DIY Wedding Invitation Inserts- Making It Easy On Your Guests

After finishing the invitations, the response cards, and finally addressing all of the invitations, I thought I was ready to send them off. Before sealing them, I tried to think back to other wedding invitations I have received-- what did they include that I am missing? I thought of two things- 1: inserts that give guests hotel options and directions to the venue and 2: pictures of the bride and groom to be!

The pictures I knew I could take care of quickly. I had been informed a couple of weeks ago that ShutterFly is running a special that allows new registered members to receive 50 free prints! This really came in handy especially because I also received a $20 gift card from ShutterFly for registering at Target. They should be here in a couple of days now.

As for the inserts, I did research on affordable hotels and bed and breakfasts in the area. I provided 3 hotels and 3 bnb's so that the guests have several different options, especially those that will be staying a week.

First, start off with Microsoft Word. Personally, I have OpenOffice but the instructions should cover the jist of how to make your own invitation inserts.

Most of you will want to click "templates" but this really won't help unless you already have something downloaded. Go ahead and click on "Text Document".

Next, you have several different options. When I did my inserts, I clicked on "Frame" which is under "Insert" at the top left corner.

After you select frame, click on the "Borders" tab up at the top. Then start playing around with what type of border you want. If you have Microsoft Word, you will probably have more options.

In this example, I chose a border that outlines the frame in bold. You can also change the color, the thickness of the border, and the size of the frame.

Here is the first border text box. You can adjust the size by pulling the corners. Place it where you want it and enter in your text. I would recommend choosing a font that everyone can read. Once you have it where you want, copy the entire box by pressing 'ctrl' and 'c' on your keyboard. Then to paste the textbox, press 'ctrl' and 'v' on your keyboard. Or you can "right click" on your mouse and select copy/paste.

After you place them where you want in your word document, print them out and get started! As you can tell from my previous posts, I love using backgrounds! You will need your prints, your background paper, scissors, and a glue stick!. I placed the directions on one side and the recommended hotels on the other side.

After cutting them out, you can glue them to your background. I would recommend not cutting the background paper until you have everything glued and placed where you want it.

After I glued all of the directions, I then cut the background paper to fit the size I wanted. Next, I glued the recommended hotels to the back!

Simple right? This takes a bit of time but it also saves your guests from getting lost finding your venue and having to struggle finding a hotel in an area they aren't familiar with.