Uploading your own - wedding invites and accessories

I did DIY invitations. I pretty much bought everything or got it printed out then put pocket invites together. For the invitation inserts I went with Walmart printing online. They have the glossy picture look I wanted. It was very inexpensive. I also got little tags created to tie around the invitations those were printed and cut at office depot. But vistaprint and zazzle to name a few others allow you to upload your own images and have them printed.

I bought metallic shimmer cardstock and you can take that to staples or Office Depot with the file on a USB & have them printed. I'm not sure the exact cost per sheet, but definitely better than having them all printed through a vendor I believe.

I heard that the bigger retailers are more for business printing and to go to a local printer. I found a small printer and got my invites printed there. It was a little on the expensive side but that was likely the paper I chose. Make sure you research paper types, particularly the different textures. We went with 130 lb linen paper so it would have a natural look and it was very thick.

@Sutton Where did you purchase your cardstock?

We also got a design from an etsy seller!

We used vistaprint and that worked well for us. To be honest, we didn't care too much as long as the paper was relatively sturdy since most people end up tossing your invite anyway. We ordered the paper sample from vistaprint to get an idea of what their paper feels like. I'm pretty happy with the end result.

@ Nicole j do you have a picture of your invite? Good to know vista print worked well for you to print from an Etsy seller

If you're doing a pocket invite with the insert cards, which it sounds like you are, Vistaprint most likely won't have the sizes you need to do them properly (so they look staggered). Vistaprint offers limited sizes (5x7 for invites, postcard size, business card size, etc). I've never found custom sizes through them.

If that is the case, I would have the designer make your pocket invites to Cards and Pockets sizes. Then you can upload and print them there. They also do things like menus and whatnot.

For everything else, Staples is great quality and you can usually do custom sizes.

Pictured below are the inserts I had in my invite. They were printed and cut via Cards and Pockets and then I did the custom mountain die cut myself. But notice how they get shorter so they'd be staggered in the pocket (second picture).

I bought cardstock, envelopes, belly bands and monogrammed squares at paperandmore.com and then printed everything at work and put it together myself at home. Came up with my own template after looking at a few online on Pinterest and etsy. Only thing I would change is I would print at staples or office depot to save myself time and headache. I also bought a paper guillotine to use to cut the paper - invitations were printed side by side in an 8 by 11 regular sized paper and them cut in half. It worked beautiful and FH were so happy and saved a little bit of money. It took 8 hours to assemble but we have 170 invites. Here is a picture. ETA - you can order sample paper, envelopes, etc just 1 or 2 to do test prints or check the colors. Great option!

I ordered a design from Etsy for my STD and then printed them with Vistaprint as a postcard format to save money for type and the postage. I did glossy paper because metallic or shimmery wasn't an option but I will be doing that type for my invitations which are designed by the same Etsy store. Probably will get them printed at a staples or office max when the design is given to me.

Also OP, if the designer knows what they are doing, they have files of different sizes of the design to include the "bleed" section. make sure the bigger design is uploaded to the website (if you're considering Vistaprint or another) so there isn't an awkward cutoff when it's printed.

Thank you for all the input ladies ! I really appreciate it.

@ Kelsey k no I wasn't going to do pocket invites just the invite card rsvp and detail card in an envelope. Your pocket invites are absolutely gorgeous though !!

My biggest concern is the extras I want to match and where to print those ( place cards, table numbers & possibly a larger welcome sign )

Hi Holly, last weekend I went to staples and the lady there suggested I go Etsy for w designer, customize what I want. Then bring the design to staples for them to print out and cut. She said it's way cheaper to do it that way. She suggested this bc I didn't like any of their invite selections and color. Can I ask who on Etsy you are using? I'm still searching. Thanks!

Staples, Kinko, our FedEx prints too.

Https://www.etsy.com/shop/SweetPeaDesignsMH

@ Charlene C . This is the shop I'm working with she's fantastic and although I haven't ordered yet she's helping me to figure out what exactly I want and need

I did some printing at UPS. It was so reasonably priced!

Vistaprint works really well! We got one of the free paper preview things and then we got them printed on there. As long as it's a high res photo it works well!

I designed our invitations and will be printing them on our home printer using cardstock purchased at Michael's. I bought a $20 paper cutter on wish.com. You can also try staples for printing