DIY Save The Date

Because my wedding is out of town, it was important for me to get my Save the Dates out as soon as possible. I needed to get an idea of how may attendees I would have, and also have information for my guests readily available so they could begin to plan their trip.  I used The Knot wedding website builder to post all the travel info and it was great!

I found these invitation kits at Michael's for $39 and it included 40 invitations, yellow background, response cards, ribbons, and envelopes.  Also, they have 40% off coupons all the time!

First, I selected the fonts that I wanted to use. You can find many free fonts online that you can download to your computer.  One of my favorite websites is dafont.com.  The fonts I chose for my save the dates were Memoriam, Feel Script, and Bodoni.  Unfortunately, Memoriam and Feel Script are not free but they are fabulous.  If you download free fonts, to install them first open your control panel then find the folder that says Font, and finally drag the file that you downloaded into the Font folder.  It's that easy! Finding pretty or unique fonts and mixing them up will really make your DIY invites look professional. 

After printing, I layered the card with the background piece, punched holes, then tied the ribbon to attach the two pieces of card stock.  Make sure before you print you proof read and have someone else proof read them as well.  I learned this the hard way after I printed my first 2 boxes and realized I spelled West Point "West Pont".  Thank God for those 40% off coupons...

Also, don't worry about punching your holes perfectly because once you put the ribbon on you can straighten the card out slightly to adjust.

I printed all the return envelopes with the guests name and address so when I received them I would know who sent it.  If you can't print envelopes just hand write them or use labels.  I also sent the response card envelopes with postage, so my guests could easily return them. 

I thought the back of these were cool because they had an area to slide the response cards in... Pretty Nifty!

All in all it costs me about $120 to send out 60 save the dates with postage.  Now granted, I did have to re-buy 2 boxes of invitations because I screwed up, but that's pretty cheap considering...

Happy Printing!

Hello

{ME}

Ok so this is me, Kerri Hartman, and I am currently a Bride on a Budget!  Like most brides, I have a vision of what I would like my wedding to be, but the problem is I have champagne taste on a beer budget.  So I decided to do it myself to save $$$ wherever I can.  Thus the idea for my blog! I know there are tons of girls just like me who are in the same predicament so hopefully I can help.

Now, here are the details...

My wedding is May 4, 2013, literally around the corner. The venue is West Point Most Holy Trinity Catholic Chapel with the reception at the Thayer Hotel to follow.  I have a big family so this wedding is not cheap and most of our budget has gone to the reception.  I am a crazy, detail oriented person who wants every aspect of my wedding to be oozing with class (well at least my version of it).  So I will share my ideas, projects, shortcuts, and final outcome with the world in hopes of helping a bride or two!

HAPPY WEDDING PLANNING!