DIY vs Professionally Made Invitations

Often brides ask me about whether they should buy a DIY pack or get their invitations professionally made. Sometimes they are unsure because they don’t know if they have the time or if they’ll save enough money to make it worthwhile. I usually answer by asking them three questions.

• Why do you want to DIY?
• Do you have the equipment?
• Do you have the time to DIY?

If the answer to question one is to save money, then I usually ask if they have worked out the overall difference in cost. This is something that most people on a budget tend not to do, they tend to just assume that if they do-it-themselves, it will work out cheaper. However, the savings often turn out to be less than expected and the same amount of money can often be saved more easily, in another area. Try asking your caterer for a dollar per head discount, that’s usually all you’ll save.
Now if the answer to question one is that they want to have creative input, to have pride in saying, “I did them myself”, then we need to look at the answers to the other questions more closely.

Do you have the equipment?

This seems simple enough, there are really only three pieces of equipment that most people may not have. Do you have access to a good printer? Check. Do you have access to a guillotine or rotary trimmer? Check. Do you have access to software to lay out the invitation? Check. Do you want the same professional result as that sample you ordered? Check. When most people check these off the list, they are talking about a good inkjet printer or a small desktop laser, both of which are great for general printing. They do have limitations though.
Inkjets use liquid ink, which prints well on some papers but on others it bleeds or runs causing the text and images to look blurry or messy. Desktop lasers are great for printing on thin paper but usually won’t accept the thicker card stock that many invitations are made with. They are usually also talking about Microsoft® Word for the software, which again has its limitations. Any professional stationery supplier will use graphics software such as Adobe® Illustrator® or CorelDRAW®. Using Word not only limits what can be done graphically, it’s also hard to print exactly where you want on the page. That means there will likely be several test prints and several hours wasted, just trying to get it set-up correctly. It may also mean that cutting the invitations to size will be a lot harder than it should.

Do you have the time?

This question is fully loaded. Most brides today are out working, trying to organise their wedding on their lunch breaks and after hours. Many think they have the time to do their invitations, until they actually start the process. You need time to design and set-up the text to print. You need time to test print and re-design. You need time to go to the store and buy the paper, card, glue or tape and other bits, which may involve going to more than one shop. Think about the petrol you’re spending and add that into the cost. Are you still saving money? If ordering online, add the shipping into the cost, particularly if buying from more than one website. You also need time to cut and assemble the invitations. No problem you say,” I’ll just sit in front of the TV with a glass of wine and do it.” I’ve even heard people say that they’ll make a night of it with a couple of girlfriends! These are generally the same people who contact us in a tizz, to ask how much we charge to put together the invitations they have messed up or have run out of time to get done. Then of course there’s the possibility that your boss asks you to work late on the week that you had planned to do the invitations. What happens then?
Now I’m NOT saying that people shouldn’t DIY. All I’m saying is that you need to consider carefully whether or not you are one of those people. To DIY you need to plan, allowing extra time for Murphy’s Law. You need to be confident that you can do ALL the tasks needed to get the job done. Most of all, you need to understand your motivation for DIY. If it’s simply to save money, then I’d suggest you be extra careful. For most people, who have the equipment already and who have the time to spare, the overall saving will end up being less than $2.00 per invitation, although that will vary with the design chosen. Think about those extra costs that tend to get ignored, like printer ink or toner, the average two dozen sheets of paper wasted on printing and cutting errors and the extra petrol or shipping, when you realise that you’ve run out of something half way through the job.
So, is there anything good about DIY? Yes, okay, here’s the good news for those who do want to save money or who do want to do their bit, but don’t really have the equipment or time. Many wedding stationers these days offer semi-DIY packs as an option. Put simply, this option takes all the difficult work that requires costly equipment away from you, leaving the simple (but often time consuming) tasks to complete. The professional stationer does the design, printing and cutting of all the bits and all you have to do is assemble the invitation. All that is really required is some glue or tape and a good eye. Any printing or cutting errors become the responsibility of the supplier* and you get your professional looking stationery with REAL savings. Again, this option may not be for everyone.
You do still have to do some work and if you’re busy, it may be better to just get the professionals to do it all, so that your invitations arrive, ready to pop in the envelope and send. And in the end, sending your invitations out and getting the feedback about how lovely they are, is probably the most satisfying part of the whole process!