DIY Bride Part II: Wedding Invitation Kits

I cannot count the number of revisions I made to my invitations, and they still ended up with small errors I wish I had fixed.  If you don't have a good idea of what you want, I suggest gathering pictures of invitations you like and try to determine what they have in common -- that's probably the look you're going for.  In the end, I was so overwhelmed with all the beautiful invitations that I just chose one guide to emulate.  I used several free font websites to get fonts that looked similar to my guide.  Using special fonts makes a HUGE difference in the look of the invites.  Also, I don't have Adobe Illustrator, so I used Autodesk Graphic, which I think was $30 or so.  I already had it from some photo projects I worked on previously.  You can create vector art and export as PDF, GIF, JPEG, and other types of files.  I also downloaded cheap ($6) clipart, which was extremely useful.

In total, I spent something like $100 for invitation kits and Save the Date coasters on Vistaprint with a coupon code for 20% and free shipping... what a steal! See below regarding quality, though.

Looking back, I would've made the same decision to DIY my invitations, but only because I enjoyed learning my software, playing around with design and typography, and choosing fonts.  If that's not you, don't even bother.  There are tons of templates that will suit just about any theme/look you're looking for.  If you're short on time, this is a major time sucker!

I got my invitations back, and at first I was surprised because I thought 5x7 would look bigger.  I also noticed all the little dots that were printed to make the peach color of my background.  Prior to that, I hadn't thought much about how they'd print my invite in a specialty color.  When I got them, I thought, "Of course they wouldn't have paper in every imaginable color -- they just print the color over white!"  I was a little disappointed, but I think most people won't really notice.  My Mom thought they looked fine.  On the back of each invite, I had a "LIV LUV LAF" phrase printed as an homage to my Dad, who passed away 2 years ago.  It's my way of incorporating him into this wedding since he can't be there physically.

Here are a few tips I'd give for upgrading the look of your invites:

1.  Use a rounded corner punch (about $9 at Ben Franklin or Flora-Dec for you Hawaii folks) to give your invite a slightly more refined look (I did a side-by-side comparison above).  I ended up rounding the corners of my RSVP postcard and the cover cards as well.  It was a ton of punching, but I didn't mind.  Luckily I'm making fewer than 40 invite packets!

2.  Make sure there's a bleed on your design so that the design extends beyond the print area.  My Uncle, who works in a print shop for a living, actually noticed that a PDF of my design didn't have bleed and told me so, but I had already sent it to Vistaprint.  I didn't knowingly check for this before ordering my invites, but I did carefully check the proof and saw that the flowers extended to the edge of the invite.  The print came out fine, so I'm guessing Vistaprint somehow adjusted the design with bleed.  I think for all of their templates they tell you the full print size and the size with bleed.  If you're designing your own invites, pay attention to this.  I got lucky!

3.  Color calibration and matching is really hard.  I used CMYK to match the color of my invite with the color on the RSVP card, but the color I saw on my computer is not the color I got back from the printer.  Luckily I'm not that particular about it and I like the color I ended up with anyway, so I don't mind.  But if you have your heart set on a particular color, I'd recommend choosing a preset invitation that comes in a color you want.  Or, if you insist on designing your own invite, either plan on using a white background or, if you want a colored background, buy paper in that color and print it onto that paper.   You might also be able to ask for a sample/proof or work with your printer to figure out how to adjust a proof to get what you want.  I never figured this out, so unfortunately I can't tell you how to do this.

Even using the same file and getting it printed at a different printer might give you different results.  For example, I created a file that matched the same CMYK profile as the invite to print a top card (see below), but it turned out VERY differently.  You can tell in the picture below that the top card is more of a peach color, while the invite is noticeably pinker.

4.  There are many creative ways to combine/stack all of the pieces of your invitation kit.  I was confused at first on how to do this because most online authorities say to put the smallest card on top, but I thought it'd look funny to see "RSVP" or "Details" as the first thing when you open the envelope.  To remedy this, I chose to print an extra little square to cover the top card.

 I cut down cardstock for a backing, spray painted it a rose gold color, punched holes in the top and bottom, and figured out a nifty way to tie the whole thing together.  Except for the off color of the top card, I'm happy with the ensemble.

I sent my Details card to Vistaprint for printing, but it came back a slightly darker color than the blush color of the invite.  In the end, I put that behind the wood grain RSVP card because that wood grain looks so pretty and rustic.

5.  Make your own envelope liners.  I just measured out a piece of paper that leaves a border around the flap of the envelope and the sides of the envelope.  My liner doesn't even go down all the way to the bottom of the envelope.  I used the same rose gold colored spray paint I used for the top card backing and spray painted the whole liner.

I think this invitation kit has a little bit of everything I hope to have at the wedding -- a rustic feel with wood and flowers and lace, a bit of blush/flowery romance, and a dash of glamorous elegance.  Rustic romantic glam.