{"id":37980,"date":"2016-08-10T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-08-10T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/creativemarket.com\/blog\/?p=37980"},"modified":"2024-04-11T05:47:08","modified_gmt":"2024-04-11T12:47:08","slug":"diy-wedding-design-guide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/creativemarket.com\/blog\/diy-wedding-design-guide","title":{"rendered":"DIY Wedding: A Design Guide for Brides"},"content":{"rendered":"

Weddings are expensive. Even with limited guests and a minimal setup, the event can put a dent in your bank account. But even with the looming costs, people tend to spend and splurge for this occasion because it’s a momentous one. A wedding, after all, is a celebration of love.
\nThese days, couples have different wedding options that are lovely and economical. In fact, most brides do DIY wedding projects to save a fraction of the cost. Some want to design their own wedding invitations because they have the skills to pull it off.
\nWith the vast options the internet has when it comes to weddings, creating your own invites is doable. Whether you’re trying to spend less or simply love doing DIY projects, here are tips to follow:<\/p>\n

<\/span>1. Pick a wedding style.<\/span><\/h2>\n

\nFirst things first: choose a wedding theme. Ask your fiancé for suggestions on colors, fonts, and the overall design of the wedding. List your own concepts. Then, find a balance between what you and your partner want. Your wedding invites will give your guests a peek at what your big day will be like. It should symbolize both your visions on that special day.\n<\/p>\n

<\/span>2. Specify your budget.<\/span><\/h2>\n

\nSoon after choosing a theme, establish a realistic budget you can work with. Even with DIY invitations, the price of cardstocks and ink can set you back. This can happen if you go for high-quality paper and\/or heavily saturated ink. You also need to think about other concerns that can affect your budgets like the size of the invites, the quality of the envelopes, and the rate of postage. Outlining what you want and putting a corresponding amount – even just a ballpark figure – on each element helps in determining the final cost per invitation.\n<\/p>\n

<\/span>3. Make a schedule and stick to it.<\/span><\/h2>\n

\nPrinting invitations take considerably longer than most people think. In the first place, printing is not even the first step in creating your invitation. You need to design the actual invites and the other essentials (RSVP cards, save the date cards, place cards, table numbers). After printing, you need to assemble the invites, address the envelopes, and mail the invitations. Each step takes time.
\nAn effective guideline is this: If you think you can finish everything in two weeks, give yourself four. Good wedding etiquette requires you to send the invitations six to eight weeks before the actual wedding day. This timeline leaves guests a minimum of a month to reply to your RSVP. It’s also important to have extra supplies of papers, ink, envelopes, and ribbons handy if you make mistakes and need to reprint anything.\n<\/p>\n

<\/span>4. Be smart in designing the invitations.<\/span><\/h2>\n

\nMore often than not, if the bride does her own wedding invitations, she already has a great idea of what she hopes it’ll look like. If you’re in this situation, you may even have the skills to turn your concepts into reality. Or, at the very least, you may be planning to learn about the process in general.
\nThere are tons of helpful notes online on how you can start your project. You can watch videos about invitation layouts<\/a> and start from there. It’s also important that you familiarize yourself with your design software.
\nAdobe Creative Suite is arguably the best and most popular design software. It features access to many professional graphics applications such as Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign. These three programs allow you the most flexibility and opportunity to design, play, and create.\n<\/p>\n

<\/span>Adobe Illustrator<\/span><\/h3>\n

\nFor wedding invitations and templates, Illustrator is the most ideal to use. The illustrations and graphics in this suite are vector-based. Since they are not made of pixels, the output is smooth. Even elements with photos are not pixelated. You may also incorporate your favorite fonts, preferred stock illustrations, or personalized designs, and set them up as you want.\n<\/p>\n

<\/span>Adobe Photoshop<\/span><\/h3>\n

\nPhotoshop provides the same structure features found in the Illustrator, along with extra robust graphic treatment effects. With Photoshop, you can design a customized type, add images and other graphics. Remember that each image size must be 300 dots per inch (dpi) else the unsightly pixels will be easily seen.\n<\/p>\n

<\/span>Adobe InDesign<\/span><\/h3>\n

\nInDesign is a layout tool that gives you command over documents where written text and actual messages are prominent. InDesign is great for creating wedding programs. A fantastic pairing is to design your graphics in either Illustrator or Photoshop and then import the output into InDesign to set up your type.
\nNote: Adobe Creative Suite costs roughly $60 per month. It offers a 30-day trial offer. Keep in mind that since these programs are professional level, they also have a pro-level learning curve.<\/em>
\nIf you find Adobe programs difficult or pricey, there are other software you can use to make your DIY wedding invites. Some of the cheaper alternatives are:\n<\/p>\n