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is DIY worth it?!?

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KatyDee Posts : 48 Registered: 7/2/09
is DIY worth it?!?
Posted: Jul 8, 2009 1:50 PM

Okay, so I'm trying to come up with ways to save money (aren't we all), and have thought about DIY stationery. This means Save the dates, invitations, reply cards, seating cards, programs and menus; the whole nine. Thing is, if I do this, I'm going to have to buy a new printer (mine is broken) which I imagine will cost at least 100$. With the DIY kits, the printer, and endless cartridges of ink (150 guests), is DIY really worth it? Or will I just get hours upon hours of wasted time with a few miniature heart attacks over frozen computers and paper jams, and end up spending the same amount of money?

Also, if you have gone the DIY route, were you able to achieve the look you were going for?

Any advice will help. Thanks!!

october_2010 , kansas
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Lilmisssouthern... Posts : 658 Registered: 8/12/08
Re: is DIY worth it?!?
Posted: Jul 8, 2009 2:09 PM Go to message in response to: KatyDee

Hello!

I did my own invitations and plan to do my own programs as well. I didn't see spending the $200 on invitations that were professionally printed to be of any sense to me. So I did it myself. It took time but it worked out.


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virginia , october_2009 , october_2010 , kansas
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NessaRae615 Posts : 675 Registered: 9/23/08
Re: is DIY worth it?!?
Posted: Jul 8, 2009 2:28 PM Go to message in response to: Lilmisssouthern...

Hello, I did DIY inventations and response cards. I think they came out great. It took a while to figure out the correct way to print them, but once I got it figured out, and my printer decided to cooperate, I think it was worth it given the fact that I was quoted at least $200 for just the inventations. We found a deal at christmas time if we bought a digital camera we got a free printer, since I knew the inventations I wanted I had to do myself we jumped on that deal. I had to replace the ink, but over all I saved. Even if we hadn't gotten the printer free that would have been $100, $60 for invites and response cards (all with envelopes) and about $20 for ink. To me that was saving money because the people I spoke to for invites didn't have any I liked, envelopes, and response cards were all extra also.

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Nalamienea Posts : 2,930 Registered: 6/13/08
Re: is DIY worth it?!?
Posted: Jul 8, 2009 3:18 PM Go to message in response to: NessaRae615

I DIY'd a LOT. In my opinion, even if you have to buy a new printer, it's worth it because after the wedding, you still have a printer! If you spend the same amount of money and just get them professionally printed you won't have anything after the wedding. Know what I mean?

Now, it takes a LOT of time. For me, I had more time than money, so it made sense. I didn't buy mine in packet either because I was only going to need about 15 invitations, so I bought the paper and put it all together myself. I think this method may take more time but it allowed me a lot more creativity and individuality.

If you have any questions, let us know. :)

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virginia , october_2008
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lizrod Posts : 7 Registered: 2/2/09
Re: is DIY worth it?!?
Posted: Jul 8, 2009 3:48 PM Go to message in response to: KatyDee

Another much cheaper option would be to take your samples or digital copies to a local print shop or office supply store and have them do the printing, cutting, folding, etc for you. Office Depot does this for something like 25 cents per page (200 invites @ 2 per sheet = $25) and they have a nice selection of papers. Might be a nice alternative if you don't want to have to deal with purchasing a new printer and all the ink cartridges.

october_2010 , kentucky , kansas , september_2009
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tashalynn Posts : 22 Registered: 1/31/07
Re: is DIY worth it?!?
Posted: Jul 8, 2009 5:19 PM Go to message in response to: lizrod

My sister just printed off her invitations at home. She bought the kits at walmart for a total of about $40 and even though she went through a whole cartridge of ink...I'd say it was still the best deal. And now we have been working on her programs and she will again probably go through a good bit of ink, but it's still alot cheaper than ordering them. I plan on making my own to. No point in spending alot more money whenever I can just put in a little bit of time and save! Hope that helped!

october_2010 , kentucky , kansas , september_2009
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KatyDee Posts : 48 Registered: 7/2/09
Re: is DIY worth it?!?
Posted: Jul 8, 2009 7:31 PM Go to message in response to: tashalynn

Thank you all so much! Totally helped.. I guess I'm a DIYer!

october_2010 , kansas , kentucky , september_2009
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TheNewMrsJ Posts : 754 Registered: 1/6/08
Re: is DIY worth it?!?
Posted: Jul 8, 2009 9:18 PM Go to message in response to: KatyDee

We did a lot of DIY stuff, including programs, STDs, flowers and more.

For programs, I designed them myself on my computer using Adobe Illustrator, as I went to school for that sort of thing and have a job doing it. For printing, I found out from my BM who got married a month before me that she had hers printed from here: http://www.colorcopysite.com/

It's about .10 cent or so per print and we had printed off about 150-200, so it was like $25 at most with shipping I believe. They looked just how they did on my computer too, so no printing errors or anything like that. Only thing is, once you upload and submit it, call the guy to confirm he got it - you're supposed to get an email confirmation but I waited 2 days and didn't hear anything, so I called the guy and he had em printed up later that day and mailed out to me the next - this was all a week before my wedding too and I had them in about 3 days.

For the STDs. At Office Depot, Office Max, and other craft stores I saw you can get magnets that are supposed to go on the back of business cards. I designed my STDs myself, made them the size of a business card and tried printing them off at home, but the printer quality wasn't good so I uploaded to Office Max and they printed them off for me and I picked them up. I spent maybe $15 on the magnets, $15 on the printing, and then I already had a paper cutter (a Cricut one I got for under $10 at Walmart) and spent an evening cutting them and attaching to the magnets.

With our flowers, my mom and aunt would collect Hobby Lobby and Michaels coupons from friends and family members and go buy up what they could on sale or 40%. Since we were using a lot of roses, my mom went to Michaels the day after Valentine's Day and bought out what they had left which was all on clearance. I think we spent at most $100 on flowers and made the unity candle holder, bouquets and boutineeres as well. I have pictures in one of my albums if you want to take a look. We also made our own centerpieces buying out the vases from 3 different nearby Walmarts and then buying the red colored stones for them. Luckily, our reception hall had mirrors for us to use so we didn't have to purchase that.

My wedding cost maybe $10k at most, with $6k of that being the reception hall and catering. My MoH's was nearly $30k. We did a ton of stuff DIY to keep the cost down wheras I know my MoH didn't (on top of the fact her wedding party screwed over their bar tab so the private bar tab for just the wedding party cost almost as much as the reception hall! If you have one for the whole wedding party, make sure they're not getting and passing off drinks to all their friends and family at the reception!)

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september_2008 , october_2010 , kansas , illinois_chicago
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lulling Posts : 10 Registered: 7/9/09
Re: is DIY worth it?!?
Posted: Jul 9, 2009 1:45 AM Go to message in response to: KatyDee

I did all of the more casual thing (save the dates, escort cards, thank you notes) through vistaprint. Most everything there is free and all you pay for is shipping. (maybe 6-10 dollars for a hundred thank yous). I am DIY'ing a lot of other things but had someone do my invitations after my friend DIY'ed hers and spent about 4 days straight (from around 6-11 at night) to finish them. It was worth the money to me not to do that. All else go to vistaprint.com.

ohio , october_2009 , october_2010 , kansas
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Jream Posts : 157 Registered: 7/29/08
Re: is DIY worth it?!?
Posted: Jul 9, 2009 11:07 AM Go to message in response to: lulling

If your printer is broken, you need a new one anyway, right? I wouldn't even count that as a wedding expense, but just a daily kind of expense that your upcoming wedding sparked the need for.

If you're creative and patient, I think it's worth the payoff. I'm doing all the stationery by hand because I'm a perfectionist and nothing I see it catalogues is what I want. If you only want to save money, though, then it might end up being stressful for you. I guess you have to find the fine line between making every invitation a piece of detailed artwork and doing just enough to save you money and cause little stress.

Good luck.

january_2010 , florida , ohio , october_2009 , october_2010 , kansas
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JasmineF Posts : 12 Registered: 2/6/09
Re: is DIY worth it?!?
Posted: Sep 23, 2009 5:15 PM Go to message in response to: lulling

How did you do your escort cards through vistaprint? What did you use?

ohio , october_2009 , october_2010 , kansas , north_carolina
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SunnySanrio Posts : 70 Registered: 8/6/09
Re: is DIY worth it?!?
Posted: Sep 23, 2009 6:17 PM Go to message in response to: JasmineF

Okay two things:

1) DIY is totally worth it! (I'm doing everything but the cake, I mean flowers, invites, STDs, programs, ceremony decor, reception decor, cake topper.. you get the idea). I'm saving a TON! Just keep your eye out for a deal.

2) Doing things yourself has a great advantage... say a few days before the wedding the programs or something needs changing... well a professional place wouldn't be able to fix it that quick and with you doing the printing you can wait until the last minute to print (just have what you can pre-done).

Good luck in your DIY adventures!

ohio , october_2009 , october_2010 , kansas , north_carolina , july_2010
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Toast Posts : 480 Registered: 9/10/08
Re: is DIY worth it?!?
Posted: Sep 23, 2009 8:21 PM Go to message in response to: SunnySanrio

I think it depends on how crafty you are, how patient you are, how much time you have, and what you want.

If you need to buy a printer, and ink, and then all the paper, and then a good cutter and ruler to cut the paper, and glue, etc...it can DEFINATELY add up!! However, there are deals to be found as well. Michaels has invite kits with envelopes, reply cards, sticker seals, etc for less than $30 for 50 invites. However, you will still need to spend a minimum of $100-$150 for a printer and ink.

I was thinking of doing the DIY thing myself, but then I was finding some nice invites for just as cheap, and they come already printed. So one option would be to find some nice, but basic and cheap invites thru rexcraft.com or invitationsbydawn.com, and have them print everything, but then you can embellish them. You can add colorful cardstock behind the basic white invite, add ribbon, bows, flowers, etc. I was able to find invites on those websites for less than $99 for 100.

Also, what is your budget? I personally dont think $200 for 100 invites is a bad price. Heck, i have seen some that were over $5,000 for 100 invites...now THAT is insane! but $200? I mean....really, thats not bad.

And, keep in mind that it can add up. Another poster said she got quoted $200 for her invites, so she did them herself but in the end she only saved $20. so...is it worth all the aggrevation? Ya know??

just look and see what you can find, what you want, and price it out.

ohio , october_2009 , connecticut , october_2010 , kansas , north_carolina , july_2010
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