Break away from the predictable by making your own wedding invitations.
If you're a scrapbook hobbyist, you have the experience (and maybe even the materials) to improve the look of your wedding invitations and save money by making them yourself. Anyone can order cookie-cutter wedding invitations from a print shop. Instead, create something that could only be an invitation to your wedding. Use pressed flowers, handmade paper, silk ribbon, photos or made-for-scrapbooking decorations for invitations that make a professional, unforgettable impression.
Natural Materials
Natural materials can be used to make stunning wedding invitations, and are particularly appropriate if the wedding will be held outdoors. Ring your invitation with pressed flowers, or scatter loose rose petals inside the envelope. If you're holding your wedding in the mountains or by the ocean, thread colored ribbon through tiny pine cones or shells to adorn the inside of your invitation. If yours is a Celtic-themed wedding, use pressed shamrocks. Tie raffia straw ribbons around a country-themed invitation; glue a thin layer of sand to the paper for a beach wedding. If you want to go fancier, use gold dust, gold leaf or a small semiprecious stone glued to the paper.
Cloth and Ribbon
Any kind of cloth can be used for a wedding invitation. Create an exquisite wedding "dress" out of a lace handkerchief. Cover the invitation in denim to look like the back pocket of a pair of jeans and embroider the invitation across it. Use a strip of embroidered Chinese silk or a tasseled ribbon for an Asian-themed wedding. For a wedding with a medieval or Celtic theme, use a ribbon bearing a Celtic knot, weighted with a small Celtic cross, or printed to look like tapestry.
Paper and Supplies
A wedding invitation on handmade paper bespeaks attention to detail. Cover your invitation with pressed flowers, tiny pearls, beads or scrapbook "jewels." Buy 3-D wedding scrapbook stickers and use them with stamps to create a simple, elegant invitation. Alternatively, print a beautiful background, such as a painted bouquet of flowers, on slick card stock. Print the words of the invitation on a sheer overlay and affix it to the card for a classic, beautiful look.
Imaginative Ideas
For a wildly imaginative wedding invitation, issue "wedding tickets"; invitations printed to look like the cover of a tabloid magazine or pulp novel; or invitations rolled up like a scroll and sent in a "champagne bottle" mailer. Place a lacy black frame around a black-and-white photo of you and your betrothed, or use small rhinestone "brooches" just above the seal of a lacy folding invitation.
Tags: wedding invitations, your wedding, look like, pressed flowers, wedding invitation, your invitation, handmade paper