Beach Wedding Invitations

These unique and elegant beach wedding invitations are sure to impress your wedding guests! Although to make these you will need to track down a place to buy the starfish used as an ornament on the front of the card. I bought mine at an arts and crafts store but you can probably even buy them online in bulk. Other than that the card is quite simple. I used a tan/ manila colored card stock as the base of the invitation. I added a pretty white scallop embossed paper and used a border paper punch to add a little extra embellishment. I printed the text onto an off white/cream colored paper and attached it to the inside of the invitation for added color and style.

Materials used to make these beach wedding invitations:
8 1/2" by 11" tan (sand colored) card stock
8 1/2" by 11" cream colored paper (or premium cotton paper)
scrapbooking or decorative paper
dried starfish or similar beach themed ornament
border paper punch
glue stick or glue runner
craft glue or super glue

Step One: Print the text for the invitation. I actually printed the text for the inside of these beach wedding invitations onto a separate paper rather than printing straight onto the card. I did this to create a little extra emphasis to the card and lend a little more color. Also, the color of the paper matched the color of the starfish on the front perfectly.

Anyway, because you will be printing onto different paper than the card stock to get the best bang for your buck try using a 4-up format (or four to a page). When printed onto 8 1/2 by 11" paper they make the perfect size after cutting to fit into the inside of the card. I recommend using a desktop publishing program to set up the text. Set up the text so that the page is facing the long way. Once you have printed onto your chosen paper than cut the paper into quarters.
To make this step a little easier try visiting a local copy shop to have your papers cut and copied for you. It is inexpensive, easy, and you will get a perfect cut every time.
If you want to skip having to fiddle around with your computer altogether visit my custom invitations page and fill out the forms to order a custom text file so all you need to do is print it off of your computer onto your chosen paper OR print it and have it copied for you.

Step Two: Cutting and Folding the card stock. OK so you should have chosen a good sturdy card stock to use as the base of this invitation. You could even use a blank card to make these beach wedding invitations but you may have to search a little to find ones that are colored.
If you are working with card stock then you will need to have you card stock cut in half and also folded in half in order to form a card to make these invitations. Like I have mentioned above you can indeed visit a copy shop to have this done for you... but if you choose to cut the paper in half yourself you will want to cut it in half by holding it the long way up and down and cutting it across the middle. What you are left with is two pieces measuring 8 1/2" by 5 1/2". Next fold them in half from left to right so that you have cards measuring 4 1/4" by 5 1/2".
If the card stock you are working with is very, very sturdy they may be hard to fold or will fold looking a little wrinkly. In that case you may need to have them scored first. Scoring is making an indent in a straight line where you intend to fold the card so that the fold comes out clean and straight. You can usually buy a scoring tool at any office supply store or arts and crafts store. There are also scoring tools that come as an attachment to many paper cutters. If scoring is not an option then even try folding the paper very carefully and then going over the fold again with the side of a ruler (or a similar straight edge). The ruler acts to kind of "iron out" the wrinkles.

Step Three: Cutting and punching the decorative paper. You should also choose some sort of decorative paper for the front of the card. Many arts and craft supply stores carry these kind of decorative papers. You could also use some handmade paper.
Start by cutting the paper down to size to fit onto the front of the beach wedding invitations. What I recommend is that you cut the paper into rectangles measuring 5 1/2" by about 3 1/4 - 3 1/2". Once they are cut into these rectangles you will use a border punch down one side of the rectangle. It should be used on a long edge. The border punch I used is a Fiskars border punch found at many arts and crafts supply stores. When using these punches I recommend starting at the middle of where you wish to decorate and working your way out to the edges. This way the decoration will be even and all of the rectangles will be the same.

Step Four: Assembly. Now to start putting all the pieces together. Start by attaching the text squares to the inside of the beach wedding invitations cards. Do this by using a glue runner to apply strips of glue to the outer edges of the paper and a small amount to the center. You can also use a high quality glue stick to apply a thin layer of glue to the back of the entire paper. Very carefully place the paper onto the inside of the invitation starting at one corner and pressing lightly inward until the whole piece is attached.
If using a glue stick or craft glue let this dry a few minutes and move onto the front of the card. Apply a light layer of glue stick to the back of the decorative paper rectangles, paying close attention to where you used the border punch. Press this paper to the front of the card starting with the straight edge to the left of the front of the card. Leave to dry a few minutes.
For the final step and to add what really makes these invitations as beach wedding invitations, you will add the starfish ornament to the front of the card. Turn the starfish over and apply small droplets of craft glue to the underside. Super glue may work the best as you can use very little and get big results. Also, super glue is light so it will not warp the card. This could easily become an issue when attaching such a large piece to the card. Another alternative you could also use is a glue runner or glue dots.Leave this to dry for an hour or so. Done!

More ideas and tips to make beach wedding invitations...

* If you want to use the exact decorative paper I used to make these beach wedding invitations, it is made by The Paper Company and is called "white embossed flowers" (#11001-172). I purchased this paper in person at a Michael's craft store so if you have one in your area then give it a try.

DIY wedding Invites kits and how to print onto them.

Decorative papers

Order custom text templates or custom printable wedding maps

go from Beach Wedding Invitations
back to Wedding Invitations page

back to DIY Invitations Homepage

footer for beach wedding invitations page