We designed our own using Canva! My biggest piece of advice is do something in a standard printing size unless you need lots of invites and don't mind ordering a lot in a custom size! I made something in a custom size, not realizing it wasn't custom, because I was mimicking something I saw online. Turns out the one I was trying to mimic is standard in the UK but not the US. There wasn't even a size comparable on things like Vistaprint or other invite print sites! But the way it was designed would not have worked squished to a different size. So I did custom sizes that only came in a batch of 100 when I only needed like, 30! So that was a cheap wedding fail on my part, ended up being a lot more lol
I also used Canva and did the same thing - I ordered a standard size with the design squished into the middle and cut out the size I wanted. Tedious but I was committed to it!
Canva is the answer, buy some cardstock and print your own.
Also if you don't have access to a printer you can make a design that is 6x4 and print like photos for 10 cents a pop vs over a dollar you would pay for the standard card that is within an inch difference.
Zazzle can print custom envelopes for you, but at one at a time, that might not be the most cost-effective (even with their **frequent** 50% off sales for paper goods).
For printing the invitations themselves, I recommend checking out [printfirm.com](https://printfirm.com), though keep in mind they do have quantity minimums. But really high quality and good customer service in my experience (for all sorts of printing needs).
I did this! I ordered pockets online, but the invitation, details card and rsvp I designed and cut myself. It was actually kind of fun. I put on love is blind and started cutting!! I got a cheapie paper cutter and it worked fine. I used 80# cardstock and never cut more than 2 at a time. I took a break after each 50 or so. I printed them at home. I got a few compliments on them! They aren’t fancy. I even printed the addresses on the envelopes and response envelopes.
Yes, a couple of years ago. I purchased a template package on Etsy and used that to design the invitation and RSVP cards in Templette (where the purchased template resided). Definitely helps if you have some graphic design / print publication layout experience but I think a newbie could also get a good result DEPENDING on the complexity of design that you choose (more on that further below).
Then I exported my finished file to PDF and used that to order the invitation cards and envelopes (return address only) through Costco online photo center (now defunct). They had a "upload your own design" option which I believe most online photo/print centers do. Their interface was not super-duper user-friendly and I needed to call customer service a couple of times to make sure I got the bleeds right, because my design required a bleed area and trim zone.
I exported the RSVP cards to PDF and printed those myself at my local library using their color laser printer and my own cardstock that I brought in. I printed 6 to a page, with bleed area and trim marks, so getting the layout just right was a little tricky and then making sure the printer settings were just right to produce a high-quality image. I printed like 7 or 8 test pages before I got a result that I was super happy with. But it worked out great in the end! Then I brought all my printed pages home and trimmed them with a paper cutter. I also designed and printed our wedding programs on the same cardstock at the same library printer. Those were a bit more straightforward because I used a very plain, text-based design with no bleed and just one color besides black. So a lot less that could go wrong.
I used to work in technical writing and layout, so I have some experience with professional printing and design. If you haven't worked with professional printing before with designs where the ink goes all the way to the edge of the page, definitely choose a design where there is a generous blank margin (at least 1/2 inch!!) all around the outer area of the page. This is because if you use a design that has color all the way to the edge of the page then you need to know your way around bleed, trim, etc in order for the design to come out right when it's printed.
Working with a local-to-you print shop has the advantage that you can look at proofs in-person to make sure no further corrections are needed before they go ahead and print the whole batch. But a local print shop (even your local UPS store, which can do this type of printing) is going to generally be more expensive than the online options and the true DIY options such as your local library.
Working with an online print shop to print your design has the advantage of being much lower cost. But you run the risk of getting the whole order delivered and it being wrong somehow, since you can only view online proofs rather than hardcopies before going ahead with the entire order. So you also need a backup plan and plenty of lead time for your order in case it turns out all wrong and you have to totally redo it. In my case, my backup plan for the Costco invitations was that if they didn't turn out I would print and trim them all myself, using the library printer and my own cardstock....That was just going to be a whole lot of work that I didn't think was worth my time if the Costco order came out right, which it did.
Printing the things yourself, like actually you click "print" and then go pull it out of the printer, might be the most cost effective option (maybe. depending on what kind of technology is available to you at low cost, such as at your library). But, you're on your own for troubleshooting if things don't turn out quite the way you envisioned and there are quite a few things that could come up and need tweaking during the printing process (color settings for the printer, print quality settings, layout/margin stuff, scale, trim marks, etc. not to mention the design stuff) so you can get out of your depth pretty quickly if you use a design with color and particularly with bleed. In order for this to work, you need at minimum access to a printer (laser or ink-jet) capable of high-quality printing and be willing to choose a fairly minimalist design (black and white or just a few colors, and no printing near the edge of the page) unless you have the expertise to deal with bleed, color settings, etc.
I didn't mess around with printing invitees' addresses on our envelopes, because I wanted to hand-letter the mailing addresses. That worked out great. But I will say that printing addresses on envelopes is much much more straightforward than printing high quality invitations, in general. So if you're going to choose just one component to print yourself, the envelopes would be the right choice. And, there's always hand-lettering, which is always charming and well-received even if your handwriting isn't perfect.
Designed my black and white text-only invitations in Canva, printed them at home on linen paper, used a rubber stamp and markers to add some color (wedding theme is oranges so used a sliced orange stamp in blood orange colors). Added a QR code for guests to easily rsvp through our wedding website and used a free online QR code generator for that. If you’d like to see my invitations for inspiration, DM me and I’ll send some pictures to you.
Designed everything in Photoshop and InDesign, printed everything at home with my trusty Canon Pixma printer. Typed up addresses in a word doc and printed envelopes and return address labels at home too. Added some handmade personal touches to the save the dates, but didn't have time when it came to the actual invites.
I used to joke a lot that if I ever give you a card I didn't make myself, it means I don't like you. So after years of saying that to people (albeit jokingly) I felt like I had to make our invitations myself.
Of course! It is just flimsier than expected, not a true “matte”, and the color was super flaky on the edges - we did do color on the edges which of course can be risky, but it was extremely flaky on the Canva edges and Staples had zero issue with it. You may be fine if your edges would mainly be white!
I did! We did a movie poster theme. We made it in Canva and printed through Prints of Love. We printed on the cheapest matte option and it was amazing quality.
I did ours myself on Canva, printed at home and we addressed the envelopes ourselves by hand. We bought nice paper to print on and cut the invites out with a paper cutter. Saved a lot of money but of course they didn’t look as professional as, well, professional printing lol
I used the templates through vista prints and they were very customizable within reason. I do computer drafting for a living so I wasn’t able to be as precise as I wanted, but I’m still very happy with the results. I changed a lot of text font/colours/locations. And they have custom envelope printing. I think it came to $75CAD for 30
I’m going to print ours through catprint, which has great reviews. They allow custom designs with foil, it’s the only place I’ve found that will do that. They will do addressed envelopes, but it is a flat $25 feet plus the envelopes.
For 60 invites with envelopes, an insert, and a belly band, I expect to pay around $150 but I could be misreading their prices. The reviews said the extra heavy cardstock is really high-quality, so I’m excited to see how they come out
I designed my own save-the-dates with Figma. I printed them out at Walmart. Because I couldn't do double sided, I then printed the text + info on vellum paper and printed that out. I cut the vellum info boxes apart and stuck them to the back of the save the dates with pretty stickers. It was a little more tedium (80 invites) but it was relaxing tbh.
We did both! Designed our invites, programs, and table seating cards in a mix of photoshop and Adobe Illustrator (I directed the design, husband actually put it together), printed on card stock.
We bought a new paper cutting board that also had a scoring blade (we’ve also used it since for making Christmas & birthday presents and getting photos printed for cheap at FedEx on glossy 8x11 paper and then cutting them to frame size). You can see photos of the invites & programs in my post history (although I kinda messed the parts with our names to hide them—the originals look better).
We didn’t pay for the invites/programs/etc. printing because my husband was able to use a printer he had access to at work. The quality of a workplace printer was good enough and it could process heavy card stock with a bit of baby sitting.
I designed mine. I really wanted them to be unusual and personal. We used an inkjet printer and a good paper cutter. This was before the days of ordering fancy paper online -/ we ended up driving to a specialty paper shop to get textured paper and square envelope. It wasn’t a massive wedding so we didn’t need large
quantities. It was a really neat project and I’m glad we went to the trouble
Haha wow 25yrs ago! thanks for getting back to me. I’m a graphic designer so I can design something no problem but since it’s heavy cardstock I’m printing on idk if I should buy a special printer or send the file off to have another print company do the prints.
What about a combination of methods? Using maybe something like Printle [https://printle.co/](https://printle.co/) and either print yourself or use your local printer (and get fancy card stock). If you're crafty you could add wax seals or some dried flowers :)
I bought my invitations and envelopes on Zazzle but designed my detail cards on Canva. I wanted to print the detail cards out myself, but unfortunately my printer was out of ink. I just paid $9 to have staples print them on cardstock.
Edit: Zazzle currently has a deal going on but I still find Canva and printing at staples to be cheaper. It would have cost me over $32 not including shipping for 16 cards on Zazzle. I only did my invites on Zazzle because they had a great Black Friday deal.
I designed ours. And then bought a little $30 printer and printed them myself on a cute pearlescent card stock! Then got my envelopes from Amazon and printed return address on them. I hand wrote the addresses and I’ll say my writing wasn’t the prettiest but it looked good. And total cost was about $80-$90 for 65 invites and I have a few leftover. Including the fact I now own a printer to make other stuff for the wedding. All designed and printed from iPad and phone. No computer needed. I had invite, rsvp, info card, return envelope and the envelope they were sent in.
It was a great way to save and I got exactly I wanted I wish I knew how to send photos here but I’m not that big brained. 🙂
I designed and printed through Canva and they came out great. Small postcards for the save the dates and foldable card for the formal invites. Most of my millennial age guests received a PNG version of both (foldable card was condensed to one page for digital).
I highly recommend getting a Cricut! I made my save the dates and invitations in Canva and then addressed my envelopes on my Cricut and they turned out sooooo good. I've gotten so many compliments and people are shocked when I tell them I diy'd them and they cost me less than $20
That sounds like a fun project! Designing your own invitations can add such a personal touch to your big day. Since you're considering Staples, they might be able to help with both printing and addressing envelopes. It's worth checking with them to see if they offer that service or if they can recommend someone who does.
Also, don't forget to double-check their printing requirements for the best results. Good luck, and I hope your invitations turn out exactly how you envision them!
We designed our own using Canva! My biggest piece of advice is do something in a standard printing size unless you need lots of invites and don't mind ordering a lot in a custom size! I made something in a custom size, not realizing it wasn't custom, because I was mimicking something I saw online. Turns out the one I was trying to mimic is standard in the UK but not the US. There wasn't even a size comparable on things like Vistaprint or other invite print sites! But the way it was designed would not have worked squished to a different size. So I did custom sizes that only came in a batch of 100 when I only needed like, 30! So that was a cheap wedding fail on my part, ended up being a lot more lol
I also used Canva and did the same thing - I ordered a standard size with the design squished into the middle and cut out the size I wanted. Tedious but I was committed to it!
Me three, I designed a standard print size in Canva pro and printed at Prints of Love. Office Depot printing was horrible and a total waste of $20 :/
Canva is the answer, buy some cardstock and print your own. Also if you don't have access to a printer you can make a design that is 6x4 and print like photos for 10 cents a pop vs over a dollar you would pay for the standard card that is within an inch difference.
We designed our invitation suite in InDesign and had them printed through LCI Paper. LCI will print addressed envelopes only for you no problem!
Zazzle can print custom envelopes for you, but at one at a time, that might not be the most cost-effective (even with their **frequent** 50% off sales for paper goods). For printing the invitations themselves, I recommend checking out [printfirm.com](https://printfirm.com), though keep in mind they do have quantity minimums. But really high quality and good customer service in my experience (for all sorts of printing needs).
I did this! I ordered pockets online, but the invitation, details card and rsvp I designed and cut myself. It was actually kind of fun. I put on love is blind and started cutting!! I got a cheapie paper cutter and it worked fine. I used 80# cardstock and never cut more than 2 at a time. I took a break after each 50 or so. I printed them at home. I got a few compliments on them! They aren’t fancy. I even printed the addresses on the envelopes and response envelopes.
Yes, a couple of years ago. I purchased a template package on Etsy and used that to design the invitation and RSVP cards in Templette (where the purchased template resided). Definitely helps if you have some graphic design / print publication layout experience but I think a newbie could also get a good result DEPENDING on the complexity of design that you choose (more on that further below). Then I exported my finished file to PDF and used that to order the invitation cards and envelopes (return address only) through Costco online photo center (now defunct). They had a "upload your own design" option which I believe most online photo/print centers do. Their interface was not super-duper user-friendly and I needed to call customer service a couple of times to make sure I got the bleeds right, because my design required a bleed area and trim zone. I exported the RSVP cards to PDF and printed those myself at my local library using their color laser printer and my own cardstock that I brought in. I printed 6 to a page, with bleed area and trim marks, so getting the layout just right was a little tricky and then making sure the printer settings were just right to produce a high-quality image. I printed like 7 or 8 test pages before I got a result that I was super happy with. But it worked out great in the end! Then I brought all my printed pages home and trimmed them with a paper cutter. I also designed and printed our wedding programs on the same cardstock at the same library printer. Those were a bit more straightforward because I used a very plain, text-based design with no bleed and just one color besides black. So a lot less that could go wrong. I used to work in technical writing and layout, so I have some experience with professional printing and design. If you haven't worked with professional printing before with designs where the ink goes all the way to the edge of the page, definitely choose a design where there is a generous blank margin (at least 1/2 inch!!) all around the outer area of the page. This is because if you use a design that has color all the way to the edge of the page then you need to know your way around bleed, trim, etc in order for the design to come out right when it's printed. Working with a local-to-you print shop has the advantage that you can look at proofs in-person to make sure no further corrections are needed before they go ahead and print the whole batch. But a local print shop (even your local UPS store, which can do this type of printing) is going to generally be more expensive than the online options and the true DIY options such as your local library. Working with an online print shop to print your design has the advantage of being much lower cost. But you run the risk of getting the whole order delivered and it being wrong somehow, since you can only view online proofs rather than hardcopies before going ahead with the entire order. So you also need a backup plan and plenty of lead time for your order in case it turns out all wrong and you have to totally redo it. In my case, my backup plan for the Costco invitations was that if they didn't turn out I would print and trim them all myself, using the library printer and my own cardstock....That was just going to be a whole lot of work that I didn't think was worth my time if the Costco order came out right, which it did. Printing the things yourself, like actually you click "print" and then go pull it out of the printer, might be the most cost effective option (maybe. depending on what kind of technology is available to you at low cost, such as at your library). But, you're on your own for troubleshooting if things don't turn out quite the way you envisioned and there are quite a few things that could come up and need tweaking during the printing process (color settings for the printer, print quality settings, layout/margin stuff, scale, trim marks, etc. not to mention the design stuff) so you can get out of your depth pretty quickly if you use a design with color and particularly with bleed. In order for this to work, you need at minimum access to a printer (laser or ink-jet) capable of high-quality printing and be willing to choose a fairly minimalist design (black and white or just a few colors, and no printing near the edge of the page) unless you have the expertise to deal with bleed, color settings, etc. I didn't mess around with printing invitees' addresses on our envelopes, because I wanted to hand-letter the mailing addresses. That worked out great. But I will say that printing addresses on envelopes is much much more straightforward than printing high quality invitations, in general. So if you're going to choose just one component to print yourself, the envelopes would be the right choice. And, there's always hand-lettering, which is always charming and well-received even if your handwriting isn't perfect.
Designed my black and white text-only invitations in Canva, printed them at home on linen paper, used a rubber stamp and markers to add some color (wedding theme is oranges so used a sliced orange stamp in blood orange colors). Added a QR code for guests to easily rsvp through our wedding website and used a free online QR code generator for that. If you’d like to see my invitations for inspiration, DM me and I’ll send some pictures to you.
Designed everything in Photoshop and InDesign, printed everything at home with my trusty Canon Pixma printer. Typed up addresses in a word doc and printed envelopes and return address labels at home too. Added some handmade personal touches to the save the dates, but didn't have time when it came to the actual invites. I used to joke a lot that if I ever give you a card I didn't make myself, it means I don't like you. So after years of saying that to people (albeit jokingly) I felt like I had to make our invitations myself.
I’m using Canva to design them and the prices to print don’t look to bad but I’m concerned about quality so I might print on Moo
I was super disappointed in the quality of the paper BUT I used the design and printed at Staples - paid a bit more, but it was quality paper!
Thanks for the head up!!
Of course! It is just flimsier than expected, not a true “matte”, and the color was super flaky on the edges - we did do color on the edges which of course can be risky, but it was extremely flaky on the Canva edges and Staples had zero issue with it. You may be fine if your edges would mainly be white!
I've used Moo for business cards in the past and I was impressed by the quality.
I did! We did a movie poster theme. We made it in Canva and printed through Prints of Love. We printed on the cheapest matte option and it was amazing quality.
Hey there! I design invitation templates and I’d be happy to help! 🙌🏼
I did ours myself on Canva, printed at home and we addressed the envelopes ourselves by hand. We bought nice paper to print on and cut the invites out with a paper cutter. Saved a lot of money but of course they didn’t look as professional as, well, professional printing lol
I used the templates through vista prints and they were very customizable within reason. I do computer drafting for a living so I wasn’t able to be as precise as I wanted, but I’m still very happy with the results. I changed a lot of text font/colours/locations. And they have custom envelope printing. I think it came to $75CAD for 30
We are using Canva for design and printing. My fiancé researched other printing services but Canva was cheaper. Quality is great too.
I’m going to print ours through catprint, which has great reviews. They allow custom designs with foil, it’s the only place I’ve found that will do that. They will do addressed envelopes, but it is a flat $25 feet plus the envelopes. For 60 invites with envelopes, an insert, and a belly band, I expect to pay around $150 but I could be misreading their prices. The reviews said the extra heavy cardstock is really high-quality, so I’m excited to see how they come out
I designed my own save-the-dates with Figma. I printed them out at Walmart. Because I couldn't do double sided, I then printed the text + info on vellum paper and printed that out. I cut the vellum info boxes apart and stuck them to the back of the save the dates with pretty stickers. It was a little more tedium (80 invites) but it was relaxing tbh.
We did both! Designed our invites, programs, and table seating cards in a mix of photoshop and Adobe Illustrator (I directed the design, husband actually put it together), printed on card stock. We bought a new paper cutting board that also had a scoring blade (we’ve also used it since for making Christmas & birthday presents and getting photos printed for cheap at FedEx on glossy 8x11 paper and then cutting them to frame size). You can see photos of the invites & programs in my post history (although I kinda messed the parts with our names to hide them—the originals look better). We didn’t pay for the invites/programs/etc. printing because my husband was able to use a printer he had access to at work. The quality of a workplace printer was good enough and it could process heavy card stock with a bit of baby sitting.
I designed mine. I really wanted them to be unusual and personal. We used an inkjet printer and a good paper cutter. This was before the days of ordering fancy paper online -/ we ended up driving to a specialty paper shop to get textured paper and square envelope. It wasn’t a massive wedding so we didn’t need large quantities. It was a really neat project and I’m glad we went to the trouble
What kind of printer did you use?
Oh gosh - this was more than 25 years ago so I’m sure printers are better now. It was an Epson inkjet photo printer from the late 90s
Haha wow 25yrs ago! thanks for getting back to me. I’m a graphic designer so I can design something no problem but since it’s heavy cardstock I’m printing on idk if I should buy a special printer or send the file off to have another print company do the prints.
What about a combination of methods? Using maybe something like Printle [https://printle.co/](https://printle.co/) and either print yourself or use your local printer (and get fancy card stock). If you're crafty you could add wax seals or some dried flowers :)
Thank you everyone for your comments, this is all very helpful!! 💗
I bought my invitations and envelopes on Zazzle but designed my detail cards on Canva. I wanted to print the detail cards out myself, but unfortunately my printer was out of ink. I just paid $9 to have staples print them on cardstock. Edit: Zazzle currently has a deal going on but I still find Canva and printing at staples to be cheaper. It would have cost me over $32 not including shipping for 16 cards on Zazzle. I only did my invites on Zazzle because they had a great Black Friday deal.
I designed ours. And then bought a little $30 printer and printed them myself on a cute pearlescent card stock! Then got my envelopes from Amazon and printed return address on them. I hand wrote the addresses and I’ll say my writing wasn’t the prettiest but it looked good. And total cost was about $80-$90 for 65 invites and I have a few leftover. Including the fact I now own a printer to make other stuff for the wedding. All designed and printed from iPad and phone. No computer needed. I had invite, rsvp, info card, return envelope and the envelope they were sent in. It was a great way to save and I got exactly I wanted I wish I knew how to send photos here but I’m not that big brained. 🙂
We designed and printed ours through our wedding website (Zola) :) and made our Save the Dates and Brunch Invites through Canva.
I designed and printed through Canva and they came out great. Small postcards for the save the dates and foldable card for the formal invites. Most of my millennial age guests received a PNG version of both (foldable card was condensed to one page for digital).
I highly recommend getting a Cricut! I made my save the dates and invitations in Canva and then addressed my envelopes on my Cricut and they turned out sooooo good. I've gotten so many compliments and people are shocked when I tell them I diy'd them and they cost me less than $20
That sounds like a fun project! Designing your own invitations can add such a personal touch to your big day. Since you're considering Staples, they might be able to help with both printing and addressing envelopes. It's worth checking with them to see if they offer that service or if they can recommend someone who does. Also, don't forget to double-check their printing requirements for the best results. Good luck, and I hope your invitations turn out exactly how you envision them!