Outside of the wedding license the most remembered pieces of paperwork in the wedding world are invitations and thank you cards. These days there are so many options and routes to inform people about wedding events. You can by hire a calligrapher to hand design them, be creative and have invites printed on balloons, or have someone custom lazer engrave designs on thin pieces of wood (I’ve seen it done). But as remembered and displayed as these pieces of information are, most of them will at some point end up in a trash can.

So for those of you who don’t have the budget or time to match those creative desires displayed in magainzes and on pintrest, you can choose from a variety of much cheaper , realistic ,but still beautiful options such as making your own, creating them through online sites, or buying packs at the local craft store.

Invitations:

So what did I do? I went to Michaels for both the wedding invites and thank you cards. I bought beautiful box set invitations. Each box came with invitations, response cards and envelopes, stickers for printing or writing out addresses and blank additional cards for address and or directions along with a little decoration in one neat packet.

The first step, using the online code given on the box, was figuring out the program’s formatting system. Then we could choose whatever wording, font, and even color we wanted for all our printed materials. Once wording was chosen, my dad took them to work to be printed.

Then we had Luke, my Mom, my cousin, and myself assemble them all. Although assembly was required it was pretty easy to navigate how the pieces fit together.

Do not forget those card from your registry companies. When you register they should give you enough registry cards for all of your invitations, if they do not, have them print some off for you. If you live far away from your registry locations you can call and ask for them to be mailed.

Each of our invitations opened with a sticker. Inside in center was the official invitation tied off with a bow. On the left fold was a sleeve with placement for response card and envelope as well the address and directions card.

Everyone said the invitations were classy and simple. No one guessed we assembled them ourselves and they were purchased in a box set. In fact, one of our guests who was unable to come, as a wedding present framed her invitation so we would always have at least one saved.

Thank you Cards

When it came time to do thank you cards I had several options. I could have found thank you cards in the same or similar print as our invitations carried at Michaels. Instead we wanted to use thank you cards featuring one of our wedding pictures. This way guests who were unable to attend could still get a glimpse of the celebration.

This past year Michaels for the first time offered deals online to create your own pictured Christmas cards. Since our wedding was in October and we moved to New York in November, we decided to send our thank you cards also as Christmas cards so everyone could have our new address and an update on our lives. We found a backdrop which left room for a large picture and had a similar pattern and color theme to our invitations. Using the online template program, we added in the words.

They turned out great and came in the mail in boxes with mailing envelopes. We bought more than enough to send to everyone who had sent us gifts or helped us in planning the wedding.

Then the hard part, writing a note to each guest. A word of advice: use 2 templates: one for those who gave you a gift and one for those who gave you a gift card or money. And remember to keep all those addresses you used for invitations and that you keep a clear list of who gave you what. In our cards we shared basic information about our move and Luke’s new job and both signed it off wishing everyone a great Christmas and New Year. It worked perfectly.

We may very well choose to go online to Michaels  to make our Christmas card this next year.