Wedding Calligraphy: DIY or Professional?
Should you do your own calligraphy or stationery or signage for your wedding?
This is the DIY bride’s big question: to DIY or not to DIY wedding stationery and calligraphy. And here’s what I’ll say: It really depends!!!! Calligraphy and stationery design are quite time consuming, so unless you are highly experienced or highly motivated, it’s not as easy as it may seem.
Okay, let me break it down to the three main reasons you should DIY, and three reasons you shouldn’t DIY your wedding calligraphy or invitations.
FYI, for the purposes of this post, I use stationery, calligraphy, and invitations somewhat interchangeably. Of course they are slightly different but in this context I really mean all of it!
When you should diy reason 1: YOU’RE ON A tight budget
If you are on a very tight budget but you’re traditional when it comes to paper (as in, you want formal paper invitations, not digital), you should consider DIY-ing your wedding stationery. Make your own invitations, RSVP cards, signage, and get them printed at a print shop near you! Even Staples has some good digital print options.
But this doesn’t necessarily mean you should do it in calligraphy. Maybe you have experience with Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop and can create something using a script font. That is always a great option! And there’s always Canva, which is a great option if you don’t have much experience with graphic design.
If you are really in love with the idea of hand-written calligraphy but your wedding is less than a year, it is possible, but it’ll take many hours of practice to get to the level you might want to be at to show your work on your wedding stationery. If you can afford a little bit, consider looking for a calligrapher to do a spot calligraphy (one little element of calligraphy), or look for a good script font. I sell my personal calligraphy font here for $15!
If you are experienced in graphic design, see point 2.
Several things to keep in mind if you are doing your stationery with little design experience.
Consider visual hierarchy. The couple’s names should be the biggest, and possibly the venue name the second largest. All the other text should be keep quite small (8pt-12pt depending on the design).
Keep the colors simple as much as possible, unless of course you’re going for a big pop of color.
White space is your friend! Keep your text as far from the margins as you can without making it weird. For a main invitation, the biggest text should be around a 1/2 inch to 1 inch away from the borders of your paper!
Keep the font variety to a minimum. A typical design principal is that you do not use more than 2 fonts, and without using a lot of different sizes and weights. If you use a script font as an accent, then pair it with a clean serif or sans serif font.
Look for a printing service that has a good reputation. There are cheap printing options, but quality is not always the greatest, so find a local shop where you can see samples, or a reputable online printer.
When you should diy reason 2: You’re experienced in graphic design
If you have experience with graphic design, then yes! Go for it and design your own stationery. If you want calligraphy but haven’t tried it, look for a great calligraphy font and you can use InDesign to digitally print different addresses on each envelope. Trying to do your own calligraphy by hand may be frustrating, but if you have a year or more to prepare for your wedding, then try learning calligraphy! Keep in mind, it requires a lot of practice and you may need to invest in some supplies.
Check out my blog post with all the materials you need to start calligraphy, and use my free (or purchase my deluxe) worksheets to learn my calligraphy style.
When you should diy reason 3: you really, really want to
Okay, this is a really good reason. Maybe you’ve always dreamt of designing or creating your own wedding paper, but you just never had the time to put in the practice of designing or calligraphy. Do not fret! There are plenty of ways you can do your own stationery without being a professional. One option you should strongly consider is using an online service such as Minted. Or again, if you have plenty of time (preferably a year or more), try learning calligraphy and some basic graphic design. Just make sure you have a viable backup option in case you don’t end up having enough time to do your own stationery.
When You Shouldn’t
So that’s three reasons you should do your own calligraphy. When should you not do your own calligraphy? These are just recommendations, of course, if you want to anyway, then I really think you should go for it! It adds a special and sentimental touch for your guests.
When you should not diy reason 1: YOU DON’T HAVE enough time
Time is a major consideration when it comes to DIYing your wedding stationery. If your wedding is within a year, it is a little risky to try and do your own stationery. Especially if you haven’t taken time to learn calligraphy, lettering, or design yet. Again, possible, but may cause you a little more stress than you want while planning your wedding. Personally, I didn’t have the time or energy to go all out on my wedding stationery, so looking back, I realize it would have been so much better if I had hired a stationer.
But I’d say it comes back down to experience. If you are experienced in graphic design and/or have the time to commit to it, then do it! But unless you significant time to commit to learning and practicing calligraphy, then it’s probably not a great idea to do your own stationery.
When you should not diy reason 2: YOU’RE already diy-ing other elements of your wedding
If you are already planning to DIY other parts of your wedding—say, florals, decor, favors, etc.—then you should try and consider not doing your stationery as well. Coming from someone who planned her entire wedding (and only DIYed a few parts), I was pretty busy the last several months before my wedding and probably couldn’t take on another DIY project. If you are already doing a few other DIYs, try an online invitation service or hire a wedding stationer to make your life easy.
When you should not diy reason 3: you want a cohesive look for your paper goods
Creating a cohesive look and feel starting from the Save the Dates, to the day of signage, to your Thank You cards, requires quite a bit of preparation and foresight. Bringing every element together that gives your guests exactly the experience you want them to have is often better when left to a professional who has experience working with all types of paper and print goods.
Even things that seem very simple like paper choices and invitation suite assembly can really benefit from an experienced hand and eye. We’ve done this many times, so we can make your life easier by just letting us take care of your wedding print/paper goods!
So there you have it! Three reasons you should DIY your wedding calligraphy/invitations, and three reasons why you shouldn’t. Hope this was helpful for you!
