I spent several hundred dollars on my wedding invitations. Pieces of paper that were glanced at momentarily by my guests, and then were hardly given another moment’s notice. This was a mistake. In hindsight, I wish I had spent the money on something else, like a better wedding coordinator, for instance. Now, I do not mean to downplay the importance of a beautiful wedding invitation, as these little “pieces of paper” do set the tone for your guests as to what kind of wedding they can expect to be attending, but I have since learned a few tricks to creating my own invitations in a way that would have had everyone thinking I had special ordered them. It’s not easy, and certain details must be tended too very closely, so pay attention and take notes.
First, go to your local craft store and find a good, high-grade paper. You should look for a lot of weight and thickness, and a grainy feel rather than a smooth texture might be considered as well. Do not go to your local “super center” or office supply store. Go to a craft store, such as Hobby Lobby or Michaels. They will have a better selection, along with better paper and a great selection of styles. This is the type of thing that these stores specialize in, and it is always better to go with a business that specializes in what you are looking for. Buy the best brand that you can find, even if it is the most expensive. You’ll still save loads of money when compared to ordering your invitations.
Now, when you have chosen the appropriate inscription, the best thing to do is have your wedding invitations taken to a printer. If this is not an option financially, you will have to make them on your own. When you select a font color, make sure to pick the darkest shade of black possible, and select the “bold” option (go under “format” on the tool bar and select “font” for these options). Select a special, more formal font, regardless of whether or not the wedding itself will be formal. It is understood that the invitation should always be formal to some degree. The “Edwardian” font is a good choice, but remember to increase the font size to at least 14 in order for these types of cursive fonts to be legible. Finally, and this is very important, you will want to make the invitations look as if they are engraved. Whether or not an invitation is engraved is a dead giveaway as to how much money was spent on it. Invitations that are not engraved scream “cheap.” This is very difficult to do on a computer, but a little trick is to double print each invitation. In other words, run the same invitation through the printer twice or more. Another great option, although your text won’t be nearly as elegant, is to get a hold of an old fashioned typewriter and type out your invitations. The way that a type writer “slams” the text into the paper automatically creates an engraved effect, therefore making your guests believe that you have had them specially created and have spent much more than you actually did.
The best way to create your own invitations, by far, is to simply create one on your personal computer first, and then take that copy and the rest of the blank invitations to a printing services. Tell them that you want exactly what you have printed on your copy, and that you want the text to be engraved. It will still be cheaper than having to special order you invitations, and you can be sure that you will get exactly what you want by designing them yourself.
