Bride on a Budget - Part 2: Doing it Yourself - Invitations

Hello :)

One of the biggest things I'm doing to cut down on the budget, like I mentioned at the end of my last post, is doing a lot of things myself.  If you aren't very crafty, I'm sure a bridesmaid or family member is- and if they are like me, they would absolutely love to help!

First of all, if you aren't already BFF with Hobby Lobby, introduce yourself immediately.  Not only do they have almost anything you could need for crafting or making wedding things, but I can guarantee you that whatever you need will at some point be on sale.  They have a sale every week and you can find the ad online saying what's what.  Sale items are usually 50% off, but sometimes 30-40% off.  If you have the time, wait for what you need to go on sale because, like I said, it will go on sale!

Current Weekly Ad

If you can't wait and your item of interest is not on sale at the moment, go to their website and get their weekly coupon.  It's always at least 40% a single item, and you get to pick the item it's used on.  Either print it out and bring it with you or pull it up on your smartphone.  As long as they see the code, they'll take it!

Current coupon

My first "big" purchase (other than little things here and there) was our wedding invitations.  I have been looking daily for weeks online at several different companies that print wedding invitations, and frankly, it's been a nightmare.  Even the cheaper websites that are also offering 20 or 30% off have been adding up to $150-$200 after adding the costs of RSVP inserts, shipping, and tax.  Why?! It's just paper!  Not only that, but I couldn't make myself take that much out of my budget for something I wasn't falling in love with.  There were some designs I thought were really pretty, but still didn't love them and neither did Clay.

I was on TheKnot.com today (brides-get on that!) and somehow made my way to Hobby Lobby's website.  The first thing that came up was an ad saying all their "His & Her" brand wedding items (which, honestly, is basically all of their wedding items) were 50% off!  I had looked at the DIY invitations at Hobby Lobby in the store before and wasn't really impressed, but I decided to just take a look anyway to see if they had anything good... and what do you know?! They had invitations that I really liked!  They match our colors and theme, I can customize them literally however I want to, and Clay liked them!  However, I was getting nervous that I wouldn't be able to get them because the promotion was only good in stores, and I was convinced they wouldn't be in store because they weren't there before.

Current Wedding Promotion

Thank God I was wrong.  I needed three boxes and they had four!  They have several other invitations to choose from in all different colors, so if you don't mind printing them yourself, I would check it out.  Now through Sunday they are 50% off!  They cost me $35.  That's all.  That's about $150 less than it would have had I ordered them elsewhere.  It included the invitation, the invitation envelope, an enclosure card, the enclosure envelope, a cute little sleeve, and free templates online to use for easy printing.

I originally didn't want to print them myself because I wasn't finding anything decent to print on at a decent price.  But I didn't settle.  I stayed on the hunt and found something I love!  The templates online are completely set up to print perfectly on the invitations, so all I have to do is type what I want and press print.

I mean... it can't get any easier than that.

I am so excited I just want to start printing now!  But I still have to finalize a few invitation details before I can so I guess I'll have to control myself for now.  Sigh.

xoxo,
E

P.S. Hobby Lobby has a great stuff, but I'm not gonna lie- a good bit of their wedding line gets close to crossing the tacky line.  I recommend going and hunting through what they do have, because there are some gems!  And there are several awesome things they have to offer outside of the wedding line that you can use for wedding crafting!