Invitations are typically the first detailed piece of your wedding that your guests will see, so it’s understandable if you want to go all out on your wedding invitations. However, if you’re looking for areas to save money, it is possible to spare your budget without sacrificing the quality of your wedding invitations. Check out these 7 ways to save money on your wedding invitations:
1. Use a Pre-Made Template
Don’t invent the wheel when it comes to wedding invitations! There are thousands of beautifully designed wedding invitation templates online to fit any bride’s style. Whitetail Wedding offers a free template for your “Save-the-Date” and a wedding invitation that you can customize and download by clicking the button below (we’ll also send you our Ultimate Wedding Planning Checklist and give you access to a huge time saver when it comes to managing your wedding online).
You can also find wedding invitation templates for less than $15 on Etsy that you can download instantly and begin customizing. Just add names and details, tweak fonts and colors to finalize your ready-to-print invitations. Don’t forget to make printing arrangements!
2. DIY
If you are creative and enjoy making handmade crafts, then a do-it-yourself approach may be right for you. Making your own invitations is even more cost effective if you already own helpful craft-making equipment and choose affordable materials for your crafting process. Do-it-yourself may be time consuming but is a great option for saving money on your wedding invitations.
3. Print at Home
With some nice paper from Hobby Lobby and an ink cartridge for your at-home printer, you can get quality invitations for a fraction of the cost if you print them at home. Just make sure you do a test print to preview your invitations and make any tweaks before you print all the invitations.
4. Deliver Invitations by Hand
If you live close to your guests, delivering invitations is a great way to save money on postage. Postage cost per invitation may not be much, but can add up quickly. Even if you have a few invitations you can deliver by hand, go for it!
5. Go Digital
Save on printing and postage by going digital! Use your customized Etsy template, but instead of printing physical copies of the invitation, send the design to your guests by email or text. Here are a few free wedding websites that you can use as a digital invitation for your guests:
Joy
Minted
The Knot
Zola
Choose a template, customize your wedding details and send the website link to your guests via email or text for a fully digital experience.
Pro tip: Most wedding websites also offer tools for wedding planning and online RSVPs saving you the hassle of tracking your RSVPs manually.
6. Skip the "Save the Dates"
Save the dates are essentially early wedding announcements with minimal information (most importantly, the date). These “pre-invitations” get sent to wedding guests much sooner than the actual invitations, typically 8-12 months in advance of the wedding. Save the dates were originally designed to help guests “save the date” on their calendar to help ensure they would have enough notice to get it on their schedule and make arrangements to attend.
Save the dates are not essential, and many brides opt out of sending them. If that’s you, just make sure you get your actual invitations sent to your guests early enough (typically 4-5 months in advance) to give them plenty of time to make arrangements to attend the wedding.
7. Keep it Simple
Remember, most of your guests will not keep your wedding invitation after your wedding day. Skip the fancy envelopes, laced paper, wax seals, customized keepsakes, ribbons and lace to avoid unnecessary added costs for your wedding invitations. Your budget will thank you later!