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Savings with DIY invites?

posted 2 years ago in Paper

Member

695 posts

Busy bee

catlady June 26, 2010 Toronto

Hi everyone!

So far during our wedding planning we are doing very litte DIYing. However we are both computer literate enough and are comfortable with graphic design that invites would be a possible area to DIY.

My question to all those crafty bees out there is whether you saved much by making your own invites?

2 years ago

Hostess

10,729 posts

Sugar
Beekeeper

crebre80 November 20, 2010 Baton Rouge, LA

I am pretty sure it depends on the type of design that you incorporate. I believe savings on invites could range from 100-1000 depending on the design, the level of intricacy, and the extras

2 years ago

Member

177 posts

Blushing bee

karina85 July 11, 2010

How much you will save is relative.

I will still be spending A LOT of money on my invitiations. However, for the quality/type of invitation I will be making, I would have spent a lot more to buy it. On the flip side, people could say that there were invitations I could get that were cheaper than my DIY ones, they just wouldn't be as good.

Going into DIY invites, I told myself, "I am not doing this because I need to save money." That has helped me justify spending a lot of money on double-faced satin ribbon, for example. The justification is that if I had ordered invitations with that ribbon, I would have been paying 5x more than what I paid for it.

2 years ago

Member

3,122 posts

Sugar bee

tessabella76 September 12, 2009 Ohio

I think it depends. So far, for my DIY invites, I've only spent $25 on paper & envelopes. I am using Microsoft Publisher (which I already had) and I did research to find the best price on the paper and envelopes I need. I found a local store where the paper was waaay cheaper than what I found online. I have yet to find any free graphics online that I like so today I think I'm going to go get a stamp. All and all, I'm hoping to spend less than $40 (not including postage).

Just remember DIY doesn't mean cheaper. Our invites are going to be relativley simple. The more elaborate, the more expensive. Another thing that brings costs up are the pocket folds. They are nice, but they are pricey.

Good luck!

2 years ago

Hostess

2,188 posts

Buzzing bee

Erindesmar October 17, 2009 Boston, MA

I thought I would save more by DIY! But then I ended up wanting to use pretty pocketfolds and nice thick paper and letterpressy mimicked paper. The cost is about 400 total (not including postage...) but we are ending up with a nice pocketfold, letterpress design paper (letterimpress from target), japanese linen paper backing, and two inserts. I think if we bought the invites, they would have easily cost 1000. When they are all assembled, I will post pics and pricing.

2 years ago

Member

92 posts

Worker bee

hellopanda 8/22/2009 Chicago

We did half-DIY invitations in that we designed them ourselves and bought the paper, then had a print shop do the actual printing and cutting. We assembled the invites using bellybands we cut ourselves. I thought we were going to save quite a bit of money, but we really liked the look of offset printing vs color copies. The cost of offset printing put our invites at a total of $5/set, which is more than I originally budgeted and on par with what you can get from stationery stores and Etsy.

That said, I don't have any regrets. We both loved how the invites turned out and I liked the autonomy we had in designing the suite ourselves. I'm still more excited about the invites than any other aspect of the wedding so far, including my dress! And we're using the same graphical motif in other stationery like our Save the Dates, favor tags, ceremony programs and table numbers. All of those paper elements are DIY, and are definitely cheaper than if we had hired a designer to make them for us. So perhaps the cost works out across all of our paper goods.

2 years ago