I’m glad it was helpful ☺️ if you want to join my wedding Facebook group it might give you some ideas for things that will actually save you money to DIY! You can find it here: facebook.com/groups/cricutbridesandweddingcrafts
I designed, printed, cut and wax sealed all of my invitations. I loved the fact that I did it all and I definitely saved money upfront, but if I had to do it again I would still do it however I would organized myself a little more to spend less time on them. I technically spent more money on making them because the extra time it took to invest in figuring out what I wanted to do. As for sitting chart, I assigned tables because most of ny guess had a difficult time deciding where to sit vs being told where to sit in previous large family events. So I guess what Im saying is that if you want to save money and do them, go for it. Just spend a little bit of time planning vs experimenting or winging it.
@@DIYAlex no am trying to learn while making invites etc not fun lol 😂 if anyone’s like me that’s a bit to over dramatic everything must be perfect oh my gosh took me so long
Yes don't do favors. Every planner Ive talked too said that 30 to 50 percent of the favors are left on table at the end of the night. It is just a waste in the end.
Love this! People forget their time has value & they also forget the cost of the DIY materials. Super helpful to take a step back & not try to do everything.
I plan on doing a qr code for both my seating chart and programs. Its environmentally friendly, WAY less expensive, I still get to use cute templates, and it makes my wedding website more interactive
I did this for my save the dates. For 4”x6” if you do the one hour pickup instead of instant they’re $.09 cents each. Couldn’t be cheaper. Ordered pretty red envelopes to fit them on Amazon.
As someone who does calligraphy, I disagree with that part - People tend to keep the envelope with the invitation & they really like the calligraphy. BUT if there is an area to trim off the budget, sure. I think I’m the long run it isn’t a big deal. Especially if the invitation envelopes are inexpensive grade paper, the calligraphy will not look very nice anyway because the ink “bleeds” & real calligraphy pens have metal nibs that catch on cheap paper. There are calligraphy markers but they don’t look as good on anything. lol •My biggest tip for spending on a wedding is to NOT skimp on photography! Cut corners anywhere else but make sure you have a good photographer because over time, those photos will be the most important, after the marriage of course.
I really enjoyed this video. I got married 5 years ago and I made the invitations, lol. But I enjoyed it. I got a super great deal on my paper. It was almost free and I didn't use a lot of colors in my invitations so I didn't use much ink and it was cheaper for me, in the end, to do them myself. I did do my programs on Microsoft Word. I used a free template and just printed them out and they turned out great. And I didn't print 100 or so programs. I just printed enough programs for each table and made them large enough for everyone to see at the table. It worked out. I did a dessert table with a candy bar instead of favors and my guest still talk about it. It just used white paper lunch sacks and printed a cute logotype deal with our names or some cute saying and left a sign that said take some home and it was great. I mean you already spend money on the food and didn't want to take any leftovers home. Your advice is solid and I agree that addressing the envelopes took the longest. I just wrote them myself but it still took time. I did, however, order return address labels from Shutterfly. At the time they sent me a freebie email and I took advantage of it and my husband and I signed up and got double so we had enough for our wedding. Okay, enough about my wedding. Subscribing for more advice! :-)
I love it Nakea! I think it’s great when you can DIY things that you love. It sounds like you kept your invitations simple enough that they didn’t drive you too crazy. That’s awesome! I think the down side of having a Cricut machine is making everything SO intricate and fancy that you spend half your planning process trying to do a project that you can pay someone else to do it faster and cheaper! I love the idea of a dessert table too! It’s something that people remember and it gives them a snack for when they get home or back to their hotel! There are so many great ways to have an awesome wedding without crafting yourself to death! Haha
As a wedding photographer, I can say you are literally RIGHT ON POINT...I literally watch hundreds of dollars of party favors thrown in the garbage. People will take them just to be nice and take them back to their table and NEVER take them home. When it's time to clean...the staff just takes the entire tablecloth and fully dump it in the garbage. Cricut projects are fun, but they do wind up to more money, so if you're on a budget...price shop like Alex stated. Nowadays, you can google "templates" for almost anything and save yourself a lot of money and time. This video was amazing and Im definitely going to be adding it to the links that I send my brides to save them ahead of time! Thanks Alex...I give this video all the kudos!
Thanks so much for your kind words! It’s so cool to have a wedding professional validate these things that I’ve learned myself (and observed)! My philosophy is that DIYing is great, but ONLY when it makes sense and is actually going to be cost effective!
This helped so much for the wedding favors. I have been going crazy trying to figure out a good favor to go with our Rainbow theme. Donating to a organization just seems way better than buying stuff that nobody is really going to care about.
Envelop addressing was easy for me. I used Word and customized the size of my envelopes. Chose my fonts and was able to transfer all of the guest info over.
Polly Pockets yes! Clear labels that you can just fill out the template and just type everything out and then print them all! Such a good idea! Thanks!
I had a big DIY wedding, but I agree with everything you said, I cut out the name cards on my cricket, made a rough seating chart, then didn't make the main seating chart., guests took about 10 minutes to find their seats( 120 of them) it was fine, the name cards were all that was needed. Favours are a waste of money unless they are edible. Save the dates are a total waste of money just send an invite! One is plenty.
Oh wow! Very interesting and helpful video. I am in the process of planning my wedding. My fiance had asked me if our wedding souvenirs and centerpieces can be the same thing. It was funny he suggested that. But guess what,...a few weeks later we saw some cute white mini bird cages. I decorated the top with tiny white and burgundy flowers and some greenery, and we'll place an LED candle in each. SO it's gonna be gorgeous to add those on our tables and turn those candles on. They will be like mini lanterns...and our guests get to take them home if they want. (our tables will have a nice garland along the middle, and then those lanterns to complete the look)
For favors, you can put their name and table number on a label and put it on a small box with a couple pieces of candy in it. Easier than trying to do a huge seating chart. They can eat the candy.
IF I WERE U I WOULD ELOPE.....THEN DO A RECEPTION PARTY...EVEN IF IF I WERE A BILLIONAIRE!!! HELL I M NOT SIRE I WOULD DONA RECEPTION..MY OLDEST DAUGHTER...IM 80 PLUS...TOOK THE MONEY AND LITERALLY BOUGHT A HOUSE..AND A NICE ONE.
Tho wish i knew u...i LOVE to make things.. And one of my oyher.daughters wanted the full blown wedding but goofed up and forbid me from helping. And DIDNT hire a professional while working.full time.and.going to.school full time...one.week.before the.weddingnshe didnt have shit done...guess who she.called...i should not of.helped . But it was pitiful...and im forgiving...u would not believe how.RUDE AND.DOWN.RIGHT VUOLENT ahe.was that dont help Until.
Yep me too I crocheted my bouquet flower crown everything the only thing I didnt diy was our clothes n it was under 100 bucks for mine my daughter dress n fiance dress shirt n tie
So glad I came across your video. It helped me to realize that I have very few friends and although I was only doing a reception I am just doing something extremely small. I have had parties and not 1 person bought a gift just bought their stomachs. I think I’ve limited to 1 friend and very few family members all during your video. Thank you so much again. Happy New Year. 🎊🎆
I think these are ALL great points. I did choose to DIY my invitations. It was EXTREMELY time consuming but 100% worth it for me. I wanted much fancier invitations than I could possibly have ever afforded otherwise and I find the hands on repetitive actions relaxing. I know most people probably would NOT feel that way. So even though it was a great thing for me I do think most people should consider just ordering them if they can afford it.
There is also a site that let's you pick a template customize it and then free download. However at my house we have like 6 high quality printers including a 36 inch haha so it's easy for us just to print.
@@janielhylton5167 I think it's called greetingsisland. It was a while ago so I could be wrong but it looks right. At the end if they ask you to pay, you just have to download it and to get their watermark off the side, put it into paint and match the color and just paint over their watermark. They are high quality and come out stunning.
You should include that you're talking about using a Cricut machine in the title. I have a Cricut (4 years so quite a bit of experience) and I thought about using Cricut for invitations but I wouldn't use it to print and cut invitations. I think almost every project can be made more time consuming with a Cricut. Having to mount and remount mats, and clean them in-between, because you're cutting paper...it would be much easier for me to just print them out in word and cut several at a time with a paper trimmer. I was considering the fancy intricate gatefold outer card but that seems really tedious and time consuming as well, to do on Cricut. I am considering buying some metal cutting dies that have a gatefold end on them and I think those would be much quicker, if I decide to go that route. This is for my son's wedding, not my own.
I didn't have to do all this for my wedding. It was 13 people and cost abt $300. Lol. But seriously, Cricut isn't the only program out there. I'm glad you brought up Word at the end.... That's what amuses me about all the Cricut groups. I just used Excel to create a datasheet for mail merge price tags for a garage sale because I completely didn't want to write 800 tags for all these baby clothes I had. Much quicker to type. I would 100% do the same for a mailing list either in Excel or in Outlook contacts and would use for all these wedding mailings. Then you can choose a calligraphy font AND embellish the template, mail merge to an envelope batch and print those for your save the dates, invitations, thank you cards, etc. And lots of places like shutterfly include envelopes so you would just need to set up the proper dimensions in your merge when working on the template. Template shouldn't take 20 mins to create the first one and then 10 mins to tweak for each diff envelope size as they come up. So if someone really wants to DIY these things, it's really very doable outside Cricut. I have Excel and Word on my cell phone for free. I can CnP from texts and fb msgr and and and to easily add addresses as I collect them to a spreadsheet on the cloud to merge later. Tech is awesome.
Yes agreed! I think when we get immersed in the Cricut world it's easy to forget the technology we have been using for years. I also kept Google sheets and Excel spreadsheets of everything. You could mail merge your invitation addresses and print directly onto envelopes, or even onto labels and put them on any envelope you have. People are going to throw the envelope away anyway!
I got my invitation today. I made them in an app and ordered them off another app that does free 100 prints and just pay shipping. So I paid 9 dollars for shipping only
I used an app called greeting island. I've seen a few different ones but that's the one I liked more. Then snapfish to get them printed. I ordered the and got them for less then a week.
What did you do for enevlopes if your did them as prints? I was going to use snapfish too but all their cards and invitations are their own designs not ones you upload.
I think if your going to get married invitations should be the least of your worries just have someone do them for you and take away the stress... you will be paying between 300- 500 dollars depending on your designed but you will confident they will done right . I had a friend who did her invitations and she ended up paying more and some even had typos. I think only a crafty person could pull it off but someone regular I’d say just save money and pay someone to do it for you 👍
I was just reading that on wedding wire, about not spending the money on wedding favors. They suggested doing the snacks in the evening; that guests would appreciate the late night snacks while drinking/dancing much more than a party favor. I do like your idea though. 💞
Thank you! Yes that’s a great alternative as well! Something more tangible to help your guests enjoy your wedding in the moment is much more enjoyable than a koozie ☺️
I was going to do my own invitations but what you explained I never realized before and theirs so many other things I want to DIY and if I did my own save the dates, and invites that would take my money and time away from the other stuff
Well 😅 did not think about doing those things at my own... only the photobox but as weddingphotographer i need it more than one time... made macrame candlelights for our wedding
I tried to diy and print and cut my own invitations, THAT WAS A MISTAKE! It was before I watched this video lol so i should have done that first. You’re completely right, the stress and time trying to do it was not worth it. I ordered them instead! there are so many places that have affordable prices.
I think so too! I'm sorry it was stressful but I'm glad someone else agrees with me! It's worth it for some, but for the average person I say buy them :).
We decided not to do a seating chart for personal reasons and instead are putting up a sign that says " Pick a seat, not a side. We are all family since he married the bride."
How do you keep people from crashing the wedding reception, though? And what if several people put their stuff in the seat next to them and there aren't enough seats? Also, if there's a buffet, how will they know which table is called first?
@@pollypockets5081. The reception will be a potluck style reception at a local community centre that we will be renting. 2. People will be notified that all personal belongings ie purses should be securely left in their vehicles or checked in at coat check. 3. We know there will be enough seats as we are only inviting a certain amount of people and no plus ones will be given unless it is for a couple that have been together for more than 6 months as such when we receive RSVPS we will place the correct amount of chairs. 4. They will know which table goes first by listening to the reception announcements about food and drink prior to the meal. I hope this helps answer your questions.
If you want pretty mail addresses for invites, buy a pack of mail labels and type up the addresses in word using what ever font you want and print on the address labels. This works for me cause my handwriting is atrocious
100% Word is EVERYTHING you can imagine & at your fingertips! Choose your stationary & like magic it's done (saves thousands & takes minutes - for those unfamiliar find a TH-cam on Word - you won't regret it!) 😊
I spent months making my own invites (I have a minor in graphic design), spent all night labeling my envelopes by hand, and then cancelled my wedding last minute when the venue fell through!!! 💀 Now I’m debating starting a brand new design by hand for our new wedding but the idea of ordering them off a website is so very appealing. Decisions....
I think this is one of those decisions where you have to decide whether you have more time or money to spend. The budget can be tight, but time can be of the essence when you have tight deadlines!
I don't like photo booths. They take too much time. At my cousin's quinceanera (15th bday party), they opened the booth at the "wrong time." ALL the guest were still lined up, because they wanted their souvenir, that they missed the big Waltz. You know, the dance that the kids spent months learning... So far, the best wedding souvenir I've gotten, was a pen. It lived in my car for over a year! I used it ALL the time when I would wait in the car afterschool. The other ones I like are candles (but they don't last as long) and Chocolates (but if they have a dessert table, it just seems unnecessary). Maybe it's because my mom used to be so obsessed with the souvenirs, and they always ended up in the garage, that I don't care for them... I remember she would spend HOURS sitting there with her glue gun, gluing ribbon and satin bows/flowers to little plastic things.
I personally would not recommend this. Ive been to a couple weddings where this was the go, and on all occasions, it left the majority of the guests feeling uncomfortable and unsure of what to do - especially when guests know no one else at the wedding! Just something to keep in mind 😊
I think seating charts are helpful for directing people for the same reason Chloe said. Plus you'll get people moving chairs around so there will be 12 at one table and 4 at another. So it's personal choice, but I highly recommend a seating chart.
Thank you all. My fiance said the same thing 🤦🏽♀️🤦🏽♀️guess I'll get to charting lol. Thanks for the advice. This makes alot of sense... #NoShortcuts 🙅🏽♀️
I wanted to make my own wedding invitation but found out it’s going to use a lot of my time and money so I ended up ordering an elegant and beautiful wedding invitation complete with envelope, sticker and address from us couple. I didn’t do save the dates coz we just texted and phone them and sent them the invitations after. We bought a personalised keychain bottle opener as party favour to thank the guest. We bought art stuff from Kmart to pack them up and we loved it. Just have to decide budget friendly ways and go from there.
I want to buy a template from Etsy too, and the it is a water colour flower and leaves, similar to yours. I plan to send the design to somewhere online to get printed, but I wanted to see how it looks so I tried printing at home on my home printer. The quality looks so cheap. Is it because I'm printing at home? I don't want to order 100 invitations if the quality looks terrible. I even tried printing at Staples and the quality looks like it is homemade. It doesn't look professional. Can you advise where you got yours printed that looks professional?
Did you adjust your printer settings to be higher quality than a typical print? That may not fix the problem, but it's a start! I printed my invitations through a local stationary company who designed them for me. But I printed my seating chart at Fedex and I had great prices and results from them!
If any of you guys are getting married soon, are you all doing ‘save the dates’? I honestly am considering just doing the invitations and RSVP’s and that’s it. Has anyone done this or thought of doing this?
I hope other people respond to this. But I don’t think it’s a bad idea! You might want to be mindful of some folks who have to travel farthest, but you can reach out to those people individually and let them know. You could even start a Facebook event just to let everyone know when the date is and let them know they’ll get a formal invite closer to the date. Weddings didn’t always have save the dates!
Also you should join my DIY Wedding Facebook group! I’m sure the ladies in there would be happy to give you their thoughts. Facebook.com/groups/cricutbridesandweddingcrafts ☺️
I did save the dates and it was very helpful and they turned out great! (granted this was way before I bought my Cricut). It gave people the heads up that a wedding was coming and they loved it and was able to prepare in advance for time off from work and things like that. It was especially helpful to the people who lived out of town. I, also, did a Facebook event for everyone to be able to send messages and things like that in case they didn't have time to make a phone call. And it helped me keep everyone in the loop and it helped me get everyone's address for sending out everything. Make sure you keep one for yourself. It may bring back some good memories in the years to come.
So to update y’all I ended up doing save the dates! I was thinking the invites go out a year in advance, not a few months, but I was incorrect! I found a pack of 50 for 11 dollars on amazon and just used a few things from Micheal’s to make it cohesive with my theme. Ended up being pretty inexpensive!
These are things I've definitely thought about DIYing but here was my procesd how I decided to either continue with it or not do it. 1. I don't have a Cricut but I wanted to DIY my invitations originally. Just purchase some cardstock, envelopes and find a free template online. But I would be spending more on the materials (including ink for my printer!) Than it would cost to purchase online. I am specifically referring to the online print store Vistaprint which sometimes go as low at 50¢ per invitation with an envelope included! So that's what I'm going with. 2. I don't think we're doing save the date cards because we have a wedding website which will be used instead of mailing an extra card. And also the plan is to send our invitations a little earlier than usual simply because our wedding is on a Friday. 3. I don't care about fancy addresses on the outside of the envelopes, my guests will have to deal with my crappy handwriting 😅. So this doesn't apply to me lol. 4. I'm not sure exactly how I want to do my seating chart but what I was thinking I'm probably just going to print out the tables individually within a 5x7 template. Not doing stickers or handwriting them. But spray painting a frame, gluing ribbon or string to create mini "clothes lines" and using small clips to hold up the paper and I'm done. Then I can keep it for printed photos or resell to another bride. 5. I am not doing favours because I know people don't care about them or they get wasted. We may do the donation thing though because that's cool! 6. I am not doing programs either. Our wedding is at a beautiful fine dining restaurant but that means we won't be dancing (we don't like to dance so it wasnt important at all to have that kind of venue) so I'm not wasting my time on programs that are redundant.
I love how have decided what’s important to you! That’s the best way to sort out what is worth spending your budget on. The only thing I did want to clarify is that programs are usually just for the ceremony, or at least that’s how I did mine. I like getting them at weddings because they list the order of events so guests can tell what’s going to occur in the ceremony, but not everyone does them so I think it’s totally optional. I bought a template on Etsy, typed it, and got it printed at staples.
Watching this while I literally load 300 envelopes into my cricut, writing the addresses with my paint markers. It’s a preference, it took me an hour to do 100, but I’m an advanced cricut user. So some of these just depend.
Good for you for doing your research! Remember that the cost of making them doesn’t factor in your time. But after price it just comes down to what you want. If handmade means more to you, then go for it! If you’d rather spend your time elsewhere, then you have the freedom to choose that if you decide to buy them.
I did my own invitations and it took time but what took the most time was addressing them. I had someone who was supposed to do it but it didn’t work out. I spent maybe $100 for mine that would have cost over $1000 from other places I looked at. Included with the $100 are things that can be used multiple times (I can continue using ink and stamps). They came out so beautifully!! But I will NEVER do it again lol Thanks for the advice on the seating chart. That makes perfect sense!! We went back and forth on favors and the only reason we’re doing it is because I originally wanted a s’mores and hot chocolate bar but we probably won’t be able to do that so instead we’re doing hot chocolate spoons which is still affordable and fun (I like to do things like that) and whatever is left we can take back home and actually use. Our wedding is in January 🤗🤗 thanks so much for this!!
I was going to do custom shot glasses for favors. Would u suggest not to? I was going to buy a cameo specifically for the shot glasses, invitations, and save the dates. Now I'm second guessing it all
I think there are lots of ways to DIY your wedding without giving yourself a huge headache. I think shot glasses would be hard because the designs would be small and that would make it harder, and if you’re new to it that could be frustrating. Another reason is DIYing the things I talk about in the video ends up costing more money because of the time required and materials you have to buy. It would be cheaper to buy them in some cases. I have a wedding Facebook group that you can join if you want to see all the things other brides are DIYing with their machines. That might help you get some clarity. You can find it at Facebook.com/groups/cricutbridesandweddingcrafts
@@DIYAlex thanks. I went to etsy and literally the second listing was exactly what I wanted for $0.90 each glass. Still want to purchase a die cutting machine to craft with but definitely won't be making my favors. Would've cost me way more and taken hours of my time! Will definitely check out your fb group!
Hi Alex! My husband and I are planning a vow renewal with a full wedding that we never had 40 years ago! I don't plan on buying or making favors for our guests, however, our escort table will have little battery operated lanterns that I bought at the Dollar Tree for $1.00 each. They have a handle that I am going to attach some cute little flowers to with the guests name and table number on it. That will be their favor! The flowers I bought at Wal-Mart for $1.50 a bunch. I bought one bunch of Lambs Ear, one bunch of baby's Breath, and two bunches of lavender. All together, the flowers cost $6.00, and is enough for about 35 to 40 lanterns! That's about 15 cents per lantern, So all together, it is about $1.15 per escort card/favor! It's something that I made myself and cost next to nothing!
Did you order your invitations from Zazzle? I was looking into it and wanted to hear about other people’s opinions in the printing quality. Thank your for the video, I agree with it all. No programs for me, it will just get tossed away. 😂
I ended up ordering from a local stationer, but I ordered samples from Zazzle and I’ve since ordered sample invites from them for videos and the print quality is beautiful! I’m glad the video was helpful!
Just my opinion. The best thing to do is not waste the money in the big wedding. Instead of a huge wedding I calculated what my cost was going to be based on how we would have done it and instead we decided to take the grand total and made a payment of 135k to our home. Been married for years and don’t regret not going through the headache and the hassle of a big wedding. At the end of the day the wedding is really for the guest instead we were married, had a dinner celebration with very few guest (about 20) and went on a honeymoon.
I pretty much agree on everything except alphabetic seating chart, or rather, the seating chart system itself. In my country, wedding also serves as social gathering for the guests. People like talking while eating with someone they know. So putting some people into same table against their willingness will never work here.
Oh ok, that makes sense. Generally when you plan a seating chart, it's based on seating people together who know or would enjoy one another. So just because you're "assigned" to a table doesn't mean you don't know anyone at the table.
@@DIYAlex I see.... Tbh I never attend wedding party with seating chart. Standing party is the most normal here. Even when there are tables and seats, at most those are allocated for group, not individual. Edit: Aaah. I figure it out now. Here, the guests can attend the party only, no need to witness the vow. During the party, they are also free to come and leave within the allocated time (usually 2-3 hours). It's very possible to miss the timing with the other guests they know. That's why it's kinda difficult to assign tables.
Should definitely always think about it how long it's going to take, and compare that to minimum wage (or yours) and determine if it's worth it. I learned that lesson, about it costing you time and money. I'm still thrifty but in a different way... once I wanted to make something (can't remember what). I bought the materials and created it. Whatever it was, I was disappointed with it. My husband asked me how many hours I put into it. He was saying something about minimum wage. He was right, I spent more time on something that I could have bought for less than the time I wasted (does that make sense?). And I also spent more money because it was a waste. So when ever I buy something, I think of it in terms of my husband's wage; Is it going to take more than 2 hours (driving, gas, plus lunch date $$ and buying extra thing$ because we're already there)? Or could I just order online even if I have to pay shipping, and save both time and money? A little off point from DIY... But in being thrifty, I stopped buying cheap decorations. I used to buy plastic tablecovers at dollar tree, but they were a waste, sometimes they ripped before the party ended. So Invested $300 dollars in like 20 tablecloths, chair covers, like 14 dozen cloth napkins etc. I later bought chairs, charger plates, flatware... I reuse it all, all the time!!! We already have 6 birthdays in just my family, plus my parents, siblings, and inlaws. We always *had parties!
I'm doing simple invitations on my circuit, just printing a filled out template like you said and then do something pretty on the outside to make it look a little special, nothing too crazy... I will be doing a seating chart, sorry not sorry, you make a good point but I want to spend the time on that to make it pretty and I don't like the idea of spending the money 😦 ..with favours, I'm getting the baker who will do our cake, she makes these cookies with written on the icing so I'm gonna have each cookie with the guests name on it which will sit on the plate where they are seated so it will act as a name tag AND a favour cause who doesn't love sweets??? Hahaha
I made my invitations, information cards, rsvp, rehearsal dinner invitations, and then the information card for my wedding party. I hand written the addresses and everything. Cut them out myself.
This might be the dumbest question ever but if someone could answer I would really appreciate it 😩… What are programs?🥴 the last one, number 6. I have no clue
I was planning on it as well but after a lot of research, I learned it's very hard to make any money (even if a card making business is just a side job)
What about people we don't want sitting in the same table? I don't understand how alphabetical order makes sense when no one will know each other that way.
They don’t sit based on alphabetical order, that’s just how you list the table assignments so they find their name faster than searching every table for their name.
I think donating is stupid. Donate to donate but don't brag about it. And don't donate to disguise the fact that you can't afford favors. Just skip it altogether and call it a day...
I wish I NEVER did my own invites! It took a HOURS way more in supplies then I ever thought it was awful lot worth it I didn’t save at all like thought I may have spent more! I ended up needing to do a 2nd list because of covid an could bear making another 75 invites complete myself an cutting them all oh my god it was bad I really hope people listen to you unless they have very few guests which then it’s cheap cheap to buy them. So much better buying the cut out holder in the diy kit at the craft store what a nightmare! Then I hated the handwriting I hand wrote all my addresses lol 😂 oh if I only found you before 2 1/2 weeks left an I’m buying my signs now I’m done no more diys I can’t anymore I did to many
Yes it would be quite expensive, but you are typically not going to send an invitation to every single guest. If there are two or more guests in one household, then only one invitation is necessary.
If you want ideas and inspiration for Cricut Wedding DIYs, join my Facebook group! facebook.com/groups/cricutbridesandweddingcrafts
I came to this video by typing in "DIY invitations"... guess this is a sign that I won't be doing that anymore LOL
I addressed invitations because I see a lot of brides get in over their head. So do whatever you feel you should, this is just some food for thought!
DIY Alex no I definitely agree with you and I’m so glad I changed my mind about doing DIY!!!!
I’m glad it was helpful ☺️ if you want to join my wedding Facebook group it might give you some ideas for things that will actually save you money to DIY! You can find it here: facebook.com/groups/cricutbridesandweddingcrafts
Same!!! Lol.
I designed, printed, cut and wax sealed all of my invitations. I loved the fact that I did it all and I definitely saved money upfront, but if I had to do it again I would still do it however I would organized myself a little more to spend less time on them. I technically spent more money on making them because the extra time it took to invest in figuring out what I wanted to do. As for sitting chart, I assigned tables because most of ny guess had a difficult time deciding where to sit vs being told where to sit in previous large family events. So I guess what Im saying is that if you want to save money and do them, go for it. Just spend a little bit of time planning vs experimenting or winging it.
Save the dates, invitations, programs, seating chart is really easy if you know how to use Adobe Photoshop.
That's true! My guess is that the general public doesn't use Photoshop though.
@@DIYAlex no am trying to learn while making invites etc not fun lol 😂 if anyone’s like me that’s a bit to over dramatic everything must be perfect oh my gosh took me so long
Zola addresses envelopes for free as well as minted! Also zola has paper sales all the time. Save30 or save50 are usually the coupon codes
Ooh that’s great to know! Thank you for the tip!
Use adobe spark post - it's free
Yes don't do favors. Every planner Ive talked too said that 30 to 50 percent of the favors are left on table at the end of the night. It is just a waste in the end.
Absolutely! I totally agree. In my opinion, there are much better ways to spend your money.
Good to know
Not in Hispanic weddings lol you wont even have to clean up the tables 🤣
@@nekochii00vlog definitely! Add centerpieces to that too!
Good to know! I didn’t realize that so thanks for sharing! ☺️
Love this! People forget their time has value & they also forget the cost of the DIY materials. Super helpful to take a step back & not try to do everything.
Agreed, Roxanne! We get caught up in how cool it is to DIY sometimes, without really evaluating if that's the best option for us.
I plan on doing a qr code for both my seating chart and programs. Its environmentally friendly, WAY less expensive, I still get to use cute templates, and it makes my wedding website more interactive
That's a great idea! Where did you find QR code templates?
I tried to google it and I got nothing. What's the website? Or are you a hacker? good with this stuff?
Love to know how you did this :)
@@girlnettles qr-code-generator (dot) com worked for me!
Canva can generate them easily!
Walmart for save the dates/invites! I paid .28 cents per print for a total of $30 for each. I saved a fortune and they are still really cute.
Ooh good thinking! Great idea!
I wish I would've read this 2 weeks ago. We just spent $180 on Shutterfly 🤦🏾♀️
I did this for my save the dates. For 4”x6” if you do the one hour pickup instead of instant they’re $.09 cents each. Couldn’t be cheaper. Ordered pretty red envelopes to fit them on Amazon.
We’re they customized? Or just general?
As someone who does calligraphy, I disagree with that part - People tend to keep the envelope with the invitation & they really like the calligraphy. BUT if there is an area to trim off the budget, sure. I think I’m the long run it isn’t a big deal. Especially if the invitation envelopes are inexpensive grade paper, the calligraphy will not look very nice anyway because the ink “bleeds” & real calligraphy pens have metal nibs that catch on cheap paper. There are calligraphy markers but they don’t look as good on anything. lol
•My biggest tip for spending on a wedding is to NOT skimp on photography! Cut corners anywhere else but make sure you have a good photographer because over time, those photos will be the most important, after the marriage of course.
That’s a great point. I think the photographer is one of your most important vendors!
I have never once kept a wedding invitation and envelope (with the exception of my own)
I really enjoyed this video. I got married 5 years ago and I made the invitations, lol. But I enjoyed it. I got a super great deal on my paper. It was almost free and I didn't use a lot of colors in my invitations so I didn't use much ink and it was cheaper for me, in the end, to do them myself. I did do my programs on Microsoft Word. I used a free template and just printed them out and they turned out great. And I didn't print 100 or so programs. I just printed enough programs for each table and made them large enough for everyone to see at the table. It worked out.
I did a dessert table with a candy bar instead of favors and my guest still talk about it. It just used white paper lunch sacks and printed a cute logotype deal with our names or some cute saying and left a sign that said take some home and it was great. I mean you already spend money on the food and didn't want to take any leftovers home.
Your advice is solid and I agree that addressing the envelopes took the longest. I just wrote them myself but it still took time. I did, however, order return address labels from Shutterfly. At the time they sent me a freebie email and I took advantage of it and my husband and I signed up and got double so we had enough for our wedding.
Okay, enough about my wedding. Subscribing for more advice! :-)
I love it Nakea! I think it’s great when you can DIY things that you love. It sounds like you kept your invitations simple enough that they didn’t drive you too crazy. That’s awesome! I think the down side of having a Cricut machine is making everything SO intricate and fancy that you spend half your planning process trying to do a project that you can pay someone else to do it faster and cheaper!
I love the idea of a dessert table too! It’s something that people remember and it gives them a snack for when they get home or back to their hotel! There are so many great ways to have an awesome wedding without crafting yourself to death! Haha
As a wedding photographer, I can say you are literally RIGHT ON POINT...I literally watch hundreds of dollars of party favors thrown in the garbage. People will take them just to be nice and take them back to their table and NEVER take them home. When it's time to clean...the staff just takes the entire tablecloth and fully dump it in the garbage. Cricut projects are fun, but they do wind up to more money, so if you're on a budget...price shop like Alex stated. Nowadays, you can google "templates" for almost anything and save yourself a lot of money and time. This video was amazing and Im definitely going to be adding it to the links that I send my brides to save them ahead of time! Thanks Alex...I give this video all the kudos!
Thanks so much for your kind words! It’s so cool to have a wedding professional validate these things that I’ve learned myself (and observed)! My philosophy is that DIYing is great, but ONLY when it makes sense and is actually going to be cost effective!
The alphabetized seating chart is smart and considerate 👌🏽 Thanks for this video
Agreed! You're welcome!
This helped so much for the wedding favors. I have been going crazy trying to figure out a good favor to go with our Rainbow theme. Donating to a organization just seems way better than buying stuff that nobody is really going to care about.
I’m so glad! I doubt anyone attending your wedding will be disappointed at the lack of favors! ☺️
Envelop addressing was easy for me. I used Word and customized the size of my envelopes. Chose my fonts and was able to transfer all of the guest info over.
So you sent them through your printer?
I'm thinking of doing clear labels.
Polly Pockets yes! Clear labels that you can just fill out the template and just type everything out and then print them all! Such a good idea! Thanks!
I had a big DIY wedding, but I agree with everything you said, I cut out the name cards on my cricket, made a rough seating chart, then didn't make the main seating chart., guests took about 10 minutes to find their seats( 120 of them) it was fine, the name cards were all that was needed.
Favours are a waste of money unless they are edible.
Save the dates are a total waste of money just send an invite! One is plenty.
Oh wow! Very interesting and helpful video. I am in the process of planning my wedding. My fiance had asked me if our wedding souvenirs and centerpieces can be the same thing. It was funny he suggested that. But guess what,...a few weeks later we saw some cute white mini bird cages. I decorated the top with tiny white and burgundy flowers and some greenery, and we'll place an LED candle in each. SO it's gonna be gorgeous to add those on our tables and turn those candles on. They will be like mini lanterns...and our guests get to take them home if they want. (our tables will have a nice garland along the middle, and then those lanterns to complete the look)
That's a great idea! You probably don't have a use for 12 bird cages post-wedding anyway, so that's a great compromise!
For favors, you can put their name and table number on a label and put it on a small box with a couple pieces of candy in it. Easier than trying to do a huge seating chart. They can eat the candy.
Great idea!
@@DIYAlex Many thanks! I'm a label fanatic. Lol. Great ideas!
Omg fantastic idea!!! 10/30 bride here and thank you!!!!!!!!
I'm going to DIY everything for my wedding from the invitations to the cake to the dress... Why? Because I'm BROKE. 😂
You may want to make sure that you’re saving money with those DIYs before you get started. If they’re going to be cheaper, then go for it!
IF I WERE U I WOULD ELOPE.....THEN DO A RECEPTION PARTY...EVEN IF IF I WERE A BILLIONAIRE!!!
HELL I M NOT SIRE I WOULD DONA RECEPTION..MY OLDEST DAUGHTER...IM 80 PLUS...TOOK THE MONEY AND LITERALLY BOUGHT A HOUSE..AND A NICE ONE.
Tho wish i knew u...i LOVE to make things..
And one of my oyher.daughters wanted the full blown wedding but goofed up and forbid me from helping. And DIDNT hire a professional while working.full time.and.going to.school full time...one.week.before the.weddingnshe didnt have shit done...guess who she.called...i should not of.helped
.
But it was pitiful...and im forgiving...u would not believe how.RUDE AND.DOWN.RIGHT VUOLENT ahe.was that dont help
Until.
Yep me too I crocheted my bouquet flower crown everything the only thing I didnt diy was our clothes n it was under 100 bucks for mine my daughter dress n fiance dress shirt n tie
So glad I came across your video. It helped me to realize that I have very few friends and although I was only doing a reception I am just doing something extremely small. I have had parties and not 1 person bought a gift just bought their stomachs. I think I’ve limited to 1 friend and very few family members all during your video. Thank you so much again. Happy New Year. 🎊🎆
You’re welcome! Happy new year to you as well!
I think these are ALL great points.
I did choose to DIY my invitations. It was EXTREMELY time consuming but 100% worth it for me. I wanted much fancier invitations than I could possibly have ever afforded otherwise and I find the hands on repetitive actions relaxing. I know most people probably would NOT feel that way. So even though it was a great thing for me I do think most people should consider just ordering them if they can afford it.
That’s a great point Cassandra! I’m glad you were about to make something that loved!
lol I sent save the dates vie email/text because it was free. Invitations thats a different story!
Nice! That’s a great idea!
What did you do for the elderly people?
Polly Pockets I just told them over the phone. The elderly usually mark up a calendar or take note of things like that
@@shellbeeforreal3915 Cool. I like the idea. Online sounds more fun. :-)
Me, watching this knowing I'm cutting all the corners on my DIY wedding. I'm paying for everything personally! lol but these are good tips!!
Do what works for you! ☺️
Evite is another great one for long distance people. You can design and email invitation. You will save a stamp.
Thanks for the tip!
Thanks so much for this video! Could you make more video of wedding planning ? You are so good
You’re welcome! I am planning on making more, so thank you for asking! What topics do you want to hear about?
can you discuss what to do and dont's in wedding? in
There is also a site that let's you pick a template customize it and then free download. However at my house we have like 6 high quality printers including a 36 inch haha so it's easy for us just to print.
Can u tell me the site?
@@janielhylton5167 I think it's called greetingsisland. It was a while ago so I could be wrong but it looks right. At the end if they ask you to pay, you just have to download it and to get their watermark off the side, put it into paint and match the color and just paint over their watermark. They are high quality and come out stunning.
You should include that you're talking about using a Cricut machine in the title. I have a Cricut (4 years so quite a bit of experience) and I thought about using Cricut for invitations but I wouldn't use it to print and cut invitations. I think almost every project can be made more time consuming with a Cricut. Having to mount and remount mats, and clean them in-between, because you're cutting paper...it would be much easier for me to just print them out in word and cut several at a time with a paper trimmer. I was considering the fancy intricate gatefold outer card but that seems really tedious and time consuming as well, to do on Cricut. I am considering buying some metal cutting dies that have a gatefold end on them and I think those would be much quicker, if I decide to go that route. This is for my son's wedding, not my own.
I didn't have to do all this for my wedding. It was 13 people and cost abt $300. Lol. But seriously, Cricut isn't the only program out there. I'm glad you brought up Word at the end.... That's what amuses me about all the Cricut groups. I just used Excel to create a datasheet for mail merge price tags for a garage sale because I completely didn't want to write 800 tags for all these baby clothes I had. Much quicker to type. I would 100% do the same for a mailing list either in Excel or in Outlook contacts and would use for all these wedding mailings. Then you can choose a calligraphy font AND embellish the template, mail merge to an envelope batch and print those for your save the dates, invitations, thank you cards, etc. And lots of places like shutterfly include envelopes so you would just need to set up the proper dimensions in your merge when working on the template. Template shouldn't take 20 mins to create the first one and then 10 mins to tweak for each diff envelope size as they come up. So if someone really wants to DIY these things, it's really very doable outside Cricut. I have Excel and Word on my cell phone for free. I can CnP from texts and fb msgr and and and to easily add addresses as I collect them to a spreadsheet on the cloud to merge later. Tech is awesome.
Yes agreed! I think when we get immersed in the Cricut world it's easy to forget the technology we have been using for years. I also kept Google sheets and Excel spreadsheets of everything. You could mail merge your invitation addresses and print directly onto envelopes, or even onto labels and put them on any envelope you have. People are going to throw the envelope away anyway!
Can you please do pictures or show examples for things like the seating chart. Maybe the foam board and template
I will keep that in mind! But if you search for seating chart on Etsy or Pinterest, you will find tons of examples.
I got my invitation today. I made them in an app and ordered them off another app that does free 100 prints and just pay shipping. So I paid 9 dollars for shipping only
That’s awesome Sarah! Did you use the Shutterfly app?
Omg can you share where and what you did? Pliz🙏🏾
OMG, what app did you use? Can you please share?
I used an app called greeting island. I've seen a few different ones but that's the one I liked more. Then snapfish to get them printed. I ordered the and got them for less then a week.
What did you do for enevlopes if your did them as prints? I was going to use snapfish too but all their cards and invitations are their own designs not ones you upload.
1) Invitations (the actual invite, not the envelope)
2) Save the dates
3) Addressing envelopes
4) Seating Chart
5) Favors
6) programs
Yep, you got it! :) Thanks for the summary!
Etsy all the way and the handwritten envelopes yep yep yep. I did just that and it was so inexpensive.
I think if your going to get married invitations should be the least of your worries just have someone do them for you and take away the stress... you will be paying between 300- 500 dollars depending on your designed but you will confident they will done right . I had a friend who did her invitations and she ended up paying more and some even had typos. I think only a crafty person could pull it off but someone regular I’d say just save money and pay someone to do it for you 👍
I like Alex's idea of getting the invitation card and then doing the embellishments yourself. So many ways to embellish and there won't be typos.
Crazy question but...when do you send the save the dates and when do you send the invitations ?
It depends on your wedding timeline! I recommend looking at the Knot for timelines.
I was just reading that on wedding wire, about not spending the money on wedding favors. They suggested doing the snacks in the evening; that guests would appreciate the late night snacks while drinking/dancing much more than a party favor. I do like your idea though. 💞
Thank you! Yes that’s a great alternative as well! Something more tangible to help your guests enjoy your wedding in the moment is much more enjoyable than a koozie ☺️
I was going to do my own invitations but what you explained I never realized before and theirs so many other things I want to DIY and if I did my own save the dates, and invites that would take my money and time away from the other stuff
Exactly! I'm so glad you started thinking through this before you spent a bunch of time on your save the dates and invites!
Well 😅 did not think about doing those things at my own... only the photobox but as weddingphotographer i need it more than one time... made macrame candlelights for our wedding
Can’t wait for the invitation accessory video!
It’s coming soon! ☺️
This was so helpful thank you!!!! 😊
You're welcome!
I tried to diy and print and cut my own invitations, THAT WAS A MISTAKE! It was before I watched this video lol so i should have done that first. You’re completely right, the stress and time trying to do it was not worth it. I ordered them instead! there are so many places that have affordable prices.
I think so too! I'm sorry it was stressful but I'm glad someone else agrees with me! It's worth it for some, but for the average person I say buy them :).
We decided not to do a seating chart for personal reasons and instead are putting up a sign that says " Pick a seat, not a side. We are all family since he married the bride."
That's a brilliant idea 💡
@@Stormdooper thank you ❤
How do you keep people from crashing the wedding reception, though? And what if several people put their stuff in the seat next to them and there aren't enough seats? Also, if there's a buffet, how will they know which table is called first?
@@pollypockets5081. The reception will be a potluck style reception at a local community centre that we will be renting. 2. People will be notified that all personal belongings ie purses should be securely left in their vehicles or checked in at coat check. 3. We know there will be enough seats as we are only inviting a certain amount of people and no plus ones will be given unless it is for a couple that have been together for more than 6 months as such when we receive RSVPS we will place the correct amount of chairs. 4. They will know which table goes first by listening to the reception announcements about food and drink prior to the meal. I hope this helps answer your questions.
@@ErinReviews Thanks
If you want pretty mail addresses for invites, buy a pack of mail labels and type up the addresses in word using what ever font you want and print on the address labels. This works for me cause my handwriting is atrocious
Great tip! Yes. The printable labels are definitely the way to go!
100% Word is EVERYTHING you can imagine & at your fingertips! Choose your stationary & like magic it's done (saves thousands & takes minutes - for those unfamiliar find a TH-cam on Word - you won't regret it!) 😊
I spent months making my own invites (I have a minor in graphic design), spent all night labeling my envelopes by hand, and then cancelled my wedding last minute when the venue fell through!!! 💀
Now I’m debating starting a brand new design by hand for our new wedding but the idea of ordering them off a website is so very appealing.
Decisions....
I think this is one of those decisions where you have to decide whether you have more time or money to spend. The budget can be tight, but time can be of the essence when you have tight deadlines!
After all that work I'm surprised you're still considering making them. Just buy them! I would've been scarred after cancelling the first time
:-(
I don't like photo booths. They take too much time. At my cousin's quinceanera (15th bday party), they opened the booth at the "wrong time." ALL the guest were still lined up, because they wanted their souvenir, that they missed the big Waltz. You know, the dance that the kids spent months learning... So far, the best wedding souvenir I've gotten, was a pen. It lived in my car for over a year! I used it ALL the time when I would wait in the car afterschool. The other ones I like are candles (but they don't last as long) and Chocolates (but if they have a dessert table, it just seems unnecessary).
Maybe it's because my mom used to be so obsessed with the souvenirs, and they always ended up in the garage, that I don't care for them... I remember she would spend HOURS sitting there with her glue gun, gluing ribbon and satin bows/flowers to little plastic things.
A pen is actually a great idea! It's cheap to buy and they're so handy to have!
It's nice to come to a positive place
I’m glad you’re here! ☺️
I never planned on creating a seating chart... lol. Family will have reserved tables and everyone else can fall in
I personally would not recommend this. Ive been to a couple weddings where this was the go, and on all occasions, it left the majority of the guests feeling uncomfortable and unsure of what to do - especially when guests know no one else at the wedding! Just something to keep in mind 😊
I think seating charts are helpful for directing people for the same reason Chloe said. Plus you'll get people moving chairs around so there will be 12 at one table and 4 at another. So it's personal choice, but I highly recommend a seating chart.
Thank you all. My fiance said the same thing 🤦🏽♀️🤦🏽♀️guess I'll get to charting lol. Thanks for the advice. This makes alot of sense... #NoShortcuts 🙅🏽♀️
Great advise!
I wanted to make my own wedding invitation but found out it’s going to use a lot of my time and money so I ended up ordering an elegant and beautiful wedding invitation complete with envelope, sticker and address from us couple. I didn’t do save the dates coz we just texted and phone them and sent them the invitations after. We bought a personalised keychain bottle opener as party favour to thank the guest. We bought art stuff from Kmart to pack them up and we loved it. Just have to decide budget friendly ways and go from there.
I think you made a great choice! Making your own invitations can be very time consuming!
I want to buy a template from Etsy too, and the it is a water colour flower and leaves, similar to yours. I plan to send the design to somewhere online to get printed, but I wanted to see how it looks so I tried printing at home on my home printer. The quality looks so cheap. Is it because I'm printing at home? I don't want to order 100 invitations if the quality looks terrible. I even tried printing at Staples and the quality looks like it is homemade. It doesn't look professional. Can you advise where you got yours printed that looks professional?
Did you adjust your printer settings to be higher quality than a typical print? That may not fix the problem, but it's a start! I printed my invitations through a local stationary company who designed them for me. But I printed my seating chart at Fedex and I had great prices and results from them!
I did set it to high quality. It could be just my cheap printer. Thank you for the response.
You’re welcome!
Do you have to have a seating chart? We’re not doing a sit down meal.. just fun finger foods
I think it's always a good idea, but it's still personal preference.
thank you for some ideas you made it really helps us
I'm so glad it was helpful!
Thanks great advice.
You’re welcome!
Do you have a video on how you did that wreath you have hanging in the background?
Yes! Here’s the video: th-cam.com/video/gzDwIbRWXDw/w-d-xo.html
I really want to diy my wedding invitations thoughhhh now I’m not sure :/
Do a trial run of just one and see how long it takes, then you can multiple that time by all the others you need to make to see how long it will take
If any of you guys are getting married soon, are you all doing ‘save the dates’? I honestly am considering just doing the invitations and RSVP’s and that’s it. Has anyone done this or thought of doing this?
I hope other people respond to this. But I don’t think it’s a bad idea! You might want to be mindful of some folks who have to travel farthest, but you can reach out to those people individually and let them know. You could even start a Facebook event just to let everyone know when the date is and let them know they’ll get a formal invite closer to the date. Weddings didn’t always have save the dates!
Also you should join my DIY Wedding Facebook group! I’m sure the ladies in there would be happy to give you their thoughts. Facebook.com/groups/cricutbridesandweddingcrafts ☺️
Hi I’m also only doing invitations and RSVP’s, In my opinion I don’t find save the dates really necessary that’s just my opinion, also saves money
I did save the dates and it was very helpful and they turned out great! (granted this was way before I bought my Cricut). It gave people the heads up that a wedding was coming and they loved it and was able to prepare in advance for time off from work and things like that. It was especially helpful to the people who lived out of town. I, also, did a Facebook event for everyone to be able to send messages and things like that in case they didn't have time to make a phone call. And it helped me keep everyone in the loop and it helped me get everyone's address for sending out everything. Make sure you keep one for yourself. It may bring back some good memories in the years to come.
So to update y’all I ended up doing save the dates! I was thinking the invites go out a year in advance, not a few months, but I was incorrect! I found a pack of 50 for 11 dollars on amazon and just used a few things from Micheal’s to make it cohesive with my theme. Ended up being pretty inexpensive!
These are things I've definitely thought about DIYing but here was my procesd how I decided to either continue with it or not do it.
1. I don't have a Cricut but I wanted to DIY my invitations originally. Just purchase some cardstock, envelopes and find a free template online. But I would be spending more on the materials (including ink for my printer!) Than it would cost to purchase online. I am specifically referring to the online print store Vistaprint which sometimes go as low at 50¢ per invitation with an envelope included! So that's what I'm going with.
2. I don't think we're doing save the date cards because we have a wedding website which will be used instead of mailing an extra card. And also the plan is to send our invitations a little earlier than usual simply because our wedding is on a Friday.
3. I don't care about fancy addresses on the outside of the envelopes, my guests will have to deal with my crappy handwriting 😅. So this doesn't apply to me lol.
4. I'm not sure exactly how I want to do my seating chart but what I was thinking I'm probably just going to print out the tables individually within a 5x7 template. Not doing stickers or handwriting them. But spray painting a frame, gluing ribbon or string to create mini "clothes lines" and using small clips to hold up the paper and I'm done. Then I can keep it for printed photos or resell to another bride.
5. I am not doing favours because I know people don't care about them or they get wasted. We may do the donation thing though because that's cool!
6. I am not doing programs either. Our wedding is at a beautiful fine dining restaurant but that means we won't be dancing (we don't like to dance so it wasnt important at all to have that kind of venue) so I'm not wasting my time on programs that are redundant.
I love how have decided what’s important to you! That’s the best way to sort out what is worth spending your budget on.
The only thing I did want to clarify is that programs are usually just for the ceremony, or at least that’s how I did mine. I like getting them at weddings because they list the order of events so guests can tell what’s going to occur in the ceremony, but not everyone does them so I think it’s totally optional. I bought a template on Etsy, typed it, and got it printed at staples.
For addressing the invitations, you could use clear labels and mail merge via Microsoft Word. Much easier than handwriting on each invitation.
Watching this while I literally load 300 envelopes into my cricut, writing the addresses with my paint markers. It’s a preference, it took me an hour to do 100, but I’m an advanced cricut user. So some of these just depend.
You are right!
I'm doing mason jar cups and a chapstick that way they're useful favors 😌
Great idea!
I was thinking about doing diy for invintations and save the dates to save money but I priced it out and it's the same price.
Good for you for doing your research! Remember that the cost of making them doesn’t factor in your time. But after price it just comes down to what you want. If handmade means more to you, then go for it! If you’d rather spend your time elsewhere, then you have the freedom to choose that if you decide to buy them.
Lucky for me I have excel on my laptop. I can just make a spreadsheet, easy peasy.
Yep it’s much easier that way!
Right!
This has helped me so much🙌🏾🙌🏾
I’m so glad! I hope it saves you some time and money!
I did my own invitations and it took time but what took the most time was addressing them. I had someone who was supposed to do it but it didn’t work out. I spent maybe $100 for mine that would have cost over $1000 from other places I looked at. Included with the $100 are things that can be used multiple times (I can continue using ink and stamps). They came out so beautifully!! But I will NEVER do it again lol Thanks for the advice on the seating chart. That makes perfect sense!! We went back and forth on favors and the only reason we’re doing it is because I originally wanted a s’mores and hot chocolate bar but we probably won’t be able to do that so instead we’re doing hot chocolate spoons which is still affordable and fun (I like to do things like that) and whatever is left we can take back home and actually use. Our wedding is in January 🤗🤗 thanks so much for this!!
You’re welcome! I’m so glad it was helpful. I’m glad you saved on doing your invitations! It sounds like that worked out well for you ☺️
I was going to do custom shot glasses for favors. Would u suggest not to? I was going to buy a cameo specifically for the shot glasses, invitations, and save the dates. Now I'm second guessing it all
I should add, both our families are drinkers, though he and I are not big on it
I think there are lots of ways to DIY your wedding without giving yourself a huge headache. I think shot glasses would be hard because the designs would be small and that would make it harder, and if you’re new to it that could be frustrating.
Another reason is DIYing the things I talk about in the video ends up costing more money because of the time required and materials you have to buy. It would be cheaper to buy them in some cases. I have a wedding Facebook group that you can join if you want to see all the things other brides are DIYing with their machines. That might help you get some clarity. You can find it at Facebook.com/groups/cricutbridesandweddingcrafts
@@DIYAlex thanks. I went to etsy and literally the second listing was exactly what I wanted for $0.90 each glass. Still want to purchase a die cutting machine to craft with but definitely won't be making my favors. Would've cost me way more and taken hours of my time! Will definitely check out your fb group!
Hi Alex! My husband and I are planning a vow renewal with a full wedding that we never had 40 years ago! I don't plan on buying or making favors for our guests, however, our escort table will have little battery operated lanterns that I bought at the Dollar Tree for $1.00 each. They have a handle that I am going to attach some cute little flowers to with the guests name and table number on it. That will be their favor! The flowers I bought at Wal-Mart for $1.50 a bunch. I bought one bunch of Lambs Ear, one bunch of baby's Breath, and two bunches of lavender. All together, the flowers cost $6.00, and is enough for about 35 to 40 lanterns! That's about 15 cents per lantern, So all together, it is about $1.15 per escort card/favor! It's something that I made myself and cost next to nothing!
Wow what a great deal! The vow renewal sounds beautiful too! It’s definitely worth DIYing for that price!
Try buying for an Asian wedding 😂 I got excited by the idea of Zazzle so I checked it and getting 200 invitations from them (average) is £234 🙃
Oh no! I'm sorry it's so expensive for you! I'm sure there are cheaper options for you :)
This video was extremely helpful!
I’m so glad! ☺️
Great ideas !! Thank you
You’re welcome! Thanks for watching!
Did you order your invitations from Zazzle? I was looking into it and wanted to hear about other people’s opinions in the printing quality. Thank your for the video, I agree with it all. No programs for me, it will just get tossed away. 😂
I ended up ordering from a local stationer, but I ordered samples from Zazzle and I’ve since ordered sample invites from them for videos and the print quality is beautiful!
I’m glad the video was helpful!
People still do paper invitations?
Yes! More people still do paper than those who only do digital.
im making all these
You do what’s best for you!
Just my opinion. The best thing to do is not waste the money in the big wedding. Instead of a huge wedding I calculated what my cost was going to be based on how we would have done it and instead we decided to take the grand total and made a payment of 135k to our home. Been married for years and don’t regret not going through the headache and the hassle of a big wedding. At the end of the day the wedding is really for the guest instead we were married, had a dinner celebration with very few guest (about 20) and went on a honeymoon.
There's a free phone app to design invites for free to print
What if your having a small intimate wedding of 20-25 people?
If you're having a small wedding then you can do a lot more of these DIYs! Whatever you want to spend your time on doable with that few guests.
Thank you!! I was getting scared and was like no!!!
Maybe I’m the only one who will ask but what is a “cricket?”
Here is an introduction to Cricut machines: th-cam.com/video/pXxpS3cU1eI/w-d-xo.html
I pretty much agree on everything except alphabetic seating chart, or rather, the seating chart system itself. In my country, wedding also serves as social gathering for the guests. People like talking while eating with someone they know. So putting some people into same table against their willingness will never work here.
Oh ok, that makes sense. Generally when you plan a seating chart, it's based on seating people together who know or would enjoy one another. So just because you're "assigned" to a table doesn't mean you don't know anyone at the table.
@@DIYAlex I see.... Tbh I never attend wedding party with seating chart. Standing party is the most normal here. Even when there are tables and seats, at most those are allocated for group, not individual.
Edit: Aaah. I figure it out now. Here, the guests can attend the party only, no need to witness the vow. During the party, they are also free to come and leave within the allocated time (usually 2-3 hours). It's very possible to miss the timing with the other guests they know. That's why it's kinda difficult to assign tables.
Should definitely always think about it how long it's going to take, and compare that to minimum wage (or yours) and determine if it's worth it.
I learned that lesson, about it costing you time and money. I'm still thrifty but in a different way... once I wanted to make something (can't remember what). I bought the materials and created it. Whatever it was, I was disappointed with it. My husband asked me how many hours I put into it. He was saying something about minimum wage. He was right, I spent more time on something that I could have bought for less than the time I wasted (does that make sense?). And I also spent more money because it was a waste. So when ever I buy something, I think of it in terms of my husband's wage; Is it going to take more than 2 hours (driving, gas, plus lunch date $$ and buying extra thing$ because we're already there)? Or could I just order online even if I have to pay shipping, and save both time and money?
A little off point from DIY... But in being thrifty, I stopped buying cheap decorations. I used to buy plastic tablecovers at dollar tree, but they were a waste, sometimes they ripped before the party ended. So Invested $300 dollars in like 20 tablecloths, chair covers, like 14 dozen cloth napkins etc. I later bought chairs, charger plates, flatware... I reuse it all, all the time!!! We already have 6 birthdays in just my family, plus my parents, siblings, and inlaws. We always *had parties!
Yes those are all great points! Time definitely equals money, including in crafts and decor!
I'm doing simple invitations on my circuit, just printing a filled out template like you said and then do something pretty on the outside to make it look a little special, nothing too crazy... I will be doing a seating chart, sorry not sorry, you make a good point but I want to spend the time on that to make it pretty and I don't like the idea of spending the money 😦 ..with favours, I'm getting the baker who will do our cake, she makes these cookies with written on the icing so I'm gonna have each cookie with the guests name on it which will sit on the plate where they are seated so it will act as a name tag AND a favour cause who doesn't love sweets??? Hahaha
haha if it's important to you, then you go for it!
Please say me in points what she is saying what are the six I didn't understand her
I made my invitations, information cards, rsvp, rehearsal dinner invitations, and then the information card for my wedding party. I hand written the addresses and everything. Cut them out myself.
Good for you! I’m sure they are beautiful! ☺️
My handwriting sucks too much for me to do this. But kudos to you!
LOVE!!
Cotton Creations Thank you!! 😀
I am starting my own wedding decor business. And i am asking for help on a list of furniture , merchandise and accessories I must own to avoid hiring
Awesome! It sounds like you may need to do more research before starting your business.
This might be the dumbest question ever but if someone could answer I would really appreciate it 😩… What are programs?🥴 the last one, number 6. I have no clue
Programs are the papers that could be handed out before the ceremony telling people the order of events. It's most common in church weddings.
Loved this!! Would like to see your seating chart.
Great to know! Thank you!
I plan on making invitations for my business 🤷🏿♀️
I was planning on it as well but after a lot of research, I learned it's very hard to make any money (even if a card making business is just a side job)
What about people we don't want sitting in the same table? I don't understand how alphabetical order makes sense when no one will know each other that way.
They don’t sit based on alphabetical order, that’s just how you list the table assignments so they find their name faster than searching every table for their name.
thanks, you are the best
i hate favors
Thank you! I agree, favors are not my thing!
Evite is cheap too
Good idea, but a memorable wedding deserves a classy invitation.
I’m going even cheaper. No save the date, no programs, no favors and I’m not sure how I’m going to do invitations.
Great! I'm glad you've found what works for you!
8:41 Isn't Polaroid the actual brand name?
Yes it is
Instax is by Fujifilm. Same concept as Polaroid. Different brand
I think donating is stupid. Donate to donate but don't brag about it. And don't donate to disguise the fact that you can't afford favors. Just skip it altogether and call it a day...
You can do that too, but donating to cause you care about is never going to hurt anything. I certainly wouldn’t call it dumb.
I wish I NEVER did my own invites! It took a HOURS way more in supplies then I ever thought it was awful lot worth it I didn’t save at all like thought I may have spent more! I ended up needing to do a 2nd list because of covid an could bear making another 75 invites complete myself an cutting them all oh my god it was bad I really hope people listen to you unless they have very few guests which then it’s cheap cheap to buy them. So much better buying the cut out holder in the diy kit at the craft store what a nightmare! Then I hated the handwriting I hand wrote all my addresses lol 😂 oh if I only found you before 2 1/2 weeks left an I’m buying my signs now I’m done no more diys I can’t anymore I did to many
You're not the only person to say that! I hope it helps save someone a big headache!
Never had a favor that i kept....ever..not even my pen....im 80 plus and been to a lot of.weddings...and my.god...STOP.WITH THE BOTTLE OPENERS ALREADY
Lol I hear you! Favors this day and time are usually disregarded.
you know how much a 1.75 apiece is when you have 200 guests?!
Yes it would be quite expensive, but you are typically not going to send an invitation to every single guest. If there are two or more guests in one household, then only one invitation is necessary.
I've been to at least 10 weddings. Nobody cares about the favors. Lol
Lol no, it usually matters a lot more to the couple than it does to the guests!