Inspiration To Print Your Own
Wedding Invitations

These days you can create and print your own wedding invitations at home easily. If you've got a bit of imagination and a printer, then you're well on your way to creating your own wedding invitations. There are plenty of simple ideas that can look stunning and this article gives you lots of inspiration to get you started.

If you're not feeling inspired, why not take the easy route and go with one of the pre-designed free invitations on this site. Then, all you need to do issit back, relax and print them out! Now, back to inspiration...

Finding inspiration

Inspiration can come from anywhere. Look around you at how other things are designed. Anything from wrapping paper, magazines layouts, business logos to emblems or patterns on clothes.

I find that even just walking around the high street, I look at how things are designed, the way elements of the design come together and the way that colours are used. One of best places for inspiration for wedding invitations is card shops! I always come out inspired and raring to go!

Ideas to kick start you

These ideas below are intended to give you some extra inspiration so you can get started and print your own wedding invitations.

Try an illustrative route

If you're a dab hand at drawing, then why not try creating an illustration. For my own wedding invitations I experimented with different illustrations and it worked really well. Some common drawings for wedding invites are cakes, hearts, rings, bride and grooms and doves.

You could draw it out and then scan it into your computer. (If you don't have a scanner, a copy shop will be able to help). Once you've got the illustration on your computer, treat it like any other image. You can then either repeat it, manipulate it or recolour it. Lay it out on your chosen size paper and then print your own wedding invitations! Simple!

Here are some examples of invitations I've made using this technique:

Use photos as the basis of your wedding invite

In recent years, we’ve embraced digital photography wholeheartedly. We ‘point and click’ our digital cameras wherever we go, storing our pics on our home computers and tinkering with them to create the perfect crop, smooth skin and ideal framing.

Why not take these skills and put them to good use by using some of these techniques on your wedding invitations? Here are some simple ideas with photos so you can print your own wedding invitations:

• Take a photo of you and your fiancé and simply print it out onto photo paper in colour or black and white and secure it to the front of your card. You could then place some ribbon or other embellishment on the card to finish it off.
• A slight twist on this is to use some of the effects in a photo package (see below). The images here show some simple effects from Paint.net – a free software package for images and graphics. These look great with a saying or a quote on the front. They could be printed directly onto your wedding invitation card as well.

"Outline" effect in Paint.net	"Pencil Sketch" effect in Paint.net	"Oil Painting" effect in Paint.net

• You could use passport photos of the two of you and attach them to the front. Alternatively, scan them in and then print out your invites on your computer – it’ll be cheaper than getting lots of sets of passport photos.
• Use a photo sharing system such as photobox.com where you can upload your photo and get a card made. The finish is really good and it’s great way to print your own wedding invitations. All you need to do is create the insert and pop it inside.

Experiment with free downloadable images

There are also plenty of downloadable images on the internet that you could use too. Clipart is much better these days and you may be surprised at what you can find. Again, you can either print these directly on to your wedding invitation or print them on to special paper, cut them out and fix them to the front of your invite.

Print your own inserts too

Don’t forget about your inserts too. You can either use free wedding invitation insert templates or create your own from scratch. Use your printer to print them out and then get them cut to size professionally for a perfect finish.

Creating your ‘print at home wedding invitations’

You should also think about the invitation format you’ll need. Will your intended design look good on a A6, DL or square card? Do practice runs and tinker with the layout or design until it looks just right. So when you print your own wedding invitations they'll be perfect.

Experiment with different card stocks and types of papers. There are literally hundreds of different papers around these days that will go through your printer, so try something different for a unique, individual look.

Read more essential tips for printing your own wedding invitations.

Related articles:

Tips For Home Printing Your Own Wedding Invitations
Wedding Invitation Inserts
Free Printable Wedding Invitations
Inspiration To Design Your Own Wedding Invitations