Super Simple Watercolor Wedding Invitations

One of the most common questions we get asked by our Etsy customers is how to add some color to otherwise plain invitation templates. While it’s possible to simply customize text and illustration colors to match your wedding colors, instead we usually recommend mounting the invitations to patterned paper to create invitation borders. This time around we mounted a simple wedding invitation template to watercolor art to make these super easy watercolor wedding invitations.

Here’s how you can make your own layered wedding invitations on the cheap.

How to Make Layered Watercolor Wedding Invitations

Materials

Invitation template
Double-sided tape
80# Cardstock
Patterned craft paper (we made our own by just printing floral artwork on cardstock)
Scissors or paper cutter

Instructions

1. Before printing your invitations, you’ll need to shrink your invitation template down so that the invitation + the border will fit inside your envelopes. The easiest way to do this is by saving your invitation template as a PDF and scaling it down.

Next, go to File > Print > Printer: PDF. Then click Printer Properties > Paper/Quality > Advanced > Scaling.

You’ll want to figure out how much you need to shrink your invitations by dividing your new template width by the old template width (ie. if you want your invitations to be 4″ wide, but your invites are currently 5″ wide, divide 4 by 5 and you get 0.8 (or 80%). Type 80% in the “scaling” field.)

2. Print your invitations and watercolor background on cardstock and trim them out.

3. Apply double-sided tape to the back of the invitation.

4. Center the invitation over the background.

5. When you’re confident that it’s straight and centered, press down on all four corners. If needed, trim the background so all four sides are equi-distant from the invitation.

Voila! Easy watercolor wedding invitations, no painting required.

Next up: envelopes. We’ll show you how to print your own envelopes at home (and give you a free template so everything goes off without a hitch!)

The information contained on this Website and the resources available for download through this website are for educational and informational purposes only. I am only sharing what worked for me, and as such, I cannot guarantee that any products or processes will give you the same results.