We all know weddings can be expensive, but there are decisions you can make to be a little more budget-friendly for your wedding day.
Invitations can be a great way to reduce costs for your wedding expenses.
If you are creative and know what you want...
If you can't find the perfect design for your wedding day invitations, Canva is a perfect place to start for the more hands-on designers.
Canva has a tons of templates for Wedding Invitations, you can easily search for a template then customize it to your wedding day, or completely start from scratch and completely do it yourself! Canva has tons of free elements, fonts and the ability to upload your own photos.
After designing on Canva, you will need to find an outside company to print and deliver the invitations... more on that below.
If you need a little more direction,
but still want control...
There are some great sites that allow you to design your own wedding invitation suite and print / deliver right from there.
A few of these options include:
Artifact Uprising - This is one of my favorite print companies. They have a ton of options for including your favorite photos to your invitations.
Zola - Zola is not only a great place for nearlyweds to get it all done... including building their wedding website, finding vendors and creating their registry. You can also design, print and send your wedding invitation suite right from there.
Minted - Minted is a site I see A LOT of my wedding couples use for their invitations and details. You can create an entire wedding suite to fit your day and style.
What do you need to include in your wedding invitations? And when do you send everything?
There are several parts to a wedding invitation suite, and different times to send everything out.
First piece is the "Save the Date"
Not everyone sends a "Save the Date", which is fine for smaller weddings, but if you are hoping for a large guest list, the "Save the Date" is important.
I see most couples use photos from their engagement session for the "Save the Date", this allows the couple to keep their later invitations more formal and gives the guests a heads up on who is getting married, lol.
The "Save the Date" should include the couples names, the wedding date and the venue or location of the wedding day. Some couples send these on customizable magnets to make it easier to hang on the fridge for the reminder!
Save the Dates should be sent about 1 year to 8 month prior to the wedding day.
Then you have the Invitation suite...
The invitation suite typically includes the invitation, a details card with information about the day, and a response card or RSVP card all in one envelope addressed to your guest.
Your invitation suite should be sent to guests 6-8 weeks prior to the wedding.
The Invitation card is the main element of the suite.
This should highlight the couples names, the date, times and the venue address for the entire event. For a more traditional route, some couples include their parents names on the invitation as well.
The Details or Information card can be very important
If your wedding day has multiple venues or locations, any COVID restrictions, lodging accommodations, directions, dress code, etc... the information card is a good place to put all this information.
RSVP or Response Card
Including an RSVP card is the more traditional way to get responses to your event. The RSVP card should have a clear spot for your guests to write their name, accept or decline the invitation, and select their dinner option or include any dietary restrictions (if needed). You can also include a "request a song" line which can be very fun for the dance floor!
Don't forget to include a pre-stamped response envelope with your address to make it easier for your guests to send back.
I want to use less paper though...
With wedding websites being more popular nowadays, the details card and response cards are not as important to include in the suite. This will help reduce some costs for the more budget friendly weddings.
As a wedding professional and someone who had a big wedding, I recommend a full invitation suite to make sure ALL your guests are getting the information and able to respond Unfortunately, the older generation sometimes doesn't bother with a wedding website.
One way to encourage guests to RSVP on your wedding website, would be to include easy "how to" step by step process on an information card, but you may end up making a few phone calls before the date to confirm.
Finally... printing and delivery!
If you are going a total DIY route with your own design, there are still some great places to print and have your invitations delivered.
Coming from my own experience (we had our invitations designed by a friend), I used Paper Culture. I absolutely loved how easy it was to order from Paper Culture... and they plan a tree for every order!
And one last tip:
To save a little extra, plan on ordering your cards around a holiday or look out for sales on whatever site you want to use!
Good luck!
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