How time consuming are DIY invites?

[angie]

For those that made their own invitations, would you do it again? Is it complicated? Most importantly, was it time consuming? This not only includes doing the invite itself, but the RSVP card etc. I'm trying to decide whether to do them myself or not. Thanks for your input!

[Uma]

Extremely time consuming (and this was with the design already picked out). But I wouldn't have it any other way.

[serda23]

It really depends how complicated you go with them... I assume pocketfolds are probably EXTREMELY time consuming! It would be totally worth the outcome though.

[*heather*]

I made mine from scratch, everything except the petal envelopes, and I would estimate it took me 2.5 months, from design concept to finished product (including mistakes, redos, etc). I would *absolutely* do it again. :) It is very time consuming, but if you want something utterly unique, it's the only way to go.

[Kari]

Very time consuming and I cheated and used a invite kit to try and make things easier. The pocket folds are tough.

I wouldn't change a thing though because so many people have commented on how beautifully they came out :)

[rowanmayfairs]

We went to walmart and bought Wilton Invites that were DIY.

We saw similiar ones in the catalog that would of ran us like $200.00 . We paid like $60.00 for ours. We got the envelopes, invites, lace overlay, ribbon, RSVP card, RSVP envelope.

Wilton has a website where we could use easily customize our wording,etc. or you can download their templates for MS WORD and do more advanced editing.

We spent a total of 3 HOURS printing from two computers, assembling invites and stuffing envelopes and addressing, stamps.

I figure 3 hours is much better than spending $200.00 we didn't have.

No one had a clue we did themselves.. We got lots of compliments on our invites and how pretty, etc they were.

But like others said..it depends on what kind of invites you want.. We chose a more simple DIY route ;)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v519/rmendaann/Wedding/OurWeddingInviteComplete.jpg

[belle67]

I bought my pocketfolds but designed and cut everything else. It took at least 3 months from start to finish but it is worth it.

[Naima]

We did very simple invitations, and it took three days. We had an 'invitation party' - friends came over to help with the cutting and pasting and what-not, and we made them dinner.

[MsJessica07]

I'll let you know...it took us a while to figure out how exactly we wanted to do it, so we've worked it out so that it'll be $200 for about 100 pocketfold invitations, which I'm satisfied with on our budget. If you want details on how I did that, let me know.

I don't know how long it'll take me to design the actual invites themselves...I'll let you know :)

[KathyandJer]

I think the design part is the hardest, but I would say it's worth it in the end - especially if you have a Kinko's near you :lol: Kinko's is my new best friend, and I've never stepped foot in one of their stores!!! Jer and I plan to do the design and putting-together ourselves...but plan to have Kinko's do all printing/folding/cutting for us!

[MsJessica07]

Kathy...that's what we're doing too!

Word of advice: 7.5 cents a page, and 1.50 per cut per stack of paper...:)

[KathyandJer]

Kathy...that's what we're doing too!

Word of advice: 7.5 cents a page, and 1.50 per cut per stack of paper...:)

7.5 cents a page to PRINT?? And how big a stack will they cut for 1.50?? Thanks for that info Jessica - that's awesome to know!

[MsJessica07]

7.5 cents per page to print

1.50 for up to 500 sheets of paper, and 250 sheets of cardstock...

For example...say you want a rectangle cut out of a piece of paper...that's 4 cuts for that stack, so $6 for that stack. I'm gonna end up with 3 stacks with 19 cuts total, so $28.50 for cutting and something silly like 13.80 for printing...

[Uma]

Having them printed and cut somewhere else would have certainly helped me keep some sanity. I cut one by one. But then, how can you do color tests when printing them outside? It'll take quite a few trips back and forth to readjust the output.

[MsJessica07]

I figure you do test runs at home and then send them to kinkos. You can also get them to run proofs for you, so that would help a lot of that. I'm doing black ink on green paper, so I'm not worried too much about the color :)

[Uma]

Well, you'd need to make the proofs in the same machine/conditions than the final print for it to work. Unless you're using just one color or don't feel color is that important. I had several shades of the same color and a fully-colored invitation over white paper, so not getting the right shades would have been really detrimental. I ran about ten test batches in different printing modes and three color-coded sets of shades before I finally printed them.

[KathyandJer]

Thanks Jessica - we're staying pretty boring - black ink on the coloured stock, so we shouldn't have to worry about the output....but boy will those Kinkos prices save alot of time and energy!