Syntego

If you want to join the growing number of DIY brides when it comes to wedding invitations but are not sure where to start then take a look at Syntego. This is a trade site for card blanks and accessories so you are not going to be able to buy your materials directly from them (they have a network of National stockists for that) but they do have all their products on display.
The great about this site is that they know that many people have never made wedding stationery before unlike general card craft stores that often assume you already know the basics.  Some people have never even delved into the world of cardcraft but are determined to make their wedding invites on a budget and to show off their achievement to their guest list. When you buy card blanks through a Syntego stockist you can access their rather nifty template site to download the appropriate size template for the style of card you have ordered. This is often one of the biggest stumbling points for anybody who has ever made wedding stationery for the first time. All too often I see a gorgeous designed wedding invitation let down by a misaligned insert. The insert does the important job of inviting your guests to your wedding, make sure it is clear, easy to read and presentable.  This may be the boring bit but you need to get this right and then you are free to show off as much as you like with the rest of the design.

Tapestry Broderie from Syntego

Some of the card blank designs that caught my eye from Syntego are the quality textured paper designs such as Tapestry Broderie,  Tappestry Applique and Treasury because these style of cards are made from quality board that you just will not find in your everyday craft shops.  The Tapestry designs have a very interesting fabric effect emboss on a pearlescent card.  The Treasury collection uses a metallic board that has the appearance of matt gold leaf to create a very unusual effect.  Fortunately, Syntego have a postcode finder to help you track down your nearest stockist but it is probably wise to phone ahead because I doubt that all stores carry the full range.

If you went to a handmade wedding stationer to get something along these lines made, you would be looking at paying at least £3 each, and that’s not alot since they have to proof it, make it and try and make a profit.  But if you are trying to cut costs by making your own wedding stationery you can’t go far wrong with these ready to make packs which include everything you need including the card, handmade mullberry paper lilies, sparkly ribbon, blank insert and envelope and cost just £1 each.  The Mulberry Bush stock a wide range of quality craft products and I have personally used some of the card types they use which are genuinely  good quality.  If you’re having a black and white theme you must look at the Tapestry Black Broderie range which is quite stunning.

For those of you who want to save some money and print your own wedding stationery, but don’t have much artistic flair, Marks & Spencer have come to the rescue.  There are a few designs available, a couple that require a little assembly (don’t worry, only a bit of ribbon tying) but the most on trend style after Coleen’s wedding is this butterfly design in muted tones.  The invitations come in packs of 10 and include insert paper, ties, envelopes and instructions, all for £7.50. Also alvailable in the range are placecards in packs of 10 for £2 and table name cards numbered 1-12 for £3.50 which is incredibly cheap.

Ok! so you love picking up the latest celebrity magazines to see who’s marrying who, what, when, where and quite frankly Coleen,  why?  (sorry, I’m sure he’s a lovely bloke).  Now you can see yourself and your partner on the front cover in this Oi! invitation from Moonpig which you can upload your own photos into and customise yourself.  The price for the standard card where you have the front cover as the magazine cover with the card opening out normally is £2.99.  They are certainly novel and I must admit I was quite surprised to find something like this on Moonpig, seriously guys, pay the money, get a better advertising agency!

If you’ve decided to make your own wedding invitations, then you have probably already taken a trip to your local Hobbycraft and realised that it’s not as cheap as you thought it might be!  My advice is to steer away from the retail shops who charge a premium (they have rent, insurance and all the other costs to add on) and search the internet.  Twiddleys is one of the largest online craft shops and very cheap.  The above illustrated star lily flowers are 99p for a pack of 10 stems (each stem has two flower heads) and would look stunning set against a strong coloured background like the pink tissue paper featured in the photo.  With the huge choice of cards, tissues and embellishments you could easily make 50 wedding invitations for about £20.  One of the biggest mistakes people make when making their own card is to add too much detail to show off their artistic talents when the idea should be less is more!  Not only will you save money with that concept, but your card will look better too.

For some unusual and funky wedding stationery that you can create yourself, have a look at the Poobies website where you can choose your card format, design, font and wording as well as being able to upload your own image to use on your cards.  Based in the Netherlands you might worry that your order could take a while to get to you, but on their website it states that orders received before 12pm will be sent the same day and delivery times are within 2-4 working days.  You will need to set up an account if you are ordering a set of cards but the time taken to do that far outweighs the delivery time.  You can order a greetings card which would be sent directly to the person of your choice, so if you have the time, I would design what you want and get it sent to yourself so that you can get an idea of the service and the product.  Prices are in Euros and for 25-99 cards the cost is €2.45 each which works out to roughly £1.72 at present.  If you order a proof, matching envelopes and delivery is automatically included in the price and that costs €2.50.  So with so many design options and choices, what are you waiting for, go get creative. 

Envelopment wedding invitations.   They are all over the place but what are they you might ask ? Well,  there is nothing particularly clever about them.  Envelopments is the brand name behind an American company that churns out a huge range of innovative card blanks in an endless variety of colours and patterns all over the world.  There is nothing particularly clever about them.You might think I am not a big fan of envelopments….  on the contrary …. I do rather like many of the styles.  I am just a little jealous that I didnt think of such a painfully simple idea.

Envelopments hit our shores a few years ago and now there are quite a few licenced suppliers of the brand.  Many wedding stationers have tagged the designs on to their existing products as a quick and easy way of expanding their portfolio.  Because the novelty is in the card folds, shape and patterns there is usually not much more for the stationery designer to do other than maybe add a bit of ribbon,  a small embellishment and a personalised insert.  They have even devised some software (with Mountain Cow) to make printing inserts in the right shape and style (or recipe as they like to call it).  Easy peasy job done.  Needless to say they are ideal for diy wedding invitations too.To see what all the fuss is about we have hand selected some wedding stationery companies who have embraced the brand with gusto.  Either that or they have been indoctrinated by Envelopments inc who have brainwashed them in their quest to take over the word with cleverly folded patterned card blanks.  I might write to Russell T Davies because this would make a great Doctor Who episode.

Anyway….. on to the envelopment design nominees are (in no particular order) :

Wedding Paraphernalia- They certainly have a wide range of envelopment wedding stationery designs and they promise even more designs soon.  They also supply envelopment blanks for the DIY enthusiast and if you are in the North of England you can visit their shop in Northamptonshire.

XOXO - Some lovely striking Envelopment and Pocketfold designs (Pocketfold is just another brand by the Envelopment team… just another template style really).  There are some really funky designs in their portfolio and some beautiful wallpaper print wedding invites.

Purely Embelishments- This is more of a craft site but it does give you a good overview of the different envelopment card styles that are used to create wedding stationery such as Pocketfolds, Z Cards, Gate Cards, and dare we say plain old folded cards. 

There are plenty of others of course …. too many to list here but will no doubt be featured in future articles on this site because, for better or worse, it looks as though envelopments are here to stay.  Lets hope it doesn’t make our budding new wedding stationery designers too lazy in their creations.

If you’re looking to make your own wedding stationery to save some money but don’t know where to begin, WeddingDIY has a whole host of ready made kits that include everything you need to get creative.  This blue Indian cotton booklet comes with lillies and raffia as well as textured card and tracing paper inside and an envelope, all for just £1.40.  This is a really eye-catching design and perfect for a summer wedding or beach wedding abroad.  All the kits tell you before you purchase what tools you need and what skills are required and full instructions are supplied, there are also templates for the inserts to download.  So all you need is some time and patience, that they don’t supply I’m afraid!

Making your own wedding stationery is a  lovely idea for you to showcase your artistic talents and get exactly the look you want whilst saving some money, but unless you take the time to design them properly it can end up costing you even more than it would to buy from a stationer and you could end up with invitations that look like something the local infant school have produced.  The biggest mistake people make is to add nearly every embellishment they like on the card because they can’t decide the exact look they want.  The best thing to do is sketch down an idea for what you would like and colour schemes you fancy, then look at other handmade stationers to see which designs catch your eye.  There are lots of art and craft shops about and many online shops who will have ready to make designs if you don’t feel you can design them yourself.  The Wedding Crafter is a good example who produce both design packs and individual items.  The rhinestone ribbon buckle above is £1.85 and would look simple and stunning on a ribbon colour of your choice wrapped around a tent card.  You could then either write the word wedding or your names is silver gel pen or use peel off stickers saying wedding, depending on how artistic you are.  For an extra touch of sparkle you could add three diamante embellishments (£1.25 for a pack of about 36) in one top corner.