Want your wedding invitations to be eco-friendly, but to not skimp on the pretty factor? Hana DIYed her invitations, and not only do they look GORGEOUS, they’re also uber eco-friendly in so many ways.
To keep this project as environmentally mindful as possible, I started out with a big stack of my homemade paper. I carved a block print of a fern and printed that on each sheet. I bought a pad of vellum paper (tracing paper) and printed out the invites, four to a sheet. These were carefully cut and attached to the paper with the fern print using a couple cross stitches in two opposing corners, like this:
I created small info cards directing people to our wedding website to RSVP electronically, but also included a phone number that people can call to RSVP. These were printed six to a page and carefully cut out as well. I printed them on some pretty card stock that I bought previously and had used for another wedding project.
Both the documents (RSVP cards and invites) were created with good ol’ Microsoft Word. I have found through this whole DIY wedding process that anything can be created with Word.
The envelopes I bought were made to look like brown paper bags and include 20% post consumer recycled waste. I printed out the address labels on the same vellum paper (once again created with Word) that wrapped around the envelope, with the “to” address on the front and “from” address on the back. Then all I had to do was slap a stamp on them and send them away!
Dudes. Invitations can be really expensive. Doing it this way, though it involves a lot more labor, results in eco-friendly invites that reflect your values, and are a blast to make!
11 responses to “Excellent eco-friendly invitation inspiration on the DIY tip”
These are so beautiful! They look totally professional. I would try making something similar. Kudos!
Would you mind sharing how much it cost to make these, and the quantity?
Oh my goodness I’ll try to figure out a total cost here… I made about 75 total. The vellum paper cost me maybe $5? The cardstock I had on hand from another project. The block printing materials another $5, since I already had all the tools and supplies. Then the envelopes cost about $20, and the handmade paper cost me nothing since, you know, I made ’em. I think that’s it. Oh and of course, the postage.
I’m probably missing something here but I’m not quite sure, apart from the recycled envelopes, what makes these eco friendly? Could we have more information?
They are beautiful too 🙂
Did you miss the part where she said, “I started out with a big stack of my homemade paper”?
These are lovely and so personal
this post is perfect timing for me, since i’ve been trying to print my invites since the weekend. I bought vellum paper to go over tree-free, recycled silk and cotton handmade paper cards, and my printer doesn’t like the vellum!
what kind of printer did you use? I’m going to see if my friend’s laser jet works, mine is an ink jet, and we only got one good print, and after 10 minutes, the print had blurred. frustrating!
“It’s not easy being green” sometimes… haha
hmmm… I have a basic hp inkjet. Not at all fancy. I was worried about how the paper would take the ink but it was totally fine. Good luck!
Went over to a friend’s place last night and printed them all on her laser printer- worked great!
What a creative idea! Great color scheme,too.You’re right about Word. Between Word and Publisher, you can pretty much create anything.
great invite! what site did you use for RSVPs and what not!? thanks*