I got married last summer and while planning my wedding I was faced with many questions that every bride and groom must answer at one point: what time of year should we get married? where should we have the ceremony and reception? who should we invite?

Amongst all these questions includes the popular one of where am I going to get cute, creative, cool inivitations? Afterall, invitations make the first impression of the event.

After weighing all of my options, I decided to make my own and I'm so glad I did. From my experience these are the reason why I encourage you to give it a try:

1.) You can encorporate the exact wedding colors you have chosen in every aspect of the invitation. You can add color using various types of paper, ribbon, beads or flowers. Different textured paper and layering also can create a nice effect and allows multiple colors to be encorporated. I especially found vellum paper fun to work with.

2.) It is a great time to bond with your partner. The chaos of the wedding planning can be stressful and moments together, away from family and all the turmoil become important. What a great way to spend time and work together on a special project and bond.

3.) It is way cheaper than paying someone else to do the assembly. I priced it out for a company to make my invitations (most expensive), buying a kit that I assemble myself (expensive), or making my inviations from scratch and this third option was definitely the most cost effective. Since weddings can be very expensive it is important to save money when and wherever you can.

4.) You can bring out your creative side. Try a bunch of practice invitations unitl you come up with something you like. Try gluing something here or tying a bow there. You'd be surprised what you come up with. Once you find one you love, begin mass production.

5.) It adds that personal touch that everyone will love. Anyone can go out and buy invitations, but when you receive a handmade one, you appreciate it that much more since so much thought and time went into it.

I bought all my suppies at Michaels arts & crafts store. Good luck and I hope your invitations turn out exactly as you envision them. I've added a You Tube video for inspiration and to demonstate just how versitile invitations can be. Most importantly: Be creative and have fun doing it.