There is a trend in today's marketplace toward do-it-yourself (DIY) projects. It's no surprise that many couples are investigating the option of DIY wedding invitations. However, the question remains, should you tackle this area of your wedding yourself? Or should you hire a professional printer to print your invitations?
Let's face it, you do not get a second chance to make a first impression. And the first impression your wedding guests will have of your wedding is through the wedding invitations they receive. Your wedding invitation gives your guests the first glimpse of your big day - so do not let them get the wrong impression. Of course you want your guests to say how "darling", "charming" or "beautiful" your wedding invitations are but if you decide to tackle the invitations yourself, the only impression you will leave on your guests is "homemade".
Still not convinced the DIY route is not for you? Here are some other points to consider with DIY wedding invitations:
First there is the expense of the ink cartridges, the stock paper, the envelopes, and the response cards. You will have to take the time to find all the matching paper components, and once you do, you may have to purchase a cutter to cut down your stock paper to the right size of the invitations. You may also need to purchase and download a special font for your computer, especially if the fonts you have installed are basic or too drab for an invitation.
After you gathered all your supplies, you will have to sit down at your computer and in either a word processor or in a picture editor (Paint Shop Pro or Photoshop) you will have to take the time to write the proper wording, then try and fit it within the layout of your invitation. What if the wording you selected is too long for the invitation paper you selected? What if it is too short? Layout alone is a time consuming process - often taking hours to get the spacing and design "just right".
Then you have the process of printing out your invitations. What if your ink cartridge runs out and some wedding invitations are printed darker than others? What if the ink does not take properly on some areas of your invitation due to the texture of the paper? What if the paper you selected does not want to run through your printer? What if the ink smudges before it dries?
The final step in the DIY wedding invitation process is licking those envelopes and affixing proper postage. Most professional wedding invitations are standard sizes so you will only need one stamp. What if your DIY wedding invitations are an odd size and you need more than one stamp? What if you think they are the right size, place one stamp on them and have all of them returned to you?
Finally, for the budget conscious bride who may be considering do-it-yourself wedding invitations due to the perceived cost of professionally printed invitations, the price difference may surprise you. For example, based on one hundred invitations, the average cost of a DIY wedding invitation is $1.00 dollar, for a total cost of $100.00. Did you know you can have professionally printed invitations for as low as $1.15 each? That's a difference of only $15.00! What is your time worth to you?
Your wedding day is one of the most important events in your life, and you will want every aspect of your wedding to be perfect. Although organization and preparation play a major role in DIY wedding invitations, issues may not arise until the actual project begins. Why leave your invitations to guesswork? Do not fall into the trap that do-it-yourself will save you money - it more than likely will only cause stress and take up much of your time.
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