Lavender and Linen invitation with real lavender

Add a surprising floral touch your wedding invitations by incorporating real pressed flowers. This simple project is a beautiful way to add that extra special something, you can use a mix of flowers on plain paper or add to an existing design as we have here. Make sure your invitations are printed on fairly thick paper to start with at least 250gsm (about 140lbs)

What you will need:
flowers
heavy books and maybe a brick or rock
cardboard
tissue paper
newspaper
clear spray sealer
craft glue
invitations

DIY project
Step1. Lay out your cardboard and top that with a sheet of newspaper followed by tissue paper then your first few flowers.
Step2. Cover the flowers with another sheet of tissue paper, then newspaper, then more cardboard
Repeat this process to create your flower 'sandwich' until all your flowers are in place.
Step3. Top the whole lot of with some heavy books such as telephone books (finally a use for them!) and a couple of bricks or heavy rocks if you have them.
Step4. Leave your flower press for a couple of weeks.
Step5. Carefully remove your pressed flowers and spray them with some clear craft sealer.
Step6. Glue your flowers to your invitations! Easy!

So how do you get deluxe designer details on a basic budget? You can make your own luxurious couture wedding invitations with the addition of a little sparkle and ribbon.

What you will need:
Diamante buckles
Ribbon
Card
Printed invitations
Double sided stick tape

DIY project:
Step1. Start by printing up all your invitations.
Step2. Cut some pieces of card, that compliment the colour of your invitation, about a centimeter bigger than your invitations.
Step3. Cut a piece of ribbon long enough the wrap round the front of the invitation with a little extra to tuck behind. Thread the ribbon through the buckle.
Step4. Place some double sided sticky tape around the edges on the back of the invitation. Position the ribbon and buckle and fold the extra around to the back of invitation, fixing in place onto some of the sticky tape.
Step5. Stick the invitation onto the centre of the card and press firmly.

Damask invitation with additional diamante buckle and ribbon

Bear in mind your envelope sizes when adding a backing card in this way. You might need to trim a bit off the invitations edges, or you can request a custom size just a little smaller than usual.

Here is a cute way to add a touch of pretty lace to your invitations - doily envelope liners. You'll need to start by creating a template that will depend on your style of envelope, make sure its a couple of centermeters smaller than the actually envelope so it will fit easily. Just mark out the shape on the doily, cut and glue to the inside of the envelope.

Square or rectangular doilies are perfect but can be a little tricky to find. You could get the same effect with a lace paper stamp like the Martha Steward doily lace punches below.

Decorative paper punches are an easy way to jazz up your wedding invitations, and even a simple circle punch can be used to add some fun!

There are plenty of circle paper punches to choose from, available in lots of different sizes. EK Success and Fiskars are good brands to try and are readily available in craft and art shops or online. Above we have used a Fiskars squeeze punch to cut out a semi circle at the top and bottom of this invitation.



Here we have used a Fiskars handpunch to make small circles indents on the corners of this save the date - it's a nice quick way to help create that retro ticket effect. So pack your circle punches and have a go a some of these little tricks!

Today we're taking some inspiration from a beautiful wedding in California shot by Vis Photography. The bride put together her own wedding programs held together with little twigs. It's a really simple idea we've recreated with our own oak tree program cover as an example. Simply thread a thin enough twig through punched out holes in the program. Couldn't be easier!

Spice up your wedding invitations with a simple frog fastener.

DIY project:

Start by selecting the size of your inserts, these will be square. Lets say you choose 145mm square. This could be a single folded card or a few loose inserts.

On a piece of thick card we are going to draw up a template. Start by drawing a square slightly bigger than your invitation, in this case 150mm. On each side of the square draw a semi circle with the same diameter. See photo 1.

Cut out your template and use this to draw up guides for cutting out your petal envelopes. You can use plane coloured card paper or something with a pretty design. Depending on the thickness of the paper you might even be able to save a bit of time and cut out a few at once.

Place your invitation in the center and the fold over each flap placing them under one under another. See photo 2 and 3.

Finish off by wrapping string, ribbon or lace around the envelope. See photo 4.

Wedding invitation decoration ideas can be as simple as a piece of string. A cute way to add a little rustic charm. Tie some string around a gatefold invitation or group together an invite and rsvp card.