How We DIY'ed Our Wedding Invitation Suite: A Step-By-Step Guide

There’s something truly magical about a personal touch in a wedding—it's not just about the vows or the celebration, but also about the little details that make the day uniquely yours. For us, the invitation suite was one of the most time-consuming yet so worth it aspects of our wedding planning. Instead of opting for a store-bought set, we decided to roll up our sleeves and create something that would reflect our journey, our style, and our love story.

When it came to choosing our wedding invitations, we explored every design option to find one that perfectly reflected our style and theme. We envisioned a whimsical, romantic wedding with a touch of boho and plenty of flowers. Since my maiden name, "Flores," means "flowers," it was important to celebrate my family and heritage. A design that beautifully reflects this seemed like the perfect fit. However, we quickly discovered that the beautiful suites we envisioned came with a hefty price tag. As a teacher at the time and a young couple with a budget to stick to, we knew we needed a more cost-effective solution. That's when the idea of DIY-ing our invitations took shape. We decided to purchase the materials ourselves and enlisted the help of a few willing family members. What started as a practical choice turned into a rewarding project, filled with creativity and personal touches. In this blog, I'll share how we DIY-ed our invitations and still achieved the wedding suite we envisioned—without breaking the bank.

WHAT YOU WILL NEED:

• A Wedding Invitation Suite Template of your choosing - see ours here

• An Envelope Liner of your choosing - we chose this one

• Handmade Deckle Edge Paper

• Paper Cutter

• Paper Tearing Ruler

• Printer

• A7 Euro Flap Envelopes - we used these

• A1 Euro Flap Envelopes - we used these ones

• Double-Sided Tape Rollers

• Chiffon Silk Ribbon

• Fabric Scissors

• Drafting Dots

Step 1: Choose Your Design

Our DIY invitation journey began with hours of Etsy browsing to find the perfect template. Once we found one that matched our vision, it included everything we needed: a wedding invitation, details card, reception card, RSVP card, and a few extras we chose not to use. We then customized these templates with our ceremony and reception details, bringing our dream invitation suite to life.

Step 2: Pick the Perfect Paper

Next, we focused on choosing the perfect paper. After extensive research and multiple store visits, I struggled to find a thickness that felt professional. Wedding planning can

be overwhelming, and I was starting to feel discouraged (if you’re in the process, you know what I mean!). I decided to revisit my inspiration pictures and while talking with Caleb, we realized each featured handmade paper. It was a "duh" moment—why not use handmade deckle-edged paper, just as I had been dreaming about? I had been so focused on what I thought wedding invitations should be that I overlooked what I truly wanted.

I quickly turned to Amazon and found the ideal handmade deckle-edged paper. Although it was available in 5x7, we opted for the larger 8.25x11.7 size to maximize each page (since we needed at least 200 invitations and the pack included only 50 sheets). When the paper finally arrived, I was thrilled—it was soft and absolutely beautiful.

Step 3: Print + Assemble with Care

Next came the tricky part (or should I say, the most time-consuming part): printing the invitations. To save money, we decided to print them ourselves, which required some fine-tuning. We made sure our printer was set to the right paper size. Although we chose to use the larger paper size, we needed the invitations to be 5x7 to fit our A7 envelopes (5.25x7.25 size). Thankfully, our template let us print multiple 5x7 invitations per page, so we got started.

Things went smoothly at first, but soon we hit a snag: the printer struggled with the handmade, softer paper. We found that printing in batches of 5-8 pages worked best. Although it slowed us down, we had a vision and were determined to see it through.

While the invitations printed, Caleb and I took turns cutting them to size with a paper cutter and used paper tearing rulers to recreate the deckled edges. Realizing it would take too long with just the two of us, we invited some family over, played some music, and turned it into a fun crafting session! We followed the same process for our 4x6 reception cards and 5x3.5 RSVP cards.

Step 4: Address + Prepare Envelopes

After finishing the printing, cutting, and tearing, it was time to tackle the envelopes. Another great feature of our invitation template was the option to print our guests' addresses directly onto the envelopes. So, back to the printer we went. We adjusted the settings for envelope size, inputted the addresses, and got started.

Then we hit our second snag: the envelope flaps kept getting caught in the printer. Thankfully, Caleb had some drafting dots (a perk of having an engineer fiancé), which we used to secure the flaps. With that fix, printing onto the envelopes became much easier!

Step 5: Final Touches

We printed addresses on both our 5x7 envelopes and the smaller ones used for the RSVP cards (3.625x5.125 size). As the envelopes printed, I placed stamps in each corner. Then I got started on cutting out our envelope liners, using a double-sided tape roller to adhere to the envelopes. Meanwhile, our family was busy cutting chiffon silk ribbons (pro tip: fabric scissors worked much better!) and tying them around the invitation suites.

Just like that, our invitations were complete! They turned out beautifully and matched exactly what we had envisioned. We were all so proud of our hard work—it was worth every bit of effort. After sending them out, we were thrilled to receive lots of compliments from our loved ones. The best part? We saved money and had a blast with our family in the process.

We hope this post inspires you on your DIY wedding invitation journey! While this was our approach, there are countless ways to create your own invites, so remember, you’ve got this! If you give it a try, we’d love to hear how it turns out. Best of luck with your wedding preparations, and thanks for reading!