DIY Wedding Invitations: What's Available in Canada

Time VS Money: Are DIY Invitations Right for You?

How much is too much to pay for wedding invitations? That's a tough question! Every couple has different priorities when it comes to their wedding budget. In our current economy, most people are willing to sacrifice a few frills in order to save money – but cutting costs doesn't necessarily have to mean cutting corners. If you're soon-to-be-wed and willing to spend a little more of your time to save some of your cash, then DIY wedding invitations could be the right option for you.

The Good News

The good news is that the market is catching-up to the prevailing do-it-yourself trend. There are a lot of great options out there, so if you're feeling a little crafty, you will probably not have to compromise at all. You 're just trading a bit of time and personal work, but not quality.

Our 2009/2010 do-it-yourself-wedding-stationary Market Guide

The following guide gives you the low-down on the different style and assembly options out there for DIY wedding invitations. We've also done the legwork for you and picked out selections from some of the top DIY wedding invitation retailers online and in Canada.

DIY Styles: Some Assembly Required

DIY Wedding invitations may come with one or a combination of the following assembly requirements.

• Printing the invitations and/or envelopes. Some DIY kits come with MS Word Templates on CDs, so you can fill in your wedding specs and then print the invitations and/or envelopes yourself. If you're printing on cardstock, be sure to use a laser printer with a through/flat feed. If you're printing on paper, an inkjet printer will do.
• Folding and assembling the invitations. Whether you fold them, attach layers of vellum or both, certain DIY invitation kits require that you assemble the invites yourself.
• Attaching and tying ribbons. If your DIY invitations include ribbons, raffia, or some other embellishment which requires tying, they will most likely arrive unattached to the invitations.

Option #1: Online Suppliers

• The Uncommon Bride

  

  The Uncommon Bride features a fresh and fun line of modern DIY kits, including this design, the "Phoebe." Each kit includes MS Word Templates on CD, assembly instructions, pre-assembled sample invitation, cardstock backings, patterned bands, A7 envelopes, and sheets of 8.5" x 11" cardstock.

• Thank You Company

  

  The Thank You Company carries the Wilton line of wedding invitation kits, including this print-your-own design, "Happy Day." For $30, you receive a set of 25 blank invitations and envelopes, 25 reply cards and envelopes, 25 pre-tied bows with adhesive, and 25 patterned vellum invitation pockets.

• MDC Designs

  

  DIY meets eco-chic with these pocket folder wedding invitations, one of the unique DIY items from MDC Designs. These mulberry folders are made from sustainable cardstock and come with recycled PCW paper. . You get to select your own colour and closure style, from satin ribbon to your own personalized seals. Pricing for mulberry pocket kits begin at $30.75 and include 10 pocket folders, 10 reply envelopes, 10 invitation envelopes, 11 invitation panels and 6 RSVP panels.

• A Timeless Celebration

  

  The winner of our 2009 DIY Wedding Invitations Editor's Pick, A Timeless Celebration is actually a full-service wedding planning & décor outfit in Montréal. But they also operate an online shop, in which you will find one of the most flexible, beautiful and best-organised DIY invitation selection. A pocketfold starts at $1.70, to keep it affordable for DIY couples or you can "buy bulk" and have a complete set for as low as ~$3.00-$3.50.

  Read our dedicate feature on their spectacular service: Featured: DIY Wedding Invitations by Timeless Celebration

• Paper Garden

  

  We featured Paper Garden in a previous article on DIY Wedding invitations and were impressed with their wide selection of 80+ different colours of metallic paper with matching envelopes. They also offer a comprehensive guide on how to choose a design and budget for your invitations.

• Paper Circle

  

  Paper Circle is another online store / bulk-paper specialty supplier, focusing on "affordable, DIY wedding invitation materials". They carry a fairly large selection of pocketfolds, metallic card stock, envelopes, favor boxes, decorative papers etc.

• PrintVites™, digital templates
  

  This is the high-tech solution! Well, hardly.. :-) Print your own invitations, at home, based on a semi-custom digital template someone desgned for you. So it combines customisation and personalisation with affordability and style too.. All you need is a decent printer - or you can go to Kinkos!

• Papillon Press

  

  This is super-interesting: DIY invites that look like anything but! In fact they look very retro/vintage - perfect for theme weddings and still cheaper than regularly priced invitations. You make your own design and you send it to Papillon, which then use their hundred year old letterpress to make your invitations. Here.. read our special feature: Vintage and DIY: Letterpress invites by Papillon.

• Botanical Paperworks

  

  Like Paper Garden, Botanical PaperWorks is another retailer that specializes in paper – but with a twist. As mentioned in a previous profile we did on the company's plantable seed-paper wedding invitations, they carry an entire line of plantable paper embedded with wildflower seeds, so your guests can actually plant their invitations after the wedding and watch your love bloom!

These are not your only options either. Just a reasonably comprehensive list to get you started. You can find the complete list in our directory, under wedding invitations in Canada (where else? :-) )

Option #2: Local Suppliers

If you 'd rather see & touch the invitations, sit down with your vendor, ask questions, explore options etc, you will probably prefer to find a good store in your own city. There a quite a few, usually at least one in most major metropolitan areas. Here is a short regional list to get you started.

For the complete list for each city, click the city name - we 've linked it straight to the local directory.

• Greater Toronto Area
  • Milestone Moments

    

    East York's Milestone Moments carries a wide selection of card stocks, papers, envelopes, ribbons, and other embellishments for you to create your own invitations. With so many different types of stationary to choose from, Milestone Moments offers an Envelopments® Mini Swatch Deck for $20.00, which features all of the paper colours and patterns they carry.

  • Beach House Press

    

    St. Thomas, Ontario's Beach House Press has over 144 available colors to choose from when creating invitations yourself, including metallic/shimmer finishes. Like Milestone Moments, they also recommend ordering a swatch sample first, to get a feel for their shades.

• Vancouver
  • Inspirasian Creations

    

    Vancouver's own, Inspirasian Creations offers beautiful and affordable papers and envelopes made of recycled cotton and embedded with tiny, dried flowers. The "Petals Collection" DIY kit includes 50 Handmade Invitation sheets, 50 Vellum Overlay sheets, and 50 matching envelopes, at around $35 per kit.

• Calgary
  • Papers in Harmony

    

    Calgary company, Papers in Harmony offers DIY invitation kits in fresh, modern designs; like the "Summer" featured above. Each kit is sold for $65.50, and contains 25 printable cards, sky blue backing cards, and white outer/mailing envelopes.

• Winnipeg
  • Karta House

    

    If you're really creative and only looking to purchase base materials to start with, Winnipeg-based design studio, arta House sells these 5 1/2" x 5 1/2" folded square pocket folders in Chocolate, Black, White, Cream for $9.90 per pack of ten. They also carry these pockets in Metallic Quartz (White), Metallic Silver, for $13.50 per pack of ten.

Stil not enough options for you?

(sigh!...) Well, as we said, the complete list of everything-wedding-in-Canada is in our directory, but here are a couple of tricks:

The Smart Search trick

Search for "DIY wedding invitations" or "Do-it-yourself wedding invitations" PLUS your city name, on the search page. For example,

• DIY wedding invitations in Toronto, or
• Do it yourself wedding invitations in Vancouver, or
• Do it yourself wedding invitations in Calgary, or
• DIY wedding invitations in Montreal etc etc

The Lazy, let-them-do-all-the-work method

• Go to WeddingRequest.com,
• do a quickie registration (if you do not already have an account) and
• make a request for invitations.
• Pick the widest allowable area and
• make sure you type a small comment with your request saying "I am looking for do-it-yourself supplies & kits" - or whatever.
• The clever website will email every single invitation supplier in the area and forward them your request. Only those who actually carry DIY inventory will bother to reply to you - so you will now have pre-screened everyone for zero effort..

Have Fun!.. send us a photo of your invites when you 're done :-)