5 Reasons to use DIY Wedding Invitations + Pro Tips and Insight

Diy materials on corkboard background that says "5 Reasons to use DIY Wedding Invitations + Pro Tips and Insight"

Explore our list of ideas for fabulous DIY wedding invitations your guests will love

Don’t we all want our wedding day to be memorable? I’m sure most of us surely do. We go the extra mile to make it spectacular. Invitations are an important detail in every wedding and going the DIY route can be extremely rewarding and fun. Let’s explore the world of DIY wedding invitations alongside two DIY experts! 

A wedding is a culmination of various elements – big and small. Even the tiniest factor can have monumental significance on your wedding day. As many of your friends and family will tell you, your wedding is one of the greatest events of your life. But no pressure, right?  

Slightly out of focus image of bride and groom holding hands

In this piece, we have included some free downloadable resources to help you get started on your DIY wedding invitations. Keep reading! 

It all comes down to the details. How do you make a wedding truly yours? Simply put, you do so by adding your personal flair to most things. When you go for a DIY wedding invitation, you essentially pour a little bit of yourself into creating something tangible. For a lot of us, this holds sentimental value, while some of us are just naturally thrifty. Whether you’re looking to save money, or looking for something more original, this article is for you.  

Before we get to the fun part, let’s introduce our experts!  

  • Julia’s got a knack for creativity and art. In her free time, she’s a freelance artist and professional invite creator.  
  • Renee is the uncontested “frugal queen” who designed her own wedding invitations—and her entire wedding was chef’s kiss.   

Throughout this piece we will feature exclusive intel from them with the primary focus being on DIY wedding invitations. 

5 reasons to use a DIY Wedding Invitation 

There are reasons galore when it comes to choosing DIY wedding invitations over cookie-cutter generic ones. Let’s take a look at five compelling reasons: 

1. It reflects your personal style 

Every individual is unique and has their own sense of style. This is reflected in their outfits, home décor and organization… and Pinterest pins! A wedding is a momentous occasion in one’s life. Is there a better way to own the event than by letting your style take over? Let your DIY wedding invitations give your guests a little preview of what is to come. 

2. Cost effective 

Although you will have to pay for the materials and printing costs, DIY wedding invitations save you from paying someone for services. You are cutting out labor costs which can be a considerable amount depending on what a skilled professional would charge in your area. “According to The Knot, the average happy couple pays $530 for wedding invitations and stationery. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather those funds go elsewhere! With a little bit of design help from Canva, my invites cost $33.51 to print,” Renee shares.   

3. Creative outlet 

Believe it or not, some of us are creative souls without very many platforms to express and channel our talents. We enjoy creating on several mediums and having an artsy project adds color to our somewhat mundane days. Who knows, DIY wedding invitations could be your niche if you’re looking for a side hustle

“Making your own invitations can be a chance to get in tune with your creative energy and channel your feelings like excitement or gratitude,” Julia says. “You may really enjoy working with a certain medium or design program, so it can also be a time to do something you enjoy.” 

Close up image of woman in yellow sweater painting wooden flowers

4. Complete creative control 

Bridezilla/groomzilla or not, opting for DIY wedding invitations means you have absolute control over them. There is no possibility of creative differences or ego clashes when you’re working alone. You can literally delete all the work and start over without any major losses.  

5. Collaborative venture with your partner 

This could be one of those fun things you get to do with your partner. You can ask for their input or straight up just work on it together. It might even present a realistic view of what it will be like tackling joint projects with them. 

“Together you might end up collaborating more on things like paper, color, and wording, and that can be a fun process. One thing you might do in the process is reflect together on what meaningful elements you may want to incorporate into the design,” Julia says.  

Renee agrees and adds, “My partner and I chose images from memories that meant a lot, not only to us, but to the people we most wanted to celebrate with at our wedding.”  

Choosing the right design option for your DIY wedding invitation  

It can get a little tricky choosing the perfect design option for your DIY wedding invitations but it’s not very complicated. Keep in mind the theme of your wedding and try to stay consistent as you pick a design option. If your wedding theme is farmhouse or rustic, your invitations should reflect that. Some people are great with watercolors while others thrive with a calligraphy kit. The possibilities are truly endless! 

The following are a few design options for a DIY Wedding Invitation: 

  1. Hand painted 
  1. Pencil/charcoal 
  1. Blank card 
  1. 3-D 
  1. Digitally designed 
collage of wedding invitations designed digitally and hand made

“Go with a medium you’re comfortable with,” Julia says. “If you are good with a graphic design program, you can go the digital route to create your invites. You could create them from scratch or find a template online. Alternatively, if you love to watercolor, for example, you may find it easier to paint your invites by hand and get high-quality scans to send to the printer. If in doubt, pinpoint a card that you like from your inspiration and emulate it.”  

Pablo Picaso once said, “Lesser artists borrow; great artists steal,” (in fairness, there’s speculation he ‘stole’ that line from other creatives). Regardless, take a page from him, and do what the experts do. Look to others for references.  

Julia explains, “You could also share inspiration from wedding invitations that you received from other friends or family. You and your partner should talk about what you like [and don’t like] about them.”  

Use tools at your disposal. Different forms of media give you different looks and different opportunities. Let’s take a look at a couple of tips for each.  

Handed painted DIY wedding invitations  

This is Julia’s go-to media.  

Try your hand at calligraphy. If you can write decently well in cursive, you can paint calligraphy. Slant your words to look italicized. Then, on each of the downstrokes you make, push down on your brush. This will thicken up the line a little. For each of your upstrokes, don’t push down as hard. You’ll want the lines that go upwards to be thinner. Practice until you have it down.  

Person practicing calligraphy with ink pen

Need to paint the trees? Don’t be afraid to check out a Bob Ross painting tutorial or two. He’ll show you the best way to stipple your brush for the perfect “happy little trees”. He’s got tips on painting mountains too!  

Painting works with almost any theme. However, it’s our pick for rustic DIY wedding invitations.  

Pencil or charcoal DIY wedding invitations 

A simple black and white invite could be the way to go. It complements a white dress and black suit if you’re all about tradition. This is probably one of the most unique ideas for DIY wedding invites. 

Charcoal is erasable. Don’t be afraid to put some organic wobbly spirals on the page. Separate the sections, add some detail, erase the pieces you don’t like, and give it depth. Now you’ve got a pretty floral print for your background! 

Charcoal drawn flowers on a black clip board

Charcoal works great with negative space. If you plan to put mountains or the moon in your design, you can’t go wrong with charcoal for sharp contrast. 

Pro tip: Be sure to wear gloves to avoid smudging!  

Blank card used as a wedding invitation  

Blank cards are easy to use, simple, and affordable. You can get a small pack from the Dollar Tree for… well, $1.25. Or, you could probably find a larger pack and save with a bulk purchase.  

This is the ultimate form of freedom – write a special message to each of your invited guests. It provides a more personal touch. 

White paper peeking out of brown envelope that says " thank you"

Don’t have time to write all the details? Print out the where and when, then handwrite the rest.  

DIY wedding invitation ideas with 3D elements  

The world is your oyster here. You could use a flat invite, and attach elements like twine, ribbon, or lace to it.  

Alternatively, you could take your 3D invitation to the extreme. Here are a few of our favorite ideas: 

  • Printed glass 
  • Wood burning 
  • Engraved pencils 
  • 3-d printing  
  • Keychains  
  • Cupcakes 
  • Mason Jars 

Sometimes these invites can serve a dual purpose as early wedding favors!  

Digitally designed DIY wedding invitations  

This is Renee’s go-to form. “I have digital design experience. I could have spent hours on Photoshop or Illustrator. But instead, I took the easier route and went with Canva. I found a couple of free templates and combined the elements we loved the most.”  

The nice thing about digital designs is that you can incorporate any style you want. There’s nothing you’re stuck with. If you want to combine the look of pencil, photography, and paint, you can.  

It doesn’t make a mess like painting. Plus, the materials are cheaper than some of the other media forms listed.  

Complimentary resources 

As promised earlier in this article, we have a set of digital templates that are free to download and easy to customize. All you need to do is sign up for a complementary canva account. These DIY wedding invitation templates will provide you with a solid foundation if you’re new to the DIY game. You can play around with colors and themes as you work towards perfecting your DIY wedding invitation. 

Wedding invitation templated with gold accents
Wedding invitation template with generic details
Wedding invitation template with botanical details
Wedding invitation template with rustic details
Wedding invitation template with floral details

Must haves for your wedding invites

Regardless of your theme or style, there are a few elements you’ll want to include. Be sure to include the following information on your wedding invitation:  

  • Who’s getting married (your names) 
  • Where the wedding is (address of location) 
  • When the wedding is (day & time) 
  • RSVP info (how to RSVP and when to do it by)  
  • Mention the theme or attire details  
  • If you have a wedding website, include the link  

Renee shares her fast tip here, “We went with a free website that allowed our guests to also RSVP electronically. We didn’t have to worry about providing return postage, things getting lost in the mail, or confusion from guests. It saved us a lot of money on postage. Plus, it helped keep our guest list organized and digital. Would recommend it!”  

Wondering how many invitations to order or make? Wedding experts recommend having 10% more cards than you have guests. That ensures you have enough in case you  

  • Make an addressing mistake  
  • Realize you forgot to invite a friend or loved one 
  • Are faced with early cancellations and have room in invite more people  
  • Want to send extra invites to the rich and famous to see if you can get some freebies  

Conclusion 

It’s your big day and there are decisions that need to be made. We hope our experts were able to inspire the creative genius in you as you embark on designing your DIY wedding invitations. Wedding invitations and save-the-dates are keepsakes to cherish over the decades. They’re the kind of items one shows to their grandkids. You want yours to be special, significant, and unique just like you. 

For more DIY ideas with Renee, check out our other articles 

Anna Reeve Net Pay Advance author headshot
Anna Reeve

As someone that spent a lot of time reading as a kid, I was deeply intrigued by the written word from an early age. My first full-time job post college was writing content for high-end fashion websites. Following my graduation from the MBA program at Pittsburg State University, I found employment in Marketing. For the last couple of years, I have been creating content on several platforms. I am a proud dog-mom to my black labs – Sky & Harry Potter (took fangirling to a whole new level there!), a connoisseur of Indian cuisine, a mediocre artist, and a reality TV addict.

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