Crafting Elegant Wedding Letter Invitations on a Budget

When my partner and I began the exciting journey of crafting our wedding invitations, we had a clear vision in mind: elegance without extravagance. The quotes we initially received for pre-made invitations were quite steep, prompting us to embark on a DIY adventure. The result? Stunning invitations at nearly half the cost, infused with our personal touch.

Materials You'll Need:

• Paper Cards & Envelopes: We got it from this French brand - https://www.art-du-papier.fr/ which I can only recommend. Great prices and fast delivery
• Printing Services: At first we wanted to have custom printing on our envelopes, but we decided against it in the end
• Decorative Ribbon / Decoration: Used to decorate your enveloppes
• Custom Wax Seal Stamp: We got ours from a French brand called WaxExpert.co - We were very very pleased with the overall service and the quality of the stamp
• Wax accessories to make the Wax Seals: Spoon & colored wax beads - we got those from amazon.fr

Your first step was to select a card style. We looked on art-du-papier.fr across all their designs. Most of them were printed designs which were very eclectic or colorful. We were looking for something more chic and clean so in the end we chose quite a blank design and customized it. (below is the design we chose)

To customize the design, we used a graphics software called Figma. We sketched something up and it turned out great.

Dimensions:

• Main Invitation: 130x180 mm
• Vertical orientation (we hesitated between a vertical / horizontal card but went with this in the end

The envelope is the first impression of any invitation. It was important for us to choose one that not only complemented our card design but also harmonized with the anticipated wax seal. We hesitated over sizes and shades, understanding that each dimension and hue sets a different tone.

After much deliberation, we settled on a sophisticated 140 x 190 mm envelope. The size was both accommodating for our cards and easy to post, the perfect balance between elegance and practicality. We chose a warm cream color, a classic choice that exudes a soft, welcoming aura. This shade also serves as a subtle canvas, making our future gold wax seal the centerpiece of attention.

We chose this product. We ordered a pack of 250 for 150€ (0.6€ ~ $0.70 / envelope).

Do keep in mind that if you go for the wax seal option, you will probably make some mistakes and be need at least 10% extra envelopes!

The making of the wax seal was the hardest and most exciting part!

We discovered this great French Stamp maker called WaxExpert.co. We discovered it on Pinterest and after discussing our concept with the store owner, we agreed on a simple initials monogram stamp. We chose a square stamp with our initials "A & E". We got a packaged deal for the custom stamp + Quite a few design back and forth and a lot of examples created + 500 wax beads for 34€ + 30€ for the wax.

The stamp was delivered a week after and it looked truly spectacular!

It was our first time making wax seals but after a few tries we got the hang of it.

Here is the simple method that we used:

To create our wax seals:

• Melt sealing wax sticks and drip onto the envelope. Here is an easy tutorial
• Press the cold Brass stamp on the wax, and let it sit for 5-10 seconds
• After this you should be able to easily lift the stamp and reveal a beautiful seal
• Practice makes perfect, so try it on scrap paper first. Even after getting good at it you might still fail a few stamps.. it is part of the process

Tip: The Brass Seal can heat up a lot after doing a few seals, this makes it so the wax doesnt cool down as fast. What we found that worked great for us is having a glass of ice cubes that you can put the stamp into in between each seals.

The final product wax absolutely fabulous! The best part of the invites