There are as many different styles of wedding announcements as there are couples getting married. Wedding announcements can be traditional, plain or elaborate; they can also come with one photo or a whole collage. Wedding announcements can be on a variety of papers from simple cardstock to handmade paper complete with pressed flowers. They can have traditional wording, special verses or simply be a plain versed announcement sharing the news! If you are considering making your own wedding announcements it is important to first ask yourself the following questions-
1. How many announcements will I need? If you are having a large wedding than handmade announcements may not be practical both in cost and the time you will need to make them. For a small wedding you may want to consider doing handmade announcements for a more personal touch.
2. What type of wedding am I having? A wedding announcement also announces the tone of the wedding so you will want to use a different type of wedding announcement for a casual beach wedding than you would for a black tie affair.
3. What are my crafting abilities? With all a wedding entails if you decide to make your own announcements make sure that you choose a craft that reflects something you can do already. Now is not the time to take up calligraphy but if you are great with digital photo programs than be sure to go with your strengths.
Here are some great ideas for wedding announcement crafts-
• Computer generated announcements-This has become the newest and simplest way to design wedding announcements. There are many sites that will walk you through the process of designing your wedding announcements or if you are computer literate you can design them using the functions of your computer. There are multiple fonts available along with computer designs and monograms that can be added to announcements. Different colors can be added and if you can work with digital photo programs it is very easy to add a picture of the couple or even a whole collage. You can either take the finished announcement into a printer or choose papers to print your announcements on yourself.
• Calligraphy and flowers-For a romantic wedding announcement consider using calligraphy and pressed flowers to decorate your announcements. It is important to keep in mind that these types of announcements are labor intensive so if you need a lot it might be better to choose a different type or a pre made announcement. Simply visit your craft store and choose the appropriate paper, (there are many vintage papers) glue, pressed flowers (some papers come with flowers already embedded) ink and calligraphy pens. Write out your announcement and then decorate by gluing on the pressed flowers. You can also add pearls and other vintage items for a dreamy, romantic look.
• Sand and Seashells-This is an easy way to personalize your wedding announcements. If you are choosing to get married on the beach this is a great look for your wedding announcements. You can begin by either writing out your wedding announcement or using a pre printed wedding announcement. Take a trip to your local craft store and look for small sea shells and sandy glitter. You will also need to have spray adhesive. Lay out your announcements and give each a light coating of the spray adhesive and then quickly sprinkle the glitter over the glue. Be sure not to coat the announcement too heavily with the glitter you only want the effect of glitter “sand”. Then use craft glue to attach one of the small seashells to the top of the announcements.