DIY invitations are not always cheaper

Many people decide to DIY their wedding invitations thinking they are going to be cheaper than ordering them.  That can be the case but very rarely is that the case.  There are many factors to consider when DIYing.  Read this list to help you decide if DIY is really for you.

1. Design:  You can design your own if you want or a lot of people buy the digital file on Etsy.  If you design your own, you are quite limited unless you have experience in designing.  Most people don’t have software for designing.  There are websites (like Canva) that you can use but these are very time consuming to learn how to use.  If you buy a font to use they will cost you anywhere from $15-$100 for one font.  Most digital files on Etsy are $10-$30.  Unless you have experience in graphic design I would suggest buying a digital design off Etsy if you don’t use a stationer and have your heart set on DIY.
   
2. Printing:  People severely underestimate the cost of printing, whether they are printing at home or using a print shop.  It also can be a frustrating aspect of the process.  So many things to consider and so many things can go wrong.
   1. Home printing: If you bought a kit at hobby store or bought card stock to print your design on you will need to change the paper size settings on your printer.  Some printers don’t allow this.  Also, not every printer can print card stock.  Can yours?  If it is a laser the answer is probably no unless you have a higher end printer that can handle card stock.  If you have an inkjet the answer is probably yes but it needs to be an inkjet that has a straight path instead of pulling from a tray and rolling the paper.  Card stock does not roll and will jam in the printer.  If it manages to work it will crinkle the card stock.
   2. Print shop:  Many of the large printing places (i.e. FedEx, Office Depot, Staples, etc.) cannot print on heavy card stock.  Most of those places can only print on 65lb or 80lb card stock which is super lightweight as far as invitations go.
3. Ink: If you have a laser the toner is cheaper than inkjet ink but odds are your laser will not work for invitations.  Inkjet ink is the second most expensive liquid on the planet that you can buy at a store, second only to perfume/cologne.  Depending on your printer and design you could end up spending a lot of money on ink.  A detailed design or a flood filled design (where the background is printed) will take a lot of ink.  Here is an example:  You need to print 100 flood filled invitations on high quality setting (which uses more ink on every printer) it could easily cost you over $200 (you will use probably 3 full ink sets at $70 per set is $210) and you haven’t even printed any RSVPs or insert cards if you are going to have those.
4. Card stock and envelopes:  There are a few options here.  You can buy a kit or you can buy plain card stock and envelopes.  Most card stock you buy in stores in either a kit or blank is 65lb card stock.  This is a very thin card stock.  For comparison, most greeting cards are 80lb card stock.  This is because most home printers can do 65lb but nothing heavier.  For cost for 100 invitations a kit could run you over $100 (most kits come in boxes of 40 so you will need to buy 3 at an average price of $35 is a total of $105).  If you decide to do blank card stock and envelopes it could cost you almost as much.  For example, if you bought card stock and envelopes at Paper Source it would cost you $71.50 (4 packs of 25 cards for $5.50 each and 10 packs of 10 envelopes for $4.95 each).  And you would most definitely need more for the errors and for printer problems.
5. Time: As the old saying goes “time is money.”  If you are a novice and learning all the aspects of design, printing, cutting (if necessary), etiquette, and wording it can call add up to 10-12 hours.  This is commonly underestimated.  Think of your salary at your job and multiply it by 10 hours.  Adding 10 hours to wedding planning plus the guaranteed frustration is not worth all the extra stress.

So DIYing your invitations could still cost you upwards of $250 for 100 invitations (not including any other pieces of your suite).  Not a savings when I offer 100 invitations for $189 and it will be much less of a headache.

I know I am writing this as an invitation designer, but I know first hand how frustrating DIYing your invitations can be because I DIYed my own wedding invitations (10 years before I started my business).  It was such a headache.  Had I to do it all over again it would have been much less stressful and actually cheaper to just order them from a stationer.

Keywords: wedding, cheap wedding invitations, wedding budget, invitation design