How to Make Your Own Wedding Invitations for less than $30

Locate an open workspace such as a table or a desk. Place all your materials on this workspace.

Open up Microsoft Word (or the OpenOffice equivalent). Set the page dimensions to 4" by 8" with 0" borders. Ignore any warnings that may pop up about the border size.

Choose an image or design that you would like to be the background of your wedding invitation. I chose gold wedding rings but you may choose whatever you like.

Insert the design you chose into the file you created. Move the design around and resize it until you are satisifed with how it looks. This file is going to be the background of your wedding invitation.

Create another Microsoft Word file with the same dimensions as the other one. Again, ignore any warnings about the border size.

In this file, type in the wording that you want to use for your wedding invitation. Choose a font, font size and layout for the wording. Experiment with different layouts and fonts until you are satisifed with how the wording looks. Save both files for later use.

Move over to your workspace and pull out the cardstock and vellum. Using the paper cutter, cut each piece of both the vellum and the cardstock into 4" by 8" rectangles. You should get 4 rectangles per piece of paper.

Go back to your computer and open the file with the background image on it. Print this file onto the cardstock rectangles you just cut. Before you hit OK on the print screen, change the paper size to 4" by 8".

Open the file with the invitation wording on it. Print this file onto the vellum rectangles you just cut. Again, before you hit OK on the print screen, change the paper size to 4" by 8".

Let the cardstock and vellum dry for at least 10 minutes before handling them.

Place a vellum rectangle on top of a cardstock rectangle and line them up properly. While lined up, punch 2 holes at the top of the invitation. They should be about a quarter inch apart and a half inch from the top of the invitation.

Cut a piece of ribbon about 3 inches long. Thread one end of the ribbon through one of the holes on the invitation. Thread the other end of the ribbon through the other hole on the invitation.

Then, thread one end of the ribbon through the hole on the opposite side. Repeat this with the other side of the ribbon. The ribbon should now resemble a bow.

Cut off any excess ribbon, cardstock and vellum. Everything should now line up. If it does not, review the steps to see if you missed anything.

Repeat steps 8-14 until you have completed all your invitations.