Indecisive on invites

[Jader]

So, I've been looking online at some of the invitations available...and honestly, they aren't that expensive. However, my FSIL is a HUGE scrapbooker and does an amazing job. She has every kind of scrapbooking tool you could imagine. She is going to be making our guestbook for us...

So...what I was thinking was possibly having her do our invites??? We're looking for ways to cut costs, but I don't know if that would be any cheaper then just ordering some. Has anybody been successful with making their own invitations? Any pointers? Any advice at all...

:feedback:

[Mrs. Bebe]

DIY invites can go either way, depending on how elaborate you want them to be. A skilled scrapbooker will know how to make a little go a long way, but personally speaking, my invites cost as much to make as it was to have them made and it was much more time consuming and all round frustrating. Just my 2 cents.

[Winter_Bride]

We made our own for cheap and loved them! It all depends on what you want and how!

As Zita pointed out, it can be time-consuming, and frustrating. Two big pointers from me would be have PLENTY of time to play around with different designs, and do your research. See if FSIL even wants to do them (again, because of the time factor), and then go shopping! Check out prices of supplies, and compare them to pre-made invites!

[Aramelle]

You can certainly save money by DIYing the invites. We made our own, and it saved us a bundle for the style of invite I wanted. Could I have purchased some for less than it cost to make them? Probably, but they wouldn't have been the style that I wanted. All of the invitations I found that I loved were $5+ each. I don't have an exact break down of what the invites cost us to make, as we purchased all of the supplies for our STDs, Invites, Programs, etc at one time. The total for ALL of those supplies was under $100, though (this was for 35 STDs and Invites and 40 programs). I also had left overs to use for a couple other small wedding projects.

[Jelly Bean]

I guess it also depends on how many invites you will need. If you need quite a few you might save doing DIY since you could bulk order materials.

[Aramelle]

I guess it also depends on how many invites you will need. If you need quite a few you might save doing DIY since you could bulk order materials.

This is a really good point. When my sister got married, they had a guest list of over 300 people (200 invites). I made the invitations for her, and we did them for about $250. This included all of the inserts and envelopes (as did the price I mentioned in my previous post about mine).

[Jader]

You guys are totally amazing! :) LOL. It's something I think I'll definately talk to FSIL about and see what she thinks. I'm not totally creative, but I could help her out...and then she also has like 2-3 friends come over on Friday nights to do scrapbooking, so maybe I could sweet talk them into helping too. LOL. Guess I'll have to take a look at the costs and figure out what's best.

Thanks to everybody for your advice! :):):)

[HisBlue]

We did our own invites... If I had to do it all over again I would have had them done... They would have been nicer, cheaper and I wouldn't have spent HOURS doing them.

However if your FSIL wouldn't mind doing them I say go for it, as long as you can get a GOOD price on the paper you want!

[Jader]

Just from all the research I've done on this, I have a feeling we'll be ordering them. It just isn't much cheaper and it'll save us the time. I may have her make our 'Thank you' cards though. She has a really neat cut out thingy, all she has to do is put the words into her computer and this machine will cut them into paper. So we'll probably have her make those, but our invites I think right now we'll end up ordering.

[carolinalady67]

Just from all the research I've done on this, I have a feeling we'll be ordering them. It just isn't much cheaper and it'll save us the time. I may have her make our 'Thank you' cards though. She has a really neat cut out thingy, all she has to do is put the words into her computer and this machine will cut them into paper. So we'll probably have her make those, but our invites I think right now we'll end up ordering.

One of the Cricut machines? I want one :tempertantrum:

As you know we ordered ours. For two main reasons, I don't have the talent to make them and I found a great deal on ours. We got them at a party store that gave a discount so look around for the best deal on what you want.

[Jader]

Well, Lisa...you do realize you two are going to be family next year. Maybe you can sweet talk her into letting you play with it while your here! LOL. It's pretty amazing, however I've never gotten into the whole scrapbooking thing.

Troy and I are going to look at a couple more locations today, hopefully. (Haven't gotten around to calling anybody yet!) I also FINALLY got a hold of the girl doing our pictures and we're set with her. Now if I could just win the lottery! :)

[Mandy]

There are some other great alternatives out there. You can combine your SIL's creative flair with some inexpensive stationary. That way you can still have that personal touch without paying out the booty for it.

Some great sites we've had luck with are:

www.mountaincow.com
www.cardsandpockets.com

Best of luck! :)

[Jader]

Thanks Mandy...I love mountaincow. They have more of the contemporary look I'm after. LOVE IT!

[carolinalady67]

I was just looking at mountaincow. First thing that caught my eye was the matching postage stamp. Now I'm all about the matching thing but that may be taking it a bit to far even for me :teehee:

[Jader]

i looked on zazzle.com and they also have matching postage. i thought it was kind of cute! i probably wouldn't go with it though, maybe something pertaining to love or a wedding, but probably not matching.

[MsJessica07]

The post office usually has a "wedding" set of stamps each year. It just depends on if they are in the right denominations for what you need. Our weren't, so we got regular stamps for the invitations, I think. But I don't think anyone really pays attention to them! :lol:

[Mandy]

I'm doing a lot of wedding invites for friends, and each and every time I've used Mountaincow.com. I used them for my own wedding and I have been blown away by the quality for the price. They've got some awesome color combos too...so if you're looking for reviews, there's mine! :)

[km]

if your going to make your own I would keep them simple. Simple and Elegant is timeless.