Making My Wedding Invitations

It will surprise no one that a global pandemic has thrown a wrench into wedding planning. However, the extra time allowed me to learn even more skills in the way of designing and creating. As my save the dates began, I scoured the likes of Etsy for invitations that struck my fancy without too much luck. All of them felt too generic or overdrawn. Nothing seemed to match the elegant but simple style that I was going for. Something else had appeared on my radar since creating my save the dates as well, a Cricut machine. This fancy little device allows me to cut and "print" paper goods, so why not make my own wedding invitations?

I began by turning to my design skills to fashion a few mock invitations. I drew a variety of things like dahlias, leaves, bouquets, berries, and garlands. Unlike the save the dates, which were just a photo of something I had handdrawn, I was now capable of digital drawing. This made the design much crisper and easier to work with. After some discussion with James, we settled on the current design. I knew I wanted to carry over the font and style I used for the save the dates, so settling on that aspect was rather easy.

An early hand-drawn sketch

After settling on a design, it was then time to gather materials. I knew that I didn't want them all to look identical so I bought some paper in a variety of shades that matched our wedding--yellow, tan, blue. I thought they would look more blue than green, but nevertheless. I also bought a 30 pack of Cricut pens so I would have a selection of colors though I knew all I really needed was navy.

I tried printing some, but had difficulty because the text was only printed in outline and not filled in. With much trial and error trying to fill them in, we eventually learned that the Cricut doesn't have capabilities to fill in text. I then realized that perhaps a larger pen tip would create a more filled in text, and yes, I was right. On began the production!

Printing isn't really difficult, but it does involved loading each sheet of paper with the correct pens and then switching them out. And yes, I did hand print every single one, front and back! It was a labor of love and I really enjoyed seeing them all come out a bit unique and wonderfully handmade.

After the invitations were done, I then went on to print envelopes to match. Having hand-written out the names and addresses for the save the dates, I wasn't too keen on doing that again. Quite simply, I just ordered some plain white envelopes and then used the Cricut to draw each name and address on. These took a bit longer as I had to design each individual envelope rather than just reprinting the same design.

Stay tuned on the blog for more wedding creations. This definitely won't be the last of them!