I think it would be too confusing to have the invitation overlaid on the wording, however faint it was, but I like your first concept. Maybe you could tizzy it up if you felt it necessary by having a layer of that paper that's semi-opaque over the outside of the card....or printing onto the semi opaque paper........or I'm sure you will think of something :-)

A winner. I agree that you shouldn't print the invitation over the graphic, no matter how faint. You can play around with that if you want to though, and see how it looks when printed, who knows, it might work. But I think that just having that on the outside and the invitation on the inside will be simple and elegant.

Good for you, doing your own invitations. It's easy and the amount they charge for preprinted ones are way too much.

Thanks for your responses! To take your ideas one step further, what about printing a very light image on heavy card stock, and then printing the invitation itself on semi-opaque paper that would go over the card stock, attached somehow with a ribbon? I'll have to see what kind of card stock I can find and do some playing around.

I was concerned that printing a wedding invitation like a folded card (rather than a single unfolded sheet) would look odd, but maybe that's just me.

Thanks again!

Here's an example of words printed over a picture. This looks good and is readable, but keep in mind it's a picture as opposed to words as yours is. However, it makes me think it might work. I like the idea of printing it on a separate sheet and attaching it with ribbon.

Here is a link that might be useful:

Here's another example of an invitation, this one is a tri fold with the graphic on the front and invitation inside. This sort of thing might work and would be less work than attaching paper with ribbon. Lots of cool ideas out there. If you google images "wedding invitations" you can get a lot of ideas.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{!gwi}}

Thanks lowspark, this gives me something to think about. I'll have to fire up my laser printer this weekend and experiment.

Stationery or office supply places carry blank, pre folded stock for invitations with matching envelopes. I would start there and see what is available.

My local high-end stationary store didn't carry pre-folded stock, unfortunately. They had some beautiful single cards that would work for a simple invitation, but nothing along the lines of semi-opaque paper attached with a ribbon. These could be ordered from their suppliers, but at a very high cost which sort of defeats the purpose.

I'll try an office supply place next.

Thanks!

The semi-opaque paper you are looking for is called vellum. Try a scrapbooking store. They always carry it in quantity.

I think with printed vellum you are getting into a design that will be pricey. You may have to simplify the invitation design. Best of luck.

Not sure if you realized you have wife on there but no husband, unless of course it doesn't apply..

I would take some of the words out and simplify it a little

vellum - interesting word, I wonder where it came from? Thanks sweet-pea.

sheilajoyce I agree, I think I'm moving into a more expensive option and need to rethink this a bit.

roselv - "husband" is in the top left, printed vertically.

I printed the image out and gave to my fiance, who has already added another half-dozen words! So much for simplification ;-)

Maybe this image won't work as an invitation, but I really like the idea and might use it somewhere else along the way.

If you plan to send save the date cards, it would work for them. You might also use the design to create a thank you note for either shower or wedding gifts or both. It would be a shame to not use the design.

Guess I was having a bad day.. lol I see it now.

I guess that's why I felt it was too busy for a wedding invite. It was hard to take in what was on it.

I found some DIY invitations that look wonderful, so I'm going to order sample paper and play around with the printing. I'm thinking that a vellum overlay on top of a printed card might just be too darn busy, but this way I'll know for sure.

Updates later!

Here is a link that might be useful: DIY Invitations