One of the first impressions of your wedding your guests will see is the wedding invitation landing on their doormat. If you are having a themed wedding, you should really give guests an idea of what to expect, however if like me you are not having a majorly themed wedding, a vague idea of colour scheme will do!
Our theme is (for the time being..) a bit rustic, but not overly so (ie no birdcages and definitely no mirrored plates!) On the seemingly never ending search for suitable invites I discovered the kraft paper style and fell in love! Then I saw the price and cried lol BUT with a bit of planning and hard work, we've diy'd our invites and hopefully this tutorial will help some of you.
Supplies needed (per invite)
1 x 130 X 130mm pocketfold - mine was the flat, not ribbed style
1 x A4 pattern background paper (you will use the whole sheet per invite for backing and belly band)
2 x 120 x 120 mm insert
1 x 120 x 105mm insert
1 x 120 x90mm insert
1 x 140 x 140mm kraft envelope (main envelope)
1 x 95mm x 122 mm kraft envelope (for rsvp)
Double sided tape
Rubber stamp and ink (mine is a Noolibird stamp)
Printer (or get them professionally printed if you prefer)
Firstly you need to make a template for your backing paper, it saves loads of time and will ensure all your invites look the same and are not wonky! Simply lay your pocket fold out flat and trace around it onto thick card. You may notice it doesn't reach the bottom of the pocket fold, but don't worry this is inside the flap and wont be seen!
Cut out and CHECK IT FITS. I recommend testing your template using scrap paper/newspaper, whatever you have spare before cutting your precious patterned paper!
Once you have this then start cutting your backing paper. I found I could cut through three at a time but if you are unsure, just do them individually, better to be safe than sorry. I also cut and stuck as a went, mainly to stop boredom, but also just to double check they fit as I went. IMPORTANT! The strip left over at the side is the belly band, do not touch it with those scissors and keep it safe!!!
Now the tricky part, sticking it on smoothly! Attach tape to the pocket fold flap at the top, and very carefully line your backing paper up and smooth down. When the top is stuck, fold the pocket fold up, making the creases in the backing paper before you stick the rest down as I found this helped prevent creases. then simple attach tape to the edges and just underneath the folds, and gently place the paper down, smoothing with the other hand as you go.
Next stage is stamping. Its pretty easy but if you've never stamped before do some practise stamps on scrap paper, simply line your stamp up with the v in the pocketfold and stamp away!
Attach tape to your pocketfolds and tape them up - pocketfold done!
Printing - OK..if you are clever and creative you can make your own fabulour design and print it. However, if you are like me, sadly lacking in the creative department, either buy someone elses fabulous designs (Etsy have some gorgeous ones) or use a free one! I went for the free option of course and used a template from the amazing Weddingchicks website. Pick your colours( mine was all black text), add your details and download the pdf, easy.
I know some people have trouble with getting their designs to fit on the inserts, especially the smaller ones but do what I did...cheat! If you search for pocket fold invites uk, you can download their templates for free! (ok maybe they want you to actually order from them but tough!) check you pick the right one *coughoriginalpocketfoldcough* download the invitation and insert templates and ta da, there you have templates the exact size you need! We kept our inserts really simple, just the details needed and downloaded a matching font for the headers.
We're nearly done I promise! So you've now got your pocket fold, and all the inserts ready, all that is left to do is the belly band which couldn't be easier! Hold the strip of background paper left from lining the pocket fold, check there's no scraggy edges and that the pattern looks ok. Some of mine ended with half a polka dot at the edge which really annoyed me so I trimmed them. Maybe that's a bit obsessive though. Line the middle of the band up with the centre of the pocket fold, and fold it around. It SHOULD be the perfect length as long as it was A4 to start with, and you used 130 x 130 mm pocket folds! Stick together with some double sided tape, making it tight enough to hold it but giving a teeny bit of give to allow people to slide it off if they don't want to rip it and you are done!
I hope this helps some of you or at least gives you an idea! Its cost me about a quarter of what it would have to buy them and I have the stamp left to continue the theme throughout the menu and table plan. If anyone would like to know where I bought from then let me know!
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