CAN NOT figure this out? i went to cards and pockets.com and it just seems difficult. i don't know if i am overwhelmed because its my first look around the site but i feel like its a lot of pieces to have to put together yourself. my problem is i've yet to find an invite that i really enjoy. any recommendations on DIY or otherwise would be great! thanks

itsme32985

I did diy invites, but to be honest in the end I could of paid somebody to do it for me .  I do love the way mine turned out though.

VivaLaDiva405

There are some services out there that create a design for you, and all you do it find the paper to print it out on, and cut and paste stuff. That might be a good place to start, vs. looking at the papers first. You can check my bio for some thoughts. I got my papers from cardsandpockets, but only after I had my design already in my head (and in my inbox!). I had cardsandpockets mount the invitation mats to the pocket folds, but really that's all they did for me. I am cutting and pasting everything else. Cardsandpockets does offer their own printing services and they are very reasonable rates - all you do is send the the PDF of your design and they put it all together. You can email them for a quote once you have your design done. A lot of gals just make their own in PowerPoint! I left it up to a designer, but with input on the major points like "i like swirls" hee hee :-) and "vertical, not horizontal" and "names on top, text down below"... etc...

jaimelody

I'm doing my invites myself and honestly, it's saving me a TON of money. You could always find an Etsy seller to create the file for you to print. It's very easy. Or you can use MS Word, or PPT from what I've heard from some girls.If you order before Nov 15th you get 25% off your invites on Cards and Pockets - you have to use the code on their site. Also, if you look to the left there's a little link that says Invite Kits. That lets you order a whole kit of what you need for 10 invites. So it's the pocket fold, the invite, one invite mat, and I think 5 inserts as well as 1 reply card and 1 reply envelope. Really not a bad deal. 

calicchc

thanks guys! if i can workup the courage ill give it a go.

kewltif

What is your budget? From some DIY invitation girls, I heard they still didn't save much money. What I did was order from a personalized invitation company (Koru Events) and then I saved like $200 by my mom glueing the invitations together for me. She is extremely crafty with a sharp eye.

calicchc

our budget is 1000 but i love to spend much much less. we need about 150 invites.

kewltif

How many guests do you have?

kewltif

I spent 802 on invitations for 288 guests and I can show you can see pictures in my bio, mine were pretty nice (IMO)

calicchc

ooh i like urs! thats similar to what i want...something kind of ornate but still very pretty. not stuffy. im going to check out that website. for 288 guests how many invites did you actually purchase?

kewltif

I think it was somewhere between 125 and 140. I can't remember exactly since I did have a good amount left over but I also did have some people with kids on the same invite. I believe I paid $5 and change per invite. I recommed Koru Events (who I used for ivites) and Jessica's Design Shop who I used for my other paper items (equally creative and well priced)

calicchc

i think i've looked at jessicas design shop on etsy. how do you like these in purple? i think im over DIY. too much to wrap my head around http://tinyurl.com/ya5djfl

kewltif

I think those are very cute! I absolutely LOVED working with Jessica. She was one of my favorite vendors. Her response time was ridiculously quick and she was very willing to change things and do edits (as opposed to other vendors who tell you 1 edit per price or whatever).

calicchc

thats so great to know. i tend to like to make changes..lol i found invites i fell in LOVE with but they arent pocketfold and they just didnt feel...."wedding" enough to me. http://tinyurl.com/ylpprzv i really need to get on it though because i wanted my STD to match the invites and we really need to send those out. FI is getting antsy about them and i'm starting to feel the pressure.

kewltif

These are cute too, but I like the first one better. My STDs didn't match my invites directly. I picked them out about 9 months before my invites! They were the same basic color scheme but different design. I don't thin I could rave enough about Jessica. I fear saying too much and people thinking I'm a vendor! That girl is amazing to work with! I remember meeting up with her in a parking lot on the way to my cousin's babyshower and I was a couple minutes late and she said, "My husaband was like, did you take a deposit will this girl show up?! And I knew Tif wouldn't stand me up." I felt the same way about her! I knew over her dead body would she stand me up with my stuff. So easy to work with

calicchc

i just found one of her designs that i like and i convo'd her to see if she would make it pocketfold. i think i would prefer to deal with a person as opposed to a website. http://tinyurl.com/yfn6vau i like this design but maybe in a different color scheme sorry for using you as a sounding board....FI fell asleep and i'd really like to make some headway on this. poor guy, must be so boring for him whereas i could look at stuff for hours!

kewltif

I really like that one with the multiple pieces of cardstock! No worries, I used to ask DH if he liked soemthing and he would reply yes without even looking at the computer screen. I came to my first bridezilla moment trying to get his opinion on STD pictures and he said, "that one is good" while playing a videogame at the same time. I freaked and said, "You aren't going to look?!" To which he responded, "No one will know the difference anyway!" Yeah, I had a meldown with the, "If no one is going to know the difference then why are we even having this wedding?!!!!" *hangs head in shame*

calicchc

it really is funny how things become when you are planning a wedding. FI cares but not to the same level that I do (he was like, why would we cover a waterbottle with out names? lol!) i'm going to wait and see what jessica says tomorrow. maybe she can even do something custom for me. btw you wedding looks fab! i love having a new wedding website to stalk lol

kewltif

I'm a SLACKMASTER! I have not updated my website since before I got married. In fact, tonight when I told you to look at my bio to see my invite it was probably the first time I took a look at it in 6 months. If you check out my actual photographers website (also in my links) you'll see some other invite pictures. Jessica's Design Shop = Awesome! She did my place cards, menu, and table numbers. Good night! I can't believe how late it is. I'm a rebel

kewltif

By the way, to cut costs and still be creative, I did a band around the back of the invite to hold the hotel, reception, and direction cards. It was cheaper than a pocketfold, but different looking. I would say post wedding there were a few thing I was repeatedly complemented on. One of which were my invites. I heard people say things like, "I brought them to work to show off! I never saw anything like them before." I know on the knot they all seem like yesterday's news, but to "real people" a lot of what we do is still fresh and new

velveena

2 things1. If you go with a simpler layout (just a flat card, not a whole lot of inserts), DIY might save you a bit.  With a pocketfold, what I found was that you don't save that much, but you have more control over what you want.  I did a 4-card pocketfold2. Do NOT buy the cards&pockets pre-cut cardstock for printing the inserts.  These are notoriously difficult to print on.  It works out much cheaper to design the inserts, say 3 to a page, then have them printed at Staples, Office Max, etc.  They will even cut them for you and if you like their selection, the paper is free too.  It was much easier and cheaper that way.

30may09bride

I did custom designed invited from mewpaperarts.com for less than your budget.  I bought 160 and spent a little over $800.  She was great to work with, very professional, and I highly recommend her!  www.mewpaperarts.com

cvl105

I did DIY. Pics in bio. I love how mine came out.  It was a decent amount of work, but well worth the cost savings in the end. I used cards and pockets for everything, except envelopes (which they are now competitively priced on).

VivaLaDiva405

Well said, velveena. I bought the inserts and had a time and ahalf. I'm returning 4 unopened packets!

justkris10

I bought 100 invites and it cost me less than $300 - I had pocketfolds with 2 inserts -- my rsvp cards were personalized with the guests names (to avoid the +1 fiasco) and the RSVP envelopes and outer envelopes were done in the price as well if you want the rec page me