While designing your own invitations can save you money, it can also be time consuming.
The date is set. Your vendors are booked. The excitement is building. And now it’s time to focus on getting those invites out to all of your guests. But where to begin? You can certainly check out BOLI’s Preferred Vendor list for invitations and stationery, or you can do-it-yourself. But what does that mean exactly? Well, it could mean checking out a website and designing your own wedding invitations with their templates. Or it could mean you breaking out your graphic design skills in a program like Canva to create your own personal masterpiece. Either way, here are some pros and cons of DIY wedding invitations.
Pro: It Saves You Money
Let’s all be real for a minute: that invitation you’re sending out, while beautiful, will live on someone’s refrigerator until the big day and then get tossed in the trash. So designing your own – be it on a website template or on your own – makes sense because it saves you money in the end. It could save you in stamps too, as an invite you design probably weighs less!
Con: It’s Time Consuming
What you save in money, though, will cost you in time. If you want something simple it might be quicker, but more elaborate designs could take a lot longer to design.
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Pro: You Get Exactly What You Want
Just like the rest of your wedding planning, you might have a specific vision in mind for your invitations. If you plan to do DIY wedding invitations, you can bring that vision to life exactly as you want, without having to explain it to someone else.
Con: Technical Difficulties
If you’re a graphic designer by nature or profession, just skip right over this one. If you’re not that design savvy, you could run into technical difficulties. For example, you might run into trouble getting the font size or dimensions just right in a website template. If you’re trying something like Canva the first time and starting from scratch, it could take some time to learn the program. Pro Tip: If you’re not that technologically savvy, you could ask a friend who is!
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Pro: A Good Ole Pat on the Back
There’s a level of satisfaction that comes from completing DIY projects, and DIY wedding invitations are no exception. It will feel good once you drop them in the mail knowing that you created them. And once guests start raving about how great they are, you’ll feel even more satisfied that your hard work paid off.
Con: Printing Frustration
If you’ve ever tried to print out address labels, you know it can be frustrating. Designing and printing your wedding invitations might get just as frustrating, if not more. Not to mention that you’ll want to get the right paper.
If you’ve designed the invite, it is probably best to leave the printing to the experts. This way you’ll save yourself that extra headache or trying to get it perfect. If you’re using a website template, some companies will send you a sample ahead of time so you can confirm it’s what you want.
Pro: Putting Your Own Stamp On It
When it comes to our wedding, we want to be in control and have a hand in everything. DIY wedding invitations are a good way to put your own ‘stamp’ on things without breaking the bank. While it may be time consuming, it could be one of the easier DIY projects you do for your wedding.
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Con: Don’t Forget the Envelopes
As you’re designing, don’t forget to design a fun envelope – if you so choose. Again, this could get tricky and time consuming, but it could also save you the headache of printing out address labels!
However you decide to create your wedding invitations, know that they will be beautiful. And when your loved ones see it in their mailbox, they’ll be super excited that your special day is getting closer and closer!
