Digital, DIY, Design, Dual & Durable - The 5 D's of Budget wedding invitations

All photos courtesy of wedding paraphenilia on flickr

Digital Invitations:

A digital invitation is an invitation that can be transmitted electronically either through your mobile phone( e.g. using MMS/ SMS) / email or via viral messaging ( e.g. using Face book, or email). Digital invitations are cool! especially for e-savvy brides who are looking for a budget but unique way of spreading the word. You can create your e-invitation card by using e-invite websites that offer them for free, or you can have your wedding invitation designer/ a graphic designer design for you a simple photo invitation which you can post on your Face book profile or email your wedding guest list.

What would you need for your digital wedding invitation?

1. A simple photo- editing software. Try Picassa by Google it works wonders.

2. If you can afford to hire a graphic designer- if you can't afford one try using www.evite.com which helps you create on-line wedding invitations which you can event download!!

3. A photo of you and your sweetheart- which can be used for the invitation design.

4. Details of your wedding i.e. wedding date, wedding venue, wedding timings.

6.Your guest list. Whom you will MMS/ Email the wedding invitation.

D.I.Y Invitations:

The word D.I.Y should be music to any bride and groom who are looking to shave off some cost on their wedding invitations. D-I-Y means Do-It-Yourself, but for this post in order to introduce a bit of flair, it means Design-It-Yourself. Create your own wedding invitations. Get a design from the internet. Buy Paper from any shop in Nairobi. Put all your design supplies ready i.e. paper cutters, printers, glue, ribbons and accessories. Get a great movie and start designing!! D.I.Y wedding invitations are great if either the bride or groom is artsy  and if your wedding guest count is below 200 guests!

Dual Invitations:

One way of cutting down costs with your wedding invitations is designing a Dual Invitation. Dual Invitations serve more than one purpose. Have a program slot in your wedding invitations this will save on printing costs ensuring that you needn't incur any more costs when creating your wedding invitations since your wedding programs will be printed out as well. Dual invitations are a stylish, creative way saving a few shillings.

Let you invitation card design contain any information that you would like to be distributed to your clients this includes wedding maps, the registry cards, evening party slip, drinks and food coupons e.t.c.

Durable Invitations:

Make 2-in-! wedding invitations. Let your wedding invitations serve more than one purpose, let you wedding guests keep your wedding invitations as keepsakes. The only way that you can ensure that this happens is if you make your wedding invitations functional, that way your wedding invitations can act as wedding favors thus saving you the cost of designing wedding favors. Examples of these include:

Fridge magnet wedding invitations: These can have a picture of the couple and wedding day details printed on them.
Musical CD wedding invitations: Have your favorite songs, in a CD and have your wedding details printed on the cover.
Bookmark wedding invitations: Have a stylish copper book-mark created by a local artisan.
Fan wedding invitations: Create stylish wedding fan invitations that your guests can keep as keepsakes.

You can get ideas for your durable wedding invitations from your wedding theme. Or get inspiration from everyday items!

Design:

The last way in which you can cut down the costs for your wedding invitation is being very wise with your design. The elements that make the wedding invitation card costly include the following:

The Paper: Instead of using expensive paper for your whole wedding card, you can request your stationer to mix & match both cost effective & expensive paper.
Printing Styles: Engraving, embossing and other special lettering effects can have quite a costly implication to your wedding card. Cut this cost by saving those special lettering styles for significant text like your monogram.
Accesories: Beads, Jewels, Lace and other accessories can make your wedding invitation abit more expensive. Choose for a simple but elegant accessory and use clever tricks like using two shades of paper to create the whole accessory effects.
Number of wedding cards: Printing cards for all your wedding guests could be an unnecessary expense, the cardinal rule for your wedding invitations is always print for half your wedding guest count. Notify any other additional guests through smses or e-cards!