DIY Invites...Worth the savings? or too much Headache?

nurseamalia

Hi everyone, you are all so wonderful with your advice! Are DIY invitation kits like from Michael's worth it? Im scared that I wont know how to use my printer or spend alot of money on ink and end up not saving at all!!!! and still doing all the work? Whats your experience?

Also, I checked out vistaprint and 123print.com because they are in my budget but they are so simple I would end up buying stuff from Michael's (craft store) to fancy them up anyway.

Very conflicted, please help!

nharwood08

i am in this same delima right now.. Im afraid ink will add up after a while, so I looked at vistaprint.com I am just kind of looking around for the best deal. Im starting to think it will be better to order them rather than making them.

Lisa50

I'm definitely not going the DIY route with invitations.  Good luck with your decision!

KAttanasio

I played around with the idea for a while.  I really wanted to use the metallic cardstock, so I ordered samples from three different paper suppliers online, including pocketfolds and the whole 9.  Then I thought about making pocketfolds.  I made mockups in different styles. No matter what I did, I wasn't happy with the way the design looked and was iffy about cutting cardstock myself b/c I am so type A that if anything wasn't perfect I would be disappointed. 

Even with the DIY, the invites that I "dream about" would still cost about $300.  From vendors, they were all about $5 each or more.  I just can't justify spending $300-450 on invitations for my wedding.  Almost everyone will just throw it out!  I can't put all that money and time into something that will just make it into the garbage.

With all that said, I have messed around with a VP design and will be ordering them with a 50% offer.  100 invites + 100 envelopes= $45 including shipping!  The envelopes may be of poor quality so I might either line them or order new ones from elsewhere if they are very bad.  I also might add a few rhinestones to jazz them up a bit.  (Also, VP offers advanced editing on their invites, in which you can sometimes change the entire color scheme!)

Sorry this is soooo long.  But, there are other routes that will save money and can still be very nice. 

HTH!

SaraAndrew2010

I briefly considered going the DIY route with invitations, but decided to buy them online instead.  For me, it was just too much work to make my own invitations.  Don't forget that your own time (and sanity) has value, so even if you save a little money DIY it may not be worth it.  But it all depends how crafty you are and how much free time you have.

trix1223

Both our son and DIL and DD and SIL used a kit from Michael's for invitations and they turned out beautifully.  I have used the kits as well for various invitations, and never had a problem.

schadbourne

I think it is def worth the headache. Time is money. Time I can waste, money i cannot. I was considering the diy kits but then made some mock ups and I have decided I am going to do a complete diy. I will be bringing my documents on a thumb drive to staples so they can print them. Then i will be using my time, glue and cardstalk and ribbon, lots of love later i will have very inexpensive invites.

I am estamating

20-30 dollars in cardstalk
ribbon spools under 5 (the dollar store sells thick black ribbon for my belly band)
Glue.... a couple bucks
Envelops under 10 bucks

So for me a diy is worth it, plus I get it exactly what I want by designing them myself.

Summer2011Bride

I am not a super crafty person, so we are not DIY'ing them. We get free invitations at our tux place (we still have to pay for response cards, envelopes, etc., but it is a big savings). So we are probably going that route. I had also looked at some at a local stationary store.

If you have the time and are crafty (unlike me), then sure, check out some DIY invites. For me, it just wasn't worth it and they wouldn't turn out well at all.

fallbride1109

Look on the DIY board.  I have seen beautiful invitation suites on that board and lots of girls on my local have went the Michael's kit route.  You will want to dress them up though and will need a good printer to print them on.  Also check out the invitation sticky at the top of this forum.

It wasn't for me though. The quality of the kits was not what I wanted.  I used Etsy to get the custom look I wanted at a price I could afford.

its apelila

I used the Michaels kits and they are actually a much better quality than I thought they would be. I used my HP printer that we bought maybe a year ago and I printed 60 invites and 60 rsvp's in blue ink and it only used a small portion of the original ink cartridge. I am completely happy with them. They are ready to addressed and mailed next month! As far as following the directions to print your templates (available on the Gartner Studios website) the invites were a breeze. I had a little more trouble with the rsvp's but I just cut some regular paper to the same size and worked at it until the alignment/etc was just right. Final cost was about $60, because I suck at life and didn't have a coupon.