I am making my own invitations. Nothing too fancy. I bought blank white cards at Ben Franklin and scrapbooking flowered papers to center on them, then the actual invitations on white vellum all held together at the top with a bow the color of the bridesmaid dresses. I am at a loss as to how I will do the response and reception cards. Right now they are just white postcards. I am usually a very crafty person if the craft involves a glue gun, so this was a new experience for me.

I bought embossed invites at the office supply store, printed them on the computer using a beautiful font, and all in lavander ink, then glued a small lavander ribbon to the tops of all of them.
They turned out GREAT! We received 2 other invites after we mailed ours out. They all bought theirs from an online wedding stationary company. Can I just say that mine we much nicer than theirs', and a whole lot cheaper too! The only thing theirs had that ours did not was raised print. But, for the money we saved, who cares?!
EVERYONE has complimented me on the invites, they were shocked when they heard I did them myself.
Penny

Penny, you don't happen to have pictures do you???

Sounds very nice! I'm SO undecided about what to do... there is just SO MANY different ways to go...

there are tons of gorgeous ideas, links and tips on this page:

http://www.theknot.com/co_profileview.htm?profilename=DIY_Invitations

A new trend (that has actually been done for high society weddings and parties) is handwriting the invitations. You said you need 30 invitations. By my calculations you have at least a couple months before the invitations need to go out in the mail. You may want to consider buying some beautiful paper (you can get 100% paper with an embosed initial or graphic to match your wedding style/theme that are premade) and handwriting your invitations yourself. I think it would be great to receive a handwriting wedding invitation - so personal and intimate. You can address the invitations to the actual guests and word it anyway you prefer. It could even be in the form of a letter.

If the wedding is formal, use black, grey, gold or silver ink. If the wedding is less formal you can use whatever ink color you want.

Have fun! I think anyone would be happy to receive a homemade invitation.

I am the MOB and we made our own invites. First of all we searched the web for free clip art and I copied the one daughter liked and added the Bride and Grooms name under picture. I used microsoft office and got a free wedding template and used it with the font we liked. Also went to e-bay and got paper stock and envelopes that were wonderful. We also used MS office for the reply cards and got perforated matching paper stock and envelopes from the same paperstock company on e-bay. Keep in mind we had never done this before and they came out Wonderful and received many compliments. Also I am not very computer friendly with office or microsoft works but the template they had there was easy to use. I saved everything as I was working so when the final draft came if I messed up I had something to go back too. Printed them and I was surprised that we did not use much ink.(Invites totaled about 100 and reply cards the same).I also sent for a stamper and saved much time for return address. Daughter's wedding is the 26th and we are getting down to the final EVERYTHING.

Actually, handwritten is not only a time-honored way, it's considered the fanciest, most formal and "proper." Even real engraving is traditionally considered just sort of "mechanical handwriting" and therefore technically "second best." For big weddings, it's just too big a job. But for thirty invitations, with plenty of time, I agree with AutumnBride, it's very doable and would make a wonderful impression. You could even put the guests' names on the invitation, either in a formal ("______ and ____ / request the honour of the presence of /[guest's name] / at their marriage ...") or informal ("Dear ________, Groom and I will be married on ... at .... We would be honored if you would join us and our families. ...") wording. Get paper and ink that match the formality and mood of your wedding and reception and just do a few each night. I would always remember a one-of-a-kind invitation written by hand just for me.

I did an internet search for homemade paper and you can make the paper for your invitations (it doesn't seem too complicated) and you can add some pot porri to give it a textured look...I was thinking of making those myself. Once they dry you can print on them with a normal printer, and because of the texture of the paper they don't need any extra embellishment except for maybe a ribbon at the top if you like.

The other thing that I'm thinking of doing is buying the card stock (The kind that fold like a greeting card) and either purchasing little applique daisies (that's my theme) or buying a craft punch and punching daisies out of vellum. I would use florists wire to make stems and put a small ribbon at the bottom (to make it look like a few flowers tied together). I tried to upload a picture to show you what I'm talking about, but photobucket isn't working.

Just so you can see what I'm talking about...this is my inspiration for the second description.

{{!gwi}}

{{!gwi}}

I was at a craft shop yesterday and found a product to make homemade paper with it comes in a jar and all you have to do is spread it out. I can't find the name of it right now but tel me if your interested and I will try to find the name for you.

Sunshine, those are lovely! How charming. One thing to think about for invitations, though: the delicate "3-D" daisy will get squashed in the mail. We have gotten invitations that must have looked smashing when the hosts sent them -- but just looked smashed by the time we got them. (Like scrolls -- they seem like such a great idea when you send them, but the recipient has to put two books on them to hold them down to read them, and then has to write down the info and throw them away, because you can't really put it up on a bulletin board or refrigerator unless you iron it or something first.) You don't want to have to send them in boxes or bubble wrap or drive around hand-delivering! Can anyone think of a 2-D version she can use for invitations, and then use the 3-D ones for the place cards?

Gelchom, I have thought about how they will hold up in the mail. That's why I had thought about just using the vellum instead of something thicker. I do welcome any suggestions though. Thank you.

Here is the link to the homemade paper

Here is a link that might be useful: Paper Perfect

I stumbled on these awesome rubber stamps for my wedding invites, and just had to share!

You can find them at- http://www.bombshellstamps.com

We're getting married next fall and not doing a traditional wedding. So these invite designs are a little edgier, and exactly what I was looking for.

I've been stalking this forum for a while, and admiring the clever invite ideas, so thought I'd pay it forward. I'll post the invites as soon as I make them!

Thanks for the creativity, and inspiration!

Here is a link that might be useful: Bombshell Stamps