This is an Instructable on how to make your own wedding invitations. These are actually the invitations I made for my wedding a few years back. Good luck and Enjoy!

Step 1: What You'll Need...

You will need to figure out what the color theme is going to be, maybe even what kind of flowers will be present at the wedding and in the bouquet.

You also will want to research the language and wording you want to use on the invitation. Are you wanting more traditional or something unique or both!??

Items you will also need:

• Heavy paper (90-110lb card stock)
(I would choose a white or cream color depending on what your colors will be)
• Velum paper
(or tracing paper if you can't find velum; it's basically the same thing. Velum is just thicker)
• Ribbon (I would use 1/4 to 1/2 inch and without a wire inside works best...)
• A single hole punch
• An Ink Jet Printer
• Paper cutter
• Pictures
(for the printed background... search for free stock images or take your own pictures)

Step 2: Setting Up for Print...

First what you will do is find a pretty picture your bride likes, something to do with the wedding. I chose a picture of some pink roses I found online. You can find free stock photography on the internet or take your own pictures.

I used Adobe Photoshop and InDesign for my layout programs. You can use Word and just insert the pictures. You will set the document up landscape and place your images side by side, fitting 2 to a page/sheet of paper, In theory you could do multiple background images, say different people get different ones, but really you want this to be fairly simple and cohesive. It all depends on your theme and what the bride wants).

Something to remember... depending on if you are printing on white paper or not... the paper color can and will change the colors of what is printed on them. By choosing an off white (cream) paper my flowers had more of a muted color to them than bright pink you see below.

Once you have the images printed out you will be cutting these sheets of paper in half, basically doing two invitations on one sheet. You will repeat the process above with the wording that is printed on your Velum paper.

Step 3: Sheer's Looking Through You, Kid...

So now with your backgrounds printed and cut, you are ready for the Velum Bristol. You will need to, if you haven't already, come up with the verbiage you want printed on the Velum as well as the typeface and font you choose. This all depends on your style and what you are going for. I chose Vivaldi...

Some Dos and Don'ts can be found on the websites below... You do have to take into account who is hosting the event and how to list names of the parents and things (especially if the parents are separated or divorced).
http://www.beau-coup.com/wedding-invitations-etiquette-proper-wording.htm
http://www.invitationconsultants.com/sw-wedding.aspx

You can change these however suit you, just make sure the bride is happy.

Me and my bride chose (keep in mind we hosted the event):

Two become one...
sharing their love, hopes,
and dreams.

We invite you to share in our special day
as we begin our new life together

Bride's Full Name
and
Groom's Full Name

Saturday, the twenty-fifth of June
Two thousand and five
at 2 o'clock in the afternoon
Name of the Church or Event Place
City and State

The size paper to use for the Velum is ideally about a 1/4 inch smaller than the background paper. You could use pieces of Velum roughly 8"x10" (or slightly smaller). Most ink jet printer trays will adjust to half the size of a normal piece of paper. Also, be sure to leave room at the top of your velum for the holes and the ribbon to go. Once you have these printed then you will cut them in half the same way you did for the background pieces.

Step 4: Putting It All Together...

By now you have your ribbon, card stock and Velum... Now you just line up your Velum over top of your background card stock image, take your hole punch and punch two holes for the ribbon. The first one you do will be an experiment to see how long you want your ribbon, whether you want it in a bow or knot, and how far the holes need to be apart.

Another thing if you are really particular is to be sure to cut the ribbon at opposite angle from the end. This is so when you tie the knot or bow that the ends will match and look symmetrical (sometimes it's the little things).

I did my holes about a 1/2 inch apart and as you can see the knot was easier for me to do and looked good in my opinion.

Step 5: Good Luck!

With these invitations you can design other materials to match the background or theme chosen, I had RSVP cards that matched along with attendee gifts (which will be in another Instructable).

All in all these invitations cost me about... $35 or so (which isn't not bad at all for completely custom invitations).

$5 for the card stock (I had Office Depot split a ream of paper. They'll typically do this if you ask. I only needed 1/4 of the ream so that's what I paid for.)

$12 for the Velum (yes, this can get expensive, but I use it for other things as well)

$10-15 to print the Background and Velum (cost of a re-manufactured ink cartridge or printing/copying at your local office supply store)

$7 for the ribbon (I only used 2 rolls and got them on sale)

The RSVP cards came in a kit already perforated and ready for print. They were another $10 or so...

Anyways, good luck to you and yours and I wish you and your family well. Enjoy!