There are several ways to procure wedding invitations on a budget. With a little careful thought you can take advantage of several newer technologies available today that were not even in place as little as five years ago.

If you know someone who has the ability to produce a single calligraphic piece, it is possible to then take the calligraphic invitation to a copy producing store like Kinko’s where copies on a high quality paper stock can be made. The cost of photocopied reproductions is usually less than printed invitations done through a printer. You have the added advantage of not having to have a set number of invitations printed, and can always have additional ones made should the need arise, no matter what the number (i.e. 181 vs. 200 from a required figure from a printer).

In a similar manner, an invitation can be produced on the printer of a home computer using any number of programs set up to do greeting cards and taken to a copy shop for duplication. Unless you are running off 25 invitations or less, it is not recommended to run the batch by yourself on a home printer. The cost of printer cartridges could be significantly higher than what it would cost to run the invitations on a per cost basis, when the cost of a special stock for the prints is figured in.

An additional source of savings available creating your own wedding invitations is the savings you can make by folding your own cards to be mailed out. Any specialized operation like folding the cards that you can perform at home will result in additional savings off the price of the printing. Additional savings can be obtained by having the response cards created in the same way. Instead of having a return address printed on the envelopes of the response cards which can require special handling to make sure they feed correctly through a printing press or copier, you can use address labels instead.

There are a few online places that you can go to in order to order printed invitations. While these companies are often cheaper than comparable traditional printers, be aware, that like the traditional printers, you may find it necessary to order in quantities that increase by 25 to 50 invitations at a time. Like traditional printers, you are likely to be charged a “set up” fee which is a cost that goes to set up the format of the invitation for printing. Another consideration is that like traditional invitation printers, you will have to factor in what kind of lead time they need in order to insure that the invitations and response cards are ready so that you have appropriate time to get them sent out and receive replies back to account for how many will be attending.

When using a photocopied invitation, there is no need to pay for this “set up” fee, since you will most likely be bringing in your copy in a “camera ready” form, meaning that it is ready to be duplicated as it stands. By producing your invitations on your own, it is possible to also include extras like driving directions or a map to help your guests in their navigation to the ceremony and reception locations.

You can also account for the use of any kind of specialized font your computer or the artist can produce.

You are also able to include full color pictures or maps, which, if even possible, would add a significant cost to your order for wedding invitations.

To your beautiful wedding!