You can pretty much make all of your own stationery - save the date postcards, invitations, response cards, maps, programs, seating cards, thank you cards.SAVE THE DATE:
Consider emailing Save-the-Dates to cut down on printing costs and postage. Another idea is to use one of your photographs and print Save-the-Date postcards using Snapfish.com or Vistaprint.com.
INVITATIONS:
You can purchase paper online or at stores such as Michaels, Staples, etc. Check out clearance racks or consider discontinued sets and styles – you can always purchase plain paper and decorate it with various embellishments the way you want it - use overlays, ribbons, rhinestone buckles, etc. You can start your search by visiting Formal Invitations. Or, check out fabulous templates created by Anna Skye at Download & Print. Purchase ribbons in bulk to cut down on cost. Or, buy rubber stamps from Impress. The same goes for response cards, programs, thank you notes. Check my other post on free templates and monograms.
NUMBER OF INVITATIONS:
When drafting your guest list, categorize guests into 3 categories (MUST be invited; SHOULD be invited; WOULD LIKE to invite if possible). Include your guests’ significant others but omit casual dates.
FONTS:
Choose a script font for a formal or semi-formal wedding. Two beautiful fonts can be downloaded for free here. Some fancy fonts from Dafont include Chopin Script, Champignon, Renaissance, Scriptina, Brock Script, Tagettes, Exmouth, Old Script. Also, check out Ecolier or Freebooter Script. Some beautiful choices are Sacker's English Script, Lucia BT, Vivaldi, Edwardian Script or less formal-looking Regalia. Some other less formal suggestions are Garamond, Lucida Handwriting, Book Antiqua and Papyrus. For more free fonts, check these sites:
Fonts.com
Dafont.com
1001FreeFonts.com
Urbanfonts.com
AbstractFonts.com
ClearChinese.com
SearchFreeFonts.com
HighFonts.com
Do not use more than 2-3 font styles on your invitations, and stay away from the most commonly used fonts – Arial, Times New Roman, Courier New.
WEDDING CLIPART
Free wedding clipart can be found here.
FONT SIZE:
Play around with the sizes. Select the longest line on your invitation and try making it different sizes. Start at 18 point but no more than 22 point – this is the same range most professional printers use.
MONOGRAMS & BORDERS
Consider adding borders from the standard WordPerfect formats. Or, find free wedding clipart at WeddingClipArt.com. Or, here are some ideas on how you can create your own monograms:
- Go to Vistaprint, create a monogram to be used for one of their products, then cut and paste into your WordPerfect document. Use as you wish on your stationery by cutting and pasting.
- Visit this site to view tutorials on how to create your own monograms in Adobe Photoshop.
- Visit Youtube to view tutorials or this site for instructions on how to create monograms using PowerPoint.
- Visit Youtube for instructions on how to create a monogram in Microsoft Word. After you are finished, copy your image into Microsoft Paint and save in several formats, such as JPEG.
- For more ideas on using your monograms, visit this site.
INVITATION WORDING:
Google the “wedding invitation wording” and find the most acceptable format for you. Be creative – you don’t have to follow all the formal rules. For more information, check out Verse It. Or, if you need help with love quotes, visit Brainy Quote. Instead of having separate reception cards, include your reception information on the invitation. Do not ever include registry information on your invitations – but rather, include the website info (it is acceptable to have registry information on your website). If children are not invited, you can either include a separate card with your invitation making a reference to it being Adults Only Event or state so on the invitation itself. Do not say “No children please.” You may also call each guest with children to discuss your your “no children” rule upfront.
RESPONSE CARDS:
Use response postcards rather than response cards with envelopes. It will cost you $28.00 in postage for every 100 postcards vs. $44.00 for every 100 response cards with envelopes. Also, consider Vistaprint for your response postcards. Sign up for their mailing list or google promotional codes for Vistaprint to get codes for 100 FREE postcards – you will only to pay shipping and handling.
THANK YOU CARDS:
For thank you cards, have one of the guests take a picture of the two of you with a “Thank You” sign during the reception. Order photo cards online through websites such as Snapfish or Vistaprint and send it out as Thank You cards.
MAPS & DIRECTIONS CARDS:
See my Wedding Maps post on how to make your own wedding maps or order them online to match your stationery.
ADDRESSING ENVELOPES:
Check out Verse It for instructions on how to address the envelopes.
ADDRESS LABELS:
Get those free from Vistaprint.com – just google Vistaprint promotional codes and pay only for shipping and handling. You can even find the labels that will somewhat match your invitations.
STAMPS:
Select invitation that can be mailed using only one stamp – in other words, stay away from square invitations or those 10-page folded pocket invitations – both of which will require higher postage. Do not forget to have the post office weigh the invitations prior to mailing to get the exact postage.
Rather than paying for fancy wedding stamps, visit your post office and ask for wedding-themed stamps. The stamp on the left is one of the designs currently offered by the USPS.
If you have any embellishments on your invitations, ask the post office to have your invitations "hand cancelled" with a stamp rather than being run through a machine (to avoid ink smudging and black marks). Also, visit this site for directions on how to properly address your invitations.
If you have any other ideas, please feel free to drop me a line...
Google the “wedding invitation wording” and find the most acceptable format for you. Be creative – you don’t have to follow all the formal rules. For more information, check out Verse It. Or, if you need help with love quotes, visit Brainy Quote. Instead of having separate reception cards, include your reception information on the invitation. Do not ever include registry information on your invitations – but rather, include the website info (it is acceptable to have registry information on your website). If children are not invited, you can either include a separate card with your invitation making a reference to it being Adults Only Event or state so on the invitation itself. Do not say “No children please.” You may also call each guest with children to discuss your your “no children” rule upfront.
RESPONSE CARDS:
Use response postcards rather than response cards with envelopes. It will cost you $28.00 in postage for every 100 postcards vs. $44.00 for every 100 response cards with envelopes. Also, consider Vistaprint for your response postcards. Sign up for their mailing list or google promotional codes for Vistaprint to get codes for 100 FREE postcards – you will only to pay shipping and handling.
THANK YOU CARDS:
For thank you cards, have one of the guests take a picture of the two of you with a “Thank You” sign during the reception. Order photo cards online through websites such as Snapfish or Vistaprint and send it out as Thank You cards.
MAPS & DIRECTIONS CARDS:
See my Wedding Maps post on how to make your own wedding maps or order them online to match your stationery.
ADDRESSING ENVELOPES:
Check out Verse It for instructions on how to address the envelopes.
ADDRESS LABELS:
Get those free from Vistaprint.com – just google Vistaprint promotional codes and pay only for shipping and handling. You can even find the labels that will somewhat match your invitations.
STAMPS:
Select invitation that can be mailed using only one stamp – in other words, stay away from square invitations or those 10-page folded pocket invitations – both of which will require higher postage. Do not forget to have the post office weigh the invitations prior to mailing to get the exact postage.Rather than paying for fancy wedding stamps, visit your post office and ask for wedding-themed stamps. The stamp on the left is one of the designs currently offered by the USPS.
If you have any embellishments on your invitations, ask the post office to have your invitations "hand cancelled" with a stamp rather than being run through a machine (to avoid ink smudging and black marks). Also, visit this site for directions on how to properly address your invitations.
If you have any other ideas, please feel free to drop me a line...
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