{DIY wedding} how we made our tri-fold invites
Our initial plan was to have a book-type wedding invitation because we wanted a one-piece card (no inserts). But when we were stumped at how to put the pages together (gluing, sewing and stapling didn’t do a good job), I was forced to come up with something else. My lightbulb moment came when I saw a tri-fold brochure and knew right away that this is something I can pull off.
And pull it off, we did (D helped with the cutting and folding). It was a product of two loving pair of hands. Here are the steps:
(For the purpose of this post, I printed our design on a different paper–because I cannot deconstruct our actual invites–to show you how I put them together.)
Imagine how the invitation will look like. This was what I had in my head:
Determine the size. I wanted a square invitation but D was worried if there’s an available envelope for that size. So we went to National Bookstore to check and found that the closest we could get was an envelope size no. 6 (6″x5″). Because my design was for a 5″x5″ folded card, I had to edit it a little.
I subtracted 0.2″ from the width and height so the card will ease inside the envelope nicely. Also, there will be two sides in one sheet so the actual dimensions should be 11.6″ x 4.8″ (5.8″x4.8″ when folded). But for the inner pages, I added 0.5″ on all sides, a leeway in case the printed design is a bit skewed and to ensure that our colored border is up to the edge of the card.
Layout the pages. Decide which two adjacent sides will go in one page. Here’s how I put the sides together:
Front of Sheet 1: Dimensions: 11.6″ x 4.8″, the side with floral pattern is where the two sheets will be glued together.
Back of Sheet 1: Dimensions: 12.6″ x 5.8″ (with extra 0.5″ on all sides)
Front of Sheet 2: Dimensions: 12.6″ x 5.8″ (with extra 0.5″ on all sides)
Back of Sheet 2: Dimensions: 12.6″ x 5.8″ (with extra 0.5″ on all sides), one side is blank because this is where the two sheets will overlap.
Print the design. (I converted my design to PDF files so it’ll be easier for me to print them in standard-sized paper boards. And because I had to transfer the files to another computer which doesn’t have a Photoshop installed.)
Print the two Sheet 1 back to back with each other and do the same for the two Sheet 2. Make sure to center all images vertically and horizontally and use the same printer setting for all pages. For our invites, the setting is as follows:
Epson R230 Photo Printer setting:
- Print quality: Photo
- Paper Type: Plain paper
- Paper size: 8″x13″ (not equivalent to Legal size)
Adobe Acrobat setting:
- Page Scaling: Shrink to Printable Area
- Auto-rotate and center: Checked
Cut the sheets. Include cut marks or enclose the design in a faint border to make cutting easier and more accurate. Tip: A paper cutter such as this one will make cutting a breeze.
Fold the sheets. Tip: Use a ruler and press it down on the folded edge. The fold line will look so much sharper than when you just slide your fingers on it.
Glue the sheets together. Make sure to align the inside pages. Glue the blank side and the floral-patterned side together (Sheet 1 on top of Sheet 2).
When they are aligned nicely and glued together (and especially because we used a colored border) the inside pages will appear almost seamless.
However, we couldn’t do the same trick for the back. But it’s the back anyway, and most people won’t really notice.
Cut away the excess.
And the finished product:
How much did this DIY wedding invitation cost us?
For 50 pieces of invitation (with 20 extra pieces to make room for mistakes and rejects), we bought the following:
- Paper board @ (P37.75 per 10-pc pack) x (14 packs) = P528.50
- Envelope @ (P13.75 per 5-pc pack) x (14 packs) = P192.50
- Because we have a printer fitted with CIS (continuous ink system), printing cost is as low as (P3 per card) x (70 cards) = P210.00
- Total = P931.00
Brand of paper boards and envelopes is Pastelle of Star Paper (in Lime green color), available at most National Bookstores.
*If don’t have any rejects, you can actually make 70 cards. =)
UPDATE: I get many inquiries regarding the fonts and images I used here and where I got them. They were from my husband’s collection. He’s a graphic artist and collects stuffs that he can use for design projects over the years. I think his collection has grown over 100 GB. Whenever I would ask where he got them, he would tell me he doesn’t remember anymore. “They were from many different sources”, that’s the best that he can give. So unfortunately, I can’t cite a source or point you to a certain direction because I really don’t know.
But the name of the fonts are: P22Zaner Four and Bickham Script Two (curly fonts) and Trajan Pro (serif font).
Hi! Your blog is a gem.
I’m going to get married soon and my husband-to-be and I want the exact same do-it-yourself invitation. Thank you soooo much for sharing yours with us. Now we have a very useful guide. 
Kind regards,
Patty
@Patty, thanks for dropping by and i’m glad you found my blog useful. goodluck on your DIY invitation
hi! i just want to know ano yung mga font style ang ginamit mo, ang ung swirls mo san mo sya nahanap. tnx
ang ganda din nung flower, san mo din nakita yun hehe. tnx
hello! paano ko kayo macontact kung magorder ako ng mga paper products ninyo! please reply… salamat
@ Liza, the fonts are P22Zaner Four, Bickham Script 2 and Trajan Pro. All the images I use were from my husband’s collection of graphic images. He collected them over the years and have forgotten the exact sources.
@baby, I don’t sell paper products. hehe. I bought the paper boards I used here from National Bookstore.
@Cheryl, thanks for dropping by. I forgot to note the GSM, but it’s a pretty standard paper board. It has a semi-glossy finish and comes in 8″x11″ and 8″x13″ sizes. The brand is Pastelle from Star Paper. Most National Bookstore carries it. As for the fonts, it was from my husband (part of his collection) and I really don’t know where he got it. He just gave it to me when I asked him if he has fonts that we can use for the invitation.
Hi Sheryll,
I just happen to find your blog while searching for do it yourself invites…i’m trying to make our own wedding invites…our wed is on dec 18 this year. I admire how you did all your diy projects. Pls tell me what type of paper you used for your invites, the one you printed the text on and what gsm? =) Also interested where you got the text font thanks thanks. Hope it’s okay if I keep coming back to ask questions…hope you stay happy =) Love your wedding details.
Thanks for the info! I can’t wait to show you when I’m done with it. =)
@Cheryl, yes please do =) Thanks.
Hi, ur diy is soo great. Got the inspiration from this. I planned to diy a lot of stuff for our wedding
I’d like to know if u used the same paper/one kind of paper for the wordings/prints and for the trifold/fold? ’cause u indicated “Brand of paper boards and envelopes is Pastelle of Star Paper (in Lime green color), available at most National Bookstores.”
tnx for the great tut…
best wishes!
Hi Laise, thanks for dropping by.
Yes, I only used one type of paper for this invitation. What I meant by “Brand of paper boards and envelopes is Pastelle of Star Paper (in Lime green color), available at most National Bookstores.” was I used the same brand for both paper boards and envelopes.
Goodluck on your DIY invites! And happy wedding preps!
wow! your invites are great ang galing, cheaper sobra and mas maganda kesa sa commercialized ones
galing sis, wala akong talent sa ganyan kahit sobrang gusto ko mag DIY 
can’t stop raving about your works! pwedeng pang biz :p
best wishes!
thanks for those nice words, Bev
Hi sis! i was soo inspired by your DIY, me and my h2b would like to have our own version of what you did to your invites, anyway, may i ask where did you get the “vector” files (the one with the, well the thing below your name on the cover and the floral background), my h2b can’t find it anywhere else so he said if its ok if we ask you the file itself, if it is ok lang naman. It’s really beautiful, thank you so much for sharing!
Hello gRaCiE, I’m sorry for the late reply. I’m totally okay with giving you the graphic files that I used in our invitation. But they are PSD files and not vectors. I’ll find them for you and send them to your email address. Thanks for dropping by and for appreciating my DIY.
UPDATE: Hmm, I found the original files but I also found out that they are over 100MB in size. I don’t know how to send them to you because attaching them to emails is not possible.
Super nice invitation. Wish i could do the same…….. we have the same color motif sis, just an added touch of salmon pink on ours.
@Sarah, Thanks
Salmon pink is a sweet color.
I saw the finished invites, did you make the envelopes as well or just purchased them somewhere? Pardon me if that info was written on the other post somewhere, I might have missed it. Thank you Sheng, truly your posts are amazing. I am also a bride to be so I am gathering a lot of ideas as much as I can.