Long, lovely wedding invitations–I love ’em. I found the first image while surfing around on the web. The long lean modern design reminds me of how very much I like unique invitations. I like unique styles, unique materials, and unique sizes. I’m especially fond of invitations that say something powerful about the couple. Mountainside Groom and I designed our own invitations as both a money-saving measure AND a creative project we could do together.
If you are thinking of going the DIY invitation route, let me give you these quick Hindsight tips:
Find your envelopes first!!!
Image from Style Me Pretty
There is nothing worse that spending scores of hours designing your wedding invitations in PhotoShop and InDesign only to find that you can’t find a properly-sized envelope for it. This happened to me, and I ended up punting under less than ideal circumstances. I needed a #10 envelope for our rectangular shaped invitations. I couldn’t find one quickly or cheaply. So I made all of the other pieces of the invitation suite larger to fit the gift-card envelopes I ended up buying.
Don’t make the same mistake. Figure out what is your style. Do you like long invitations? square ones? differently shaped ones? Once you know what you want, go hunting for envelopes that will accommodate your invitations. Measure out a test piece of paper and see if it fits. Leave a little room to account for the slight expansion multiple pieces will cause. Then, when you’re designing, set the dimensions to the envelope size. You can be confident your invitations will fit perfectly.
Lastly, do a test with one invitation suite before printing off a hundred or so. It never hurts to be overly cautious with DIY projects.
Ask the USPS if your “uniquely-you” invitation requires additional postage
Image from Giddy Tuesday
The USPS charges extra postage for square invitations.
Also make sure that your weight is under the allotted amount for standard postage. Have the postmaster weigh an invitation before dropping them all in the mail. You don’t want them all coming back because of insufficient postage. Or worse, arriving with a “postage due” notice.
Make sure your cute little wrap around label is firmly secured
Image from Swell Ink
If the label is not perfectly secured and a little flap develops in the corner, it can get caught and mangled in the USPS’s automatic sorting machines. When in doubt, ask your post master to hand-cancel your invites.