Do you want to make your own wedding stationery and not sure where to start? I hope that this page will help you make a start. There are plenty of ideas elsewhere on the site that will help you with designs.  If you decide this is the way to go - start as soon as possible - if they are ready too early it won't matter there will be plenty to do nearer the time.

Quantities
So first things first – how many invitations do you need to make? You will need one per family – not one per guest, and if you are having an evening reception as well as a daytime reception you may wish to make different sized invites. So make a quick list and think about sizes and other stationery you may require such as menus and thank you cards. Once you have made a few decisions on quantities - this might affect the design that you will decide upon. If you are only making a handful of personal invitations you could be a bit ambitious and go for a fairly elaborate design – but if you are making a lot a nice simple design would be best.

Wording on the front
Will you want wording on the front of the card? – I personally think the best and easiest way is using your printer. You can print directly onto your blank card, once you have set it all up you will be able to do loads at once and not have to worry about getting it straight, in the right position etc. Or you can print onto card and cut it up and attach it to the card.  Here is an example of this method, inking the edges makes the ‘label’ more interesting.  I mainly use chalk pads as these dry fairly quickly. Another reason to use this method is if your printer cannot print directly onto card – you could persuade a friend to print a few sheets of your labels.

check this page for hints on using Word to centre your work.

Check out the inks page for more guidance

By using your printer you can have any words you would like – so you may choose to have your names and the date of the wedding, or maybe words like ‘to have and to hold’, ‘with this ring’ or ‘on this day I shall marry my best friend’ – I have put these on stationery I have made in the past.

There are other options such as rubber stamping – which maybe ambitious for a beginner, although you could stamp onto card and again cut it up, or punch it pur and attach to the invite.

Or there are peel offs – this can be tricky to stick level and after the 10th card I think you may start to flag.

I have used daisy punches and glitter glue.  Message is printed

Daisies again but with the addition of a square silver backgrounds, this was punched but could be cut.  More Little Stickles glitter glue in the centre of each.

Design
If you have limited equipment you can buy ready made embellishments in a variety of shops and on line shops. Or you can buy a punch such as a heart punch, and this is a quick and easy may to make a card. I have added some ideas to the punch page and some of these could be suitable for wedding stationery, flowers are perfect. Paper roses are another option, teamed up with matching ribbon.

Check out Ebay and other web sites for people selling die cut shapes - these are normally cheap and easy to use.

I have added a selection of cards to this page that are suitable for wedding stationery – you just need to change the words. The daisies and hearts are just made using punches using a variety of different cards type. I have also added some deatils with glittler glue - I use Little Stickles - which is really fine glitter and comes in a large variety of colours. You could also use stick on gems, just put a dot of tacky glue on them.

Choosing Card
There are plenty of places that sell card pre-cut and pre-scored and this could be your best option if you do not have a large trimmer or guillotine. I suggest you check out the forum for the latest recommends for suppliers and get matching envelopes at the same time.

Some on line suppliers will provide swatch samples – although they may charge for this service. You can get a variety of finishes and colours of card.

If you are able to get peel and seal envelopes these could save you sometime when sending them. If you are just doing the 2 standard sizes A5 folded in half C6 (put link here) and DL you can buy the envelopes from High St stationery suppliers. I use Conqueror from my local stationers in Bedford.

Wording inside
You will need to decide on your wording, you can choose traditional wording or something of your own choosing. There are loads of books at your local library on wedding etiquette that have suggested wording. I use Word and tables to set out my inserts

check this page for hints on using Word to centre your work.

I also trim my inserts so that they are slightly smaller than the card, this does give a neater finish. So it maybe worth investing in a small trimmer for this – places such as Lidls often have these on offer and you should be able to purchase something for around £10. But again you should be able to buy pre-trimmed inserts from the same supplier as the card.

Other Stationery
There is a whole host of stationery you can make ... save the day cards; invitations; order of service; place cards; table plan; guest book; menus; and thank you cards.  None of them are essential so you could choose which you would like to do.

Guest books are available from a variety of places, from stationers to M&S you can always add an embellishment or two to tie in with your theme, or go the whole hog and buy a blank one and start from scratch.  You can make most of the other stationery with the same designs and ideas as your invitation, you will need to just get the hang of printing the inserts.

There are web sites around that have hymns already written that should help you with your order of service.  I would get your vicar to proof read it before printing them, if you run out of time, a simple A4 sheet on quality paper/card would be fine.

I hope that this has given you some help in starting your stationery – please feel free to join the forum and ask some questions on there.

I have got a Wedding Planner here that might offer you some planning help – just add the date of you wedding and it will bring back some key tasks and dates. Please let me know if I need to amend or add details.

A lot more work in this, embossed background which is inked, along with ribbons.  Elements of this design could be used, as I would suggest too labour intensive for more than 10 invites.

The angel hair used in this is effective and comes in sheets or on a roll.  I have some in the shop but limited colours now.  Just glue with tacky glue.

Patterned papers used on this one - you can buy sheets of this and trim it down.  I stick mine with double sided tape, or Pritt Stick.  Ribbon is a great way of adding detail.

These last three have been made using a rubber stamped image.  This is heat embossed and you will need to have some basic equipment to do this. 

Ribbon and a different coloured piece of card to show off the design makes this simple design come to life.

A different combination of the same elements