MAKING OF A WEDDING INVITATION By IKO's MOM

I am no artist but being poor can bring out the best in people.

My husband's nephew Jerald is getting married on March 27, 2010. Life is never easy and sometimes we need to be practical about things.

Jerald asked me if I could help him out with the invitations as he is on a tight budget, that probably if I could go to Recto (the printing mill of the Philippines) I could get it cheaper. So I scouted for wedding invitations and found out that the cheapest I could get an invitation for is PHP 45.00 each.

Considering they need 50 pieces (only 50 pieces) that will amount to more than PHP2000. And like I said we want to be practical about it so I decided instead to create his wedding invitations. Good thing that Jerald trust me more than I trust myself. So I proceeded with making his wedding invitations.

Here are the steps.

1st STEP: Decide what you want and stick with it.

Jerald and Malen chose green as the color. Anything green. This is a good thing that they did not choose apple green, light green, dark green. I really don't get it why they should choose a specific green anyway; it is not as if we are in preparatory school right? So anything green is good, because it will give more room for creativity.

They also decided to make it Filipino to make it different, anyway the reception will be held at their Farm. So it is very thematic.


2nd STEP: Look for the designs

I am no computer whiz kid, but I do know 2 things, I know how to browse through the internet and use Microsoft Word.

So I browsed for the designs and found one I like. I copied a border from Microsoft Office Online and use the MS Word picture formatting to change the color. I then type the contents of the invitation. I liked a lot of elegant designs I have seen on the net but considering the tight budget, elegance is not cheap so I need to make it simple but pretty.

As regards the content and template, I browse through the internet and made the necessary changes, specifically with the vows.


3rd STEP: Buying materials.

Most people would opt to go to Divisoria Manila to buy materials, but considering that you will only buy a few of the materials and that the fare and travel is consuming I decided instead to go to the nearest Market Center we have.

You can buy materials from bookstores. Although you can buy a lot from National Bookstore I really do not recommend it. It is very expensive there. Usually the prices are 50% to 100% higher than the price you can get it from other stores. You can try going to Merriam-Webster, they are not that popular anymore, so their prices are lower compared to NB. I remember buying a pair of scissors from Benita's Store in Novaliches for PHP 25.00 when I checked it in NB it is PHP50.00. I guess it is the ambience that I am paying.

Anyway I bought scissors with different edges, ribbons, parchment papers, envelopes (for the invitations), lots of green ribbons of different kinds, and a one-hole-puncher (PHP25 only) and green scented cardboard-papers.


4th STEP: MAKING IT REAL

I printed the invitation. Usually for colored printing you get to pay around PHP8 per page. This is what may cost a lot. But if you have a friend who owns a printer you can have it printed by him and just pay him PHP3.00 per page, anyway you are friends and I'm sure his ink is refillable.

After printing it, I cut the papers and sort them out. It came out with 4 pages.

I then punch holes on the top and put ribbons in it. The cardboard I also cut to be proportioned with the papers.

I just cut the edges of the cardboard with different designs. It is a very simple one. In total I only spent around PHP800.00 for 52 pieces of this invitation.

I then placed them in envelopes and had the groom and bride deliver them.

It is a very simple design but it was worth it. It is personalized and it is in Filipino, even the vows.

This is of course given you only have a week to prepare. So if you plan a wedding give the invitation at least 2 weeks and if you want it to look really elegant, well be prepared to spend more than PHP800 for 50 pieces. But if you have a friend who owns a printing press, well that is whole different story.

Till next time. Best wishes!