Invitation Supplies and Tools
If you have chosen to make your own invitations, you will need the proper supplies, appropriate to your wedding theme. These are generally items you would find in a scrapbooking store, such as:- Different weights, colors, transparencies and textures of paper (tissue, metallic, woven, etc.).
- Envelopes in a style to match your invites.
- Postage stamps for invitations and RSVP card.
- Stamps and ink in a matching or complementary color.
- Sharp scissors or an X-ACTO knife.
- Pencils, pens, markers, and calligraphy pens in different colors and styles.
- Stencils, block prints or patterns to match your theme.
You can also think outside the box when it comes to your invitation materials. Although paper is the most common material, you can make an invitation from just about anything you like, including plastic, wood, stamped metal, carded fabric and more. To further reduce your costs, use what you already have at hand!
Designing Your Invitations
Start designing your invitations by thinking about your wedding theme or motif. Do you have a specific theme in mind, or will yours be a traditionally elegant day? In general, the more formal the event, the more simple and elegant the invitation design, and the fewer colors it will have. Talk with your bridesmaids and wedding party and see what their ideas might be, as well. Weddings with a more casual flair can accommodate a wider variety of invitation styles, like moose-shaped silhouette invites. Or, combine your love of wildlife with a traditional black and white theme for a fun, quirky orca whale invitation.Alaska Invitation Inspiration
From Mt. McKinley to Mt. Marathon, Alaska's mountain ranges and peaks are some of the most picturesque in the world. If you choose to go with a mountain motif, consider playing with the idea of scale. Add mountains to the background of your invitation, or create a stylized map, with your local nearest mountain at the top of the invite. Then, add wildlife down the page from your mountain as the animals would appear in nature -- eagle, caribou, bear, wolf, sea lion, orca whale. Make sure there's a pair in love in there somewhere! Add a few trees and a stylized wave to bottom of your invitation to complete your Alaska wilderness invitation design.Looking for something a bit cleaner and more elegant? Consider a print of a forget-me-not, Alaska's state wildflower. These pretty purple blooms are a great accent for an upcoming spring or early summer wedding. Also consider traditional black and white invitations. Although this stationery style is not particularly memorable, they are easy, classy and typically cost less to print.
Ocean or beach-themed invites might be appropriate for a summer wedding in Alaska. While they probably won't feature hothouse flowers, you can still add beautiful wave accents, suggestions of the Alaska coastline, pattern your invitations after an old map, or include your favorite wild sea creature, such as the otters you find paddling through fjords along the southern coast.
Finally, the colors of Alaska's many glaciers provide a rich, elegant palette composed of blues, silvers, whites, grays and aqua. If you will be traveling to a glacier for a portion of your day, why not add theme your invitations with these lovely colors?
Online Cost Saving Options
There are many companies online which sell both handmade and mass-produced wedding invitations, most of which will personalize their designs for your event. Should these prove too pricey, however, consider downloading a wedding invitation template you can use with Microsoft Word or the program of your choice. The template will have all of information already pre-set -- all you need to do is personalize your design and print your copies!You can also find accent images you like from across the web and create your own designs. If you are creating a full invitation, remember to include all the necessary information, such as:
- Bride's name
- Groom's name
- Wedding date
- Wedding location
- Names of parents (optional)
- Words of welcome (optional)
