Getting hitched is probably one of the most joyous and exciting events in your life and while it’s a huge commitment it’s also a huge task ahead in terms of planning the big day. One part of the early planning involves organizing and mailing out your wedding invitations.
Your wedding invitations server a dual purpose; to notify your friends, family and colleagues that they’ve been asked to attended as well as get them excited for the occasion. Naturally, many couples will overthink these letters and end up spending too much money on something that should be simple yet elegant.
If you’re on a strict budget then it makes sense to try and save as much money as you can on little things. Let’s take a look at some of the top ways you can save money when creating your wedding invitations.
DIY
The most obvious way to save money when creating your wedding invitations is to do all of the ‘creating’ yourself. This means a trip to the arts and crafts store so that you can stock up on pieces of card and the decorative elements you want to incorporate.
The biggest drawback of this strategy is that there’s a big risk of you creation looking amateurish and failing to get people excited for your big day. Let’s face it; if people think that you went cheap with something as simple as the notification letter then they will probably assume that the ceremony, reception and other elements are going to be on the cheap side as well.
Depending on your personal circumstances, your guest list will likely forgive a cheap looking card. However; if people know that you can afford to do better than it’s not a good look to send out something that looks like it was created in a kindergarten class.
Of course, it’s entirely possible to complete a DIY creation that looks really professional so that nobody knows the difference between it and something you might have had commissioned by a professional wedding invitation printing company. Keep in mind; the more effort you put into a DIY job the more it’s going to cost in time and materials, meaning that it might offset any cost-saving benefit it had in the first place.
Enlist the help of a craft-obsessed friend
If you don’t have the arts and crafts skill to do a DIY job, there’s no shame in enlisting the help of a craft-obsessed friend. They will likely jump at the opportunity to create something for you on this scale and will likely simply be happy to be credited in a speech on the big day.
Even so, you should offer them some monetary compensation for going to the effort, even if they refuse and want to do it as a gift; it’s always a good thing to offer.
Keep in mind that the same risk of a DIY job applies here; your friend may get carried away and create something overly elaborate or tacky. Make sure that you plan with them beforehand what your vision for the wedding invitations is so that there’s no disappointment later on.
Use email
In today’s digital age, it’s perfectly acceptable to skip the fancy wedding invitations and just send an email to your entire guest list. While you might think this is the ultimate cheap move, many people actually appreciate you skipping what they consider an unnecessary formality and getting straight to the point.
An email is still a semi-formalized means of communicating and is much more appropriate than using social media to notify everyone.