Beware of DIY invites...

When I first set off to do our invites, I was motivated by the cost.  I kept tell myself that instead of paying a couple thousand for letterpress invites, I'd just make my own for ~$300...  I'm artistic and I can do it!  While that was and is true, I never anticipated so much work.  It's taking FOREVER to finish these things and as we're 2 months and two weeks out, they need to go out... like... Yesterday!  For other brides considering making your own invites... I have a few pointers.

Frazzled Cat Image & Frazzled Graphics

1.  Know exactly how many invites you need.
Doing this makes sure that you only make what you need and also helps you focus on how detailed and intense you want to make the invites.

2.  Simplicity is key!
While you may want to make the invites intensely artistic and designed like the best scrapbook layout, this isn't always feasible.  If you have to make 150 invites...  doing beautiful small details can take a 2 week invite project and turn it into a 2 month project.  For ReAl!  I speak from experience.  If you are doing a more manageable amount such as 50, flourish away with the minutia.

3.  Obtain outsourced help
Get your friends, family and whomever may help to help you.  The last thing you want to do is be behind on getting the invites out because even after spending 12 hrs working on them, you are only 1/4 of the way done.  Be sure to ask them ahead of time, set a date to assemble and feed those peeps.  And if you have a sweet little sister/MOH like mine, she may even offer to come down to be slave labor.  ;)

4.  Look into DIY printable wedding packs
Places like target sell some really nice DIY wedding invites.  They are completely printable and easy to assemble.  Plus they come predesigned with all the little decorative touches such as ribbons and printed on design details.  All you need to do, is write up your wedding invite text and toss that puppy through the printer.  It's easy peasy done in a minute kind of stuff.  This will save you tons of time attempting to design a layout and wasting months in over-thinking during the design process.  And unless your guests stalk the paper aisles in Target, they will be none the wiser about you invites.

5.  Give yourself plenty of time
Start the invites ~9 months - 1 year in advance if you plan to design them yourself.  Start making by the 8 month mark so you can take your time and no get overwhelmed.  Starting earlier means less to do right before you sent them on their way.  This way, you get the invites out by the deadline and aren't putting in late nights gluing a never decreasing stack of papers.

So that's just a few pointers from a frazzled bride who feels she needs another 2 months to prep for the big day.

Anyone else out there have some additional pointers for planning your DIY invites?