Common Invitation & Envelope Sizes

Posted by Khris in Crafter's Toolbox

A7 or A9? Baronial? What size are invitations?

We get asked these questions a lot at DIY Bride and no wonder. Learning to make an invitation or other stationery for the first time can be a little confusing. The world of invitation design requires a whole new vocabulary. We’re here to help you make sense of it all with our quick invite and envelope size guide.

Invitation Sizes

Invites can be any size you’d like. In fact, it’s a lot of fun to make – and receive – odd-sized invites for a little somthing different. And we looove different. The only drawback to creating an offsize invite is finding an envelope that’ll fit. (In an upcoming tutorial we’ll be showing you how to create your own envelopes.) Staying within standard envelope sizes will ensure you’ll be able to find a envelope that’ll fit your design and offer you a wide selection of choices of color and texture.

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2003 Reader Survey: Recently Married DIYers

Posted by Khris in Wedding Planning

In 2003, we polled just over 100 recently married couples about their DIY experiences. Their responses yielded some excellent advice and wisdom for anyone contemplating a DIY wedding.

Benefits of DIY:

• You control the design or concept

• You control the quality of product or service you create for yourself

• You control the pricing/budget

• Each project you make is uniquely yours

• You get to excerise your creative talents

Negatives of DIY:

• It’s not always cheaper than having someone else do it

• Creating your own projects can take a long time

• DIY may be intimidating if you’re not crafty or are in a creative funk

• There’s often a huge time commitment involved

• You’ll likely need reliable help to complete projects

• You may need to buy a bunch of expensive supplies just to get started

• It may be difficult to find inexpensive, quality, or unique supplies

Tidbits from our poll:

• 57% said they’d go DIY all over again

• 66% said they’d scale back their DIY projects if they did it again

• The average budget for DIY supplies was $800

• 84% said they went over budget

• The average amount of hours spent on DIY projects was 200+ (that’s over 25 8-hour days)

• 89% said they underestimated the time needed to complete their projects

• 45% said they didn’t have enough help

• 55% said they couldn’t find the right supplies

• The most popular projects were:

- invitations, rsvps, maps

- programs

- favors & gifts

- table cards/seating cards

- bouquets & flower arrangements

- centerpieces & decor