Programs: Did you DIY or Buy?

[SarahLovesJS]

Still trying to decide on them..need to decide soooooon. So should I DIY or buy them? Where can I buy them? I really like the idea of having them printed by someone else..

 

[Dannielle]

We are not having them- I am not patient enough to DIY it and didn''t budget the cost of having them made

If I was to have them though I adore the look of the programs as fans.

Example of program fans

There are heaps there to chose from; I would go for the peacock fan as it goes with my ''theme''

 

[iheartscience]

I''m skipping them also...I figure they''ll just get thrown away so I''m not going to bother with them. Are you set on having them or do you think you could skip them?

If you want to get them printed inexpensively I''d just check out a few local print shops as well as Kinko''s and see what their prices are like. (I''m assuming you don''t want letterpress or engraving, right?)

 

[AllieLuv83]

I am DIY them, much like every thing else in my wedding. Once I got to a certain point with DIY it seemed weird to do invites, OOT boxes, all the baskets, pomanders, menus, table numbers, all the signage and the BUY the programs. It is a slippery slope one I started I couldn''t stop!

 

[lovesparklies]

I''m doing half professional/half DIY. On whiteaisle.com you can get the outside of the programs professionally printed and then do the inside pages yourself (they provide the paper, you do the rest). I thought that was a good compromise.

 

[Winslet]

I think you should design them and then recruit a friend or family member to assemble them for you

 

[galvana]

we bought the paper at staples and will print ourselves..... paper was really cheap. like $15 total. pretty too.
http://www.onlineweddingstore.com/pearl-border-programs.html
i think we''ll print 160 or so.

 

[Sabine]

I really wanted to just not have them, but it ended up being a requirement of the church. I had no money left in the budget, so I ended up DIYing them, and they ended up being the BIGGEST project I undertook for the wedding. Took tons of time, planning, printing, etc. I''d get someone to do them for you if you can.

 

[meresal]

We are DIY'ing for sure... Microsoft Office Publisher has a "Wedding Program" option that allows you to type everything in, and it is really helping.

ETA: You can download a free 60-day trial online of Micro Pub.

 

[Mediterranean]

I made mine.

BUT, my wedding is very small (50 people)

I made fan programs on 110-lb cardstock, and tied (with ribbon) the assembled cardstock fans to big (15-inch) palm frond fans. I''ll hang them from chairs at the ceremony venue.

If you decide to make them, here are a couple of things that may help:

1. Make sure your printer can handle coverstock and cardstock (there should be a pound-rating somewhere in the operating manual. If not, call the manufacturer''s customer service number or see if you can find out online). I had good luck with my photo-printer, 110 is thick and I had no problem. It may have something to do with the fact that it''s a straight-feed model. 65-pound cover stock is the minimum I would use for a cover, anything lower really just looks like paper.

2. If you decide to go beyond simple folding designs, and get into assembly-required ones (I had to cut out and assemble the fan "panels") remember to get a heavy-duty hole punch and if your design requires grommets, I would suggest you skip them and use screw-posts instead. The grommet punches I saw didn''t yield very nice results (the fan panels didn''t open/close freely; the paper was ragged out at the punch, the grommets had jagged metal edges after being punched into place)


I printed and assembled 50 in 8 hours. In retrospect, I think I took on too much (blister on my knuckle). If you have anyone who can help you, I definitely suggest you recruit them

Cost Factor: I paid $10 for 150 sheets of 110-pound cardstock (nothing fancy, just a soft off-white. No metallic or design-y things), $8 for a heavy-duty hole punch, $7 for 50, 1/8" screw posts, $25 for the palm frond fans. So, basically, a dollar each to produce, plus my labor.

 

[bee*]

We''re going to DIY ours. Not looking forward to doing them but what can you do!

 

[Pandora II]

I DIY''d mine - designed them with CorelDraw on my computer, bought pre-folded heavy-weight cards in soft white on ebay for $15 and shoved them through the laser printer at work one evening

I tried to do them at home and printer said no - so I ditto Mediterranean''s advice on checking your printer''s capabilities before you buy the card!

I also put sheets of normal paper in between to make sure I didn''t get the print transferring to other cards or doubled on the insides.

It took a while to do 120, but I didn''t have to do ribbons or punch holes or anything like that. The end result looked really professional (pre-folds are a must) and saved me a load of $$$.

 

[honey22]

Date: 4/26/2009 2:46:32 AM
Author: lovesparklies
I''m doing half professional/half DIY. On whiteaisle.com you can get the outside of the programs professionally printed and then do the inside pages yourself (they provide the paper, you do the rest). I thought that was a good compromise.

Ditto, the insides we are printing on nice quality plain laser printer paper, so that should be fine.