Save The Dates

Because we had 3 wedding dates, we ended up with 2 save the dates, one date cancellation… and in the end most people got a text message sending them to the wedding website as their save the date / invitation for our eventual wedding date as we decided to go ahead at quite short notice!

The comic save the date was created using a template we found online. The second save the date and postponement we popped together in Powerpoint – both get the message across so it really is personal preference on how much money, time and effort you want to spend on them!

Wedding Websites and Planning apps

There are SO many wedding websites and planning apps out there that I really couldn’t explain them all on one page. The best tip I have is think about the aesthetics and what you really want to get out of it… set up a few and make your choice from there! Due to having a DIY wedding, we really wanted to be able to personalise the RSVPs, away from the traditional wedding day. For this reason, we chose With Joy because:

• It comes with a web and phone app version
• You can completely customise the RSVP
• You can restrict the website with a password
• You can limit the view of the site depending on key words added to the guestlist – we used this initially to split the view of the schedule page for daytime and nighttime guests, but in the end we had 2 parties, so we could share some information with both sets of guests, or just one set…. super handy!
• There is functunality to share photos… although we didn’t utilise this in the end
• You can also build in your gift list, share other helpful information like transport or accomodation, and share the relevant dates times and addresses with each section
• Another great thing about with joy, is that you can upload and download your guest list as a CSV with Excel – I can imagine this would come in super handy for table planning for a more formal day, but we found this super handy to check on the staus of responses and chase people up as the day got closer.

Invitations

Most of our invitations were handled electronically via text to the website, but just in case we created a paper invite. It was super simple but effective… and I still have a pile of them that didn’t get distributed because we got electronic RSVPs!

• The cards themselves were sourced from the range, along with the glittery card.
• The logo was a stock image from google which matched our wedding colours, with a typeface over the top – this image and font were used almost everywhere in the wedding!
• The inside contained 2 folded leaflets with further information, and an RSVP card; this might sound excessive, but we were nearing the end of the COVID-19 pandemic so there was some vital safety information we had to share!

A HUGE thank you to my God-Mother and cousin Jackie who painstakingly sat and glue sticked them together for me, as I trimmed (using my A3 paper trimmer!) the various parts.

Order of Service

Depending on the type of service you have, you may need to create an order of service… which sounds much scarier than it really was! Let me tell you…

How I made our Order of Service:

• I designed an order of service which had 8 pages, 4 slides in powerpoint.
• I created a test print to make sure I had the page orders correct, and gave a copy to the vicar to proof – he also asked for a larger copy (A4) to help him out, so I made him his own for the day!
• Using this thick paper, I printed them at home – we already had a printer at home, which used individual ink colours and for all of our wedding printing (all stationary and signage) I used less ink in cost, than it would have to have them printed externally. I think I replaced the blue cartridge twice and put new pink and yellow in before I started just in case the inks were old, but everything was printed in navy
• I invited one of my bridesmaids round conveniantly for a coffee (Thanks Katherine!) as I printed the first double sided sheet in batches of 10, and repeated the process for the second page, folding as I printed and popping into them in neat piles
• I then popped the two leafs together and made a coffee… we were going to be there a while as we had 100 to make!
• Using a long armed stapler (which I picked up cheap on amazon!) my bridesmaid then stapled the 2 sheets together to create a booklet, which the ushers handed out on the day.

Thank you Cards

Now, we went straight out of honeymoon and into Christmas season, so thank you cards have been on my to do list for a while now! I’ve made and sent some, but I know that given we’ve been married almost 9 months, everyone should have them so I feel super guilty! BUT I have learnt a little along the way so hopefully this helps!

Tip #1! When we opened our gifts, I had a notepad ready and wrote out what we got from who so that I could write personalised thank you cards

Tip #2! If you’re quick at typing, consider setting up a template and typing out your messages, I wish I’d set up a better template as this took me a lot of time to print out correctly

Tip #3! Buy the cards! Quite often poundland have 6×4 white cards… do yourself a favour and buy those, as its a bigger nightmare to print and fold the cards, and aligning everything perfectly

Tip #4! Save your ink and print out one of your wedding photos (with permission if needed) using somewhere like Costco who print super cheap in bulk, use this to stick onto your cards

Tip #5! Save postage, and hand them out at family gatherings. You can also use this to help motivate you to make them, and to spread the time it takes to make them if you have a lot to write – go for little and often, save your sanity!

Tip #6! If you have very few cards to write or a bigger budget, or perhaps you want to call out specific people with a more “posh” card – you could consider something like funky pigeon who offer bulk discounts if you buy multiples of the same card (don’t forget to use TopCashBack and check online for a discount code too!)

I hope this helps to save you some time and money! Currently this website is run as a hobby. If you’ve found this content helpful and would like to make a donation which will go towards the running costs of the site, please feel free to make a one off or regular contribution using the form below!

Love,

Jo-Anne x