How many of you have considered making your own wedding stationery.  Often brides say it is a good way to save money however I am not really sure if this is true.  I will however be able to tell you in a few months time if making our own wedding stationery has saved me money or should I say ‘us’.  

Having thought long and hard about whether or not to make my own wedding invitations and having searched the web to look at my options I decided to make my own.  Three reasons, most importantly I think I will enjoy it (it will give me something to do in the cold dark evenings), secondly I feel it will be more personal knowing I have made them myself (I might even get some praise) and also I might save some money.

Let’s be honest how many of you hold onto wedding invites any longer than a few weeks.  Well if I am truly honest I probably do, well for a while anyway.  Then when I do my annual clear out I end up throwing them away.  If I had of been thinking down the line I would have kept them all and then I could have used them to inspire me when making my own wedding invites.

Having looked at a few wedding stationery companies on the web and having viewed sample wedding stationery at wedding fayres across Northern Ireland the price range per invite appears to be anything from £1.75 - £3.00.  Now I do know there are stationery companies out there a lot pricier than this but I would never dream of paying £5 or £6 for an invite, I would rather put this money into chair covers or something to that effect.

I did at one stage in my searches come across a wedding invite at £1 and requested a sample to be sent out.  Three days later it arrived and I was very impressed.  The site was brideandgroom direct.   Many wedding sites let you request free samples and from what I can see most of these companies appear to be UK based.  When writing this blog I came across a few more good sites and once again reconsidered the idea of getting my wedding invites made for me. 

When I talk about wedding stationery there is a long list of items that fall into this category, wedding invitations, evening invitations, order of service, reply cards, thank you cards, place cards, wedding menus and wedding table plans.  At present I am only considering wedding invitations and evening invitations.

A good place to start looking is Ebay.  When you mention ebay to some people they automatically think second hand, however there are a big number of shops that sell on Ebay so in many cases it is like doing business with a shop in your town or city.   

Keywords that I searched for in google and other search engines was diy wedding invites, card embellishments, self adhesive wedding stickers, wedding invitation banners.  Depending on what you are after will determine what you should search for.  To date I have also visited the Paper Mill Shop in Junction One Antrim and plan to visit Craftworld in Belfast.  What I liked about junction one is that they have an album on display showing sample wedding invites which can be made from the various types of card embellishments you can purchase in their shop.  I am sure all craft shops offer a similar service.

My biggest concern in making my own wedding stationery will be the printing issues that I might have.  I know even in my own work when I am trying to set font styles and sizes and also change the print settings it can be a tricky affair however hopefully someone will give me some guidance on this closer to the time.   Another cost to consider in making your own wedding stationery is the cost of the ink and of course the cost of the postage however this is a cost that will be incurred either way.

Well I hope I have given you some food for thought.  More information will follow in the next few months.

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