Archive for July, 2006

Saving money on your wedding stationery

Making your own wedding stationery gives you control over your spending and allows you to have great looking stationery on even the tightest of budgets. Cheap wedding invites can still look fantastic - and there is no need to tell your guests how little they cost.

Use decorative papers and your own PC and printer to create invites at minimum cost. Petal papers are great for a summer wedding.

If you like handcrafted cards, you can save a considerable amount by making your own rather than buying from a professional designer. Many of these designers started in business because they did their own wedding stationery and enjoyed it so much they wanted to carry on - so you too can achieve professional results with just a little care and attention to detail. But remember that you will need to allow plenty of time to make up your cards.

Others choose DIY stationery so they can use luxury materials without paying top of the range designer prices.

As with any other aspect of your wedding, set a budget and work to it. The great thing about DIY stationery is that it is easy to make adjustments. Here are our top cost cutting tips:

• Print “Wedding Invitation” directly onto the card instead of using peel-offs or foil panels
• If you have lots of cards to make, invest in a card scorer and buy unfolded card to score and fold yourself.
• Leave out RSVP cards - many people will reply by phone or email anyway and a fair few will need to be chased whether you include cards or not!
• Simplify your design rather than compromise on the quality of the card or papers you use - you should look for at least 240 gsm card.

Which Size Card?

Which size card should you choose for your stationery?

There is no definitive answer - it’s very much down to personal choice - but there are a few pointers to bear in mind.

1. Choose your envelopes first

Its usually no problem if you are going for a plain cream or white envelope and a standard size card, but if you want something a little more unusual, then check that you can get the envelopes you want in the right size before deciding on your card. It is relatively easy to cut a singlefold card card to fit an unusual size envelope, but envelopes are not so easy to make yourself and unusual envelopes tend to come in a small range of sizes.

2. I can’t tell my A5s from my C6s - help

Most people will recognise A4 as the size of paper you put in your printer. A5 is half the size of A4 and A6 half of A5 and so on. Card blanks are usually described in the same way. Remember that the size for card blanks refers to the FOLDED dimensions. An A5 card blank will be made from an A4 piece of card folded in half. For envelopes you need the corresponding C size - so a C6 envelope goes with an A6 card. The envelopes will be slightly larger all round.

3. Some items require more space than others

Most people choose a larger size card for an Order of Service so that there will be plenty of space for printing hymns and/or readings without using a tiny font size or lots of pages - A5 is the most common size.

If you are including RSVP cards, you should normally make these smaller than the invitation as you will need to fit the card (and reply envelope) into the main envelope. Or use an unfolded piece of card the same size.

4. Our suggestions

Wedding Invitation - Square 144 x 144 or Tall
Evening Invitation - A6
RSVP - Small square
Order of Service - A5
Menu - Tall
Thank You - Small square