Weddings are very personal, with every detail carefully pondered and carried out to perfection. You would love to be extravagant with every aspect, but good sense tells you to save a little money for life after the wedding. With a little creativity, you can have the wedding of your dreams at an affordable price. Handcrafted items, like veils and headpieces, flower girl baskets and bridal bouquets, are unique and can be made at a fraction of the cost of purchased items.
The projects in this take you designing and creating your own wedding stationary, accessorizing the wedding party, decorating the ceremony and reception sites and preserving your cherished memories, And because individuality is key, we offer lots of variations so that you can select a style that fits your style of a perfect wedding.
While coordinating the necessary arrangements for your wedding when would you find time to make all of these beautiful things too? Delegate! Many friends and family members would be honored if you asked them to help. Plan a weekend get-together with your groom and both sets of parents to help you prepare and send invitations. Assemble your bridesmaids for an evening of girl talk and crafting reception centerpieces. Perhaps ask a favorite aunt to make a ring bearer pillow or sew you garter. Remember that many items can be crafted long in advance of the wedding .preserving your sanity in the last few weeks or giving you time for last minute flower preparation.
Select the projects that mean the most to you. Weigh the money savings, uniqueness and personal satisfaction in making a project against the time commitment required. Even if the only item you make is your own headpiece and veil, you could save enough money to purchase gifts for your bridesmaids. Each item you create marks another joyful moment leading to your special day
Stationary Basics
There are many paper options and methods for embellishment to choose from. Start with purchased cards, or create your own from card or paper stock available from stationary, art or craft store. Print your message and embellish the cards as lavishly or as simply as you wish. Consider a variety of effects, including pressure embossing, stamping, thermal embossing, stenciling and watercolor painting. Create interest with deckled or die cut edges. Incorporate other elements such as ribbons, pressed flowers or feathers.
Stock used for printing can become the base card, or the printed copies can be cut and mounted to other paper. The paper stock on which the message is to be printed must have a smooth texture and be of medium weight such as laser- printable, card stock or vellum and it must be of a standard printing size. Compose and lay out the message on a computer; then either print copies onto the chosen stock, using a laser printer, or print out a copy on white paper and have a professional printer reproduce it.
Selecting Paper
Wedding stationary can be created from ready made cards or cut from paper or card stock. For ready made car5ds, select plain blank cards with matching envelopes or those imprinted with a simple design that could be further embellished. Add details such as a stenciled border design, an edging or an embossed design.
Cut your own cards from a wide variety of papers; browse through art supply, stationary and craft stores. or visit a professional printer for papers. Parchment, card and cover stock and watercolor papers are a few options. Handmade papers, which have a lovely nubby surface, may have flower petals, leaves or metallic strings embedded in them. Since many textured papers do not take to printing, print messages on other stock and mount them to the textured paper.
Whether you choose ready- made cards or cut them from stock, you can create interesting effects by layering papers of various textures.
Translucent overlays such as tissue, vellum and Japanese lace paper are lovely options as well.
Producing Wedding Stationary
- Decide on the desired components of the wedding stationary. Besides the invitation and mailing envelope, consider an inner envelope to hold the invitation and all the inserts, a response card with an envelope, a reception card and a thank you card with an envelope.
- Plan the size and format of the cards. Not all the pieces of the set have to be exactly the same, but they should have a common design element. Invitation and insert cards can be a single heavy card or a double folded sheet. If cards will be cut to size, consider sizes of available envelopes. Cards should be ¼ in. shorter and narrower than the accompanying envelope.
- Print message on standard size paper, trim to desired size.
- Cut several sheets of paper at once, using paper cutter or rotary cutter, straightedge and cutting mat. Cut decorative edges, if desired using specialty rotary cutter blades or scissors with decorate edged blades. Or tear deckled edges.
- Mark lightly for any folds. For heavy paper, lightly score fold line on outside, using back of mat knife blade. For medium and lightweight papers, burnish fold line on the inside using butter knife or stylus.
Full Article:
Handcrafted Weddings - Stationary
Handcrafted Weddings - Attaching Overlays
Handcrafted Weddings - Stenciling
Handcrafted Weddings - Stamp Designs
