Ever given any thought to designing your own wedding invites? Andrew's and my wedding plans were blessed with considerable financial help from our parents. I felt so thankful, yet vaguely guilty, so I tried to express our thanks by finding ways to cut costs wherever we could. I love design and can fake my way through Microsoft Publisher pretty well, so I wanted to try my hand at creating our own invitations, programs, and stationary, but I knew I wanted something with a little more flair than your standard ivory paper and black script.
Side note: this was about 6 months before Pinterest was around--much to my benefit, I think, if only for the reason that I probably would've gone full-on wedding cray cray if I'd had access to that much inspiration and that amount of bridal stuff at that time in my life. Good for other peeps, and I love looking at wedding things online still, but I know myself too well…it would've complicated, rather than simplified things for me; I'm sure of it!
Anyway, with just archaic Google to help me, it took a little time to scour the internet for pretty design resources I could use for our stationary, and after finding some I truly love, I want to share them with you. Here are some of the sites I used before my wedding, as well as a few others I've stumbled onto since then:
For fonts:DaFont.com: This site is great as a collection of varied, free, simple to download fonts that are divided by categories, like handwritten styles, brush scripts, and calligraphy. Definitely check out the Dingbats and Holiday sections for "fonts" that read as images, like decorative flourishes, hearts, and flowers--truthfully, there are some pretty cheesy ones to wade through, but you can find some sophisticated designs, too, if you're willing to click around. Even four years after my initial invitation project, I use this site all the time to help me create blog graphics. A few faves:
Lost Type Co-Op: Seriously gorgeous type, created by independent designers, that has a wonderfully professional look. Free downloads are permitted, or you can make a donation when you download a font, and 100% of your donation goes to the designer. If you're nerdy about this stuff like me, Lost Type sends out a fascinating e-newsletter you can subscribe to when you download. Everything really does look beautiful, but I'm particularly partial to these:
For images, borders, and other design elements:We Lived Happily Ever After: Elegant wreaths, Parisian flowers, rustic antlers…whatever theme you're going for, I feel like there's a good chance you'll find something to fit from Hannah's
amazing collection of images, most of them hand-drawn. It's simple to download her collections, and she even offers
this handy tutorial on how to change the graphics' colors. Some inspiration:
For backgrounds:Design Love Fest: While I'm betting you don't want your wedding invitations to say something like
"Get It Girl," this site does have a huge collection of backgrounds you can download for your phone or desktop, ones I'm betting would also look mighty fine as a backdrop for your invitations. There are plenty of florals, geometric shapes, and watercolors like these to browse through (images are linked to the download pages):
Pattern Cooler: I'm ready to admit that some of the designs here are straight-up gaudy. But the concept of customizing practically any design you can imagine (stripes, circles, Greek keys…) with any colors you like is unbeatable. A sampling:
If you like the idea of free, print-your-own invites but would rather leave the design up to someone else:Wedding Chicks: Type in a search for "free printable wedding invitations" and a lot of clunky designs with few customization options pop up. These are different; I think they're truly pretty, and what's more, the site offers a great collection of
design-your-own monograms you can use as a starting point for your own designs, as well as
signs and other printables to use at your ceremony and reception.
One thing! Be sure, when you're getting ready to print your invites and other materials, that you've saved them as a PDF. If you try and print straight from a Microsoft program like Word or Publisher, it will usually try to convert downloaded fonts into a Windows-friendly version, and any pretty calligraphy or block type will show up on the screen but not on the final, printed version. PDFs also just simplify things if you're taking your documents to a print shop or a place like Staples, because the formatting can't change depending on what operating system you're using.
What do you think? Have you thought about going DIY for your wedding paper? Is there a free design resource you've used and loved that I left off of the list? Share away.
More design, DIY, and template stuff from this here blog:
