Planning your wedding is an exciting, creative time but it can also be stressful juggling so many plates and seeing costs invariably start adding up. Your wedding invitations are that first peek into the style of your special day and contain all the critical information that your guests need. It’s often a surprise just how much that important piece of card costs. Here are five ways to save money on your wedding invitations without scrimping on design.
1) Create a wedding website and limit your layers
Having your own wedding website is the modern way to go. Electronically sharing information about your big day is a cost-effective and eco-friendly way to gather guest emails and to keep track of RSVPs. While formal wedding invitations can involve multiple layers, expensive cardstock and RSVP postage stamps, a wedding website allows you to simplify and control the way you invite guests. Adding details about the venue, times, hotels and dietary requests to your website means that your formal postal invitations need only be one-sided. You can still send out a beautifully crafted invite without multiple layers and with the assurance of keeping the cost down at the printers.
2) Go for a digital design
Engraving and letterpress techniques add the wow factor to wedding invitations but creating deep impressions into paper significantly increases prices. Choosing a digital (flat) design is the least expensive method and there are plenty of positives to this process. Digital printing gives you the most varied choice of colors and ensures a fresh, vibrant finish whether you want an extravagant design or to use high-resolution images.
3) Get creative with calligraphy
Calligraphy adds an elegant touch to wedding invitations and the final effect is both stunning and bespoke. It’s an expensive option to hire a calligrapher but there’s no reason why you can’t do it yourself. A one day workshop or ‘do it yourself’ calligraphy book means not only can you learn how to handwrite your own envelopes, but you can also utilize that newfound skill by lettering place name cards for the big day too. If you master calligraphy you can choose to print your wedding invitations with guest names left blank (in turn, keeping printing costs down). And personalizing a paper suite with your own calligraphy is certainly a satisfying achievement.
4) Know your cardstock
The heavier your cardstock the more expensive your wedding invitations will be and choosing the likes of metallic foil and 100% cotton paper produce elegant professional finishes. If you’re keen to keep your cardstock high-end, consider instead using plain, recycled envelopes for sending your invitations in. These will only be thrown away or recycled and it’s okay to go simple here. Recycling just one tonne of paper can save 17 trees and 7,000 gallons of water. So, not only will you be cutting costs, but you’ll also be doing your bit for the environment. A popular choice for rustic themed weddings, another option is to choose recycled card stock for your whole paper suite, which is generally significantly cheaper than 100% cotton paper.
5) Proofread, proofread and proofread again
Costly reprints are a wedding budgeting nightmare. When you’re excited to see that perfect design mocked up it can be easy to overlook mistakes. Don’t only check for spelling mistakes, make sure to also look out for errors with word spacing, grammar, punctuation, and consistency with written dates and times.
