How to Make Invitations with Bows

For easy instructions how to make DIY invitations with bows, view our video tutorial and step-by-step illustrated guide below. These diy invitations were designed for ease of use with our free invitation templates and premium invitation supplies, no special software or equipment is required. Components include a pre-cut heavyweight background cards, printable overlay, sheer chiffon ribbon and envelopes.

Helpful tips:

Put together a couple of invitations from start to finish, the first few will always take much longer until you are familiar with the process.
Setup your workspace as an assembly line process: complete a step for all of your invitations before moving on the to next step. If you have help, assign a step (or steps) to to one person. For example one person attaches all overlays to background cards, one person attaches the embellishments, one person addresses, stuffs and seals the envelopes.

Items you will need

heavyweight background card, printable overlay, invitation envelope, pencil, paper trimmer or paper cutter, ruler or paper guide, sheer chiffon ribbon and micro hole punch

order supplies

Time to Assemble 1-1/2 minute each, plus printing and cutting all of the overlays, which takes typically 1/2 to 1 hour

Easy instructions to create printable overlay for all layered invitations

1. Download our free wedding invitation templates for Word

The text for layered invitations will be printed or copied onto 8.5"x11" overlay paper using our free wedding invitation templates, the standard sized sheets are provided for ease of printing as small pre-cut overlays would be difficult to setup and feed correctly. Each sheet will provide four 4.25"x5.5" overlays.

Download Template for Microsoft Word

Download Template for Word 97-04

Download Template for Apple Pages

Download Template for Google Docs

2. Change Text and Font

Change wedding invitations wording as desired and experiment with different typefaces to get the look you want. Insert beautiful vintage invitation clip art (click for examples) for a personal touch. The free wedding invitation templates are setup for 11 lines of text using 29pt line spacing...the first line is blank to adjust for the embellishments requiring holes. You may need to make adjustments depending on length of wording and the embellishment chosen. When finished, copy and paste the text into the other three table cells.

3. Print onto Overlay Sheets

Print on test paper before printing on the overlay. Make sure you have several people proofread your text and cut the test paper in half both ways to make sure it is centered. Print on overlay's when you are sure everything is correct. We recommend purchasing water resistant ink jet ink or using a laser printer or copier, for better durability.

4. Cut Overlay with Paper Cutter or Trimmer

After you have finished printing, you will need a paper trimmer or paper cutter to cut the overlay in half vertically and horizontally. If you are using a cutter, cut the paper 5.5" from the edge of the longer side, then again at 4.25" from the edge (longer side up). If you are using a paper trimmer, mark the overlay with a pencil using the lines on our paper guide at the top and sides or measure 5.5" down from the long side and 4.25" from the short side. Starting with the long side up, match up the pencil line with the guide marks on the trimmer. You can cut two sheets of the 65# overlay or three sheets of the vellum at a time. Mark the cut sheets on top and bottom with a pencil using the paper guide or measure 4.25" from the edge and make the final cut.

punch holes in overlay and background card

Punch Holes in Background Card

Line up background cards and our yellow paper guide to punch two holes or use a pencil and mark 1 1/4″ down from top and 2 3/8″ in from each side

Punch Holes in Overlay

Line up overlay cards and our yellow paper guide to punch two holes (hold up to light to view marks) or use a pencil and mark 1/2″ down from top and 1 7/8″ in from each side.

Attach Ribbon

Cut ribbon on an angle to 14″ length, you can use our paper guide to measure, cut 3″ past the long edge of the guide (11″).

Feed both ends of the ribbon in each hole from the back to the front.

Tie a bow tie, pull loops to tighten and adjust ends if necessary.

Trim ribbon ends on an angle.

Assembling and Addressing Wedding Invitations

We recommend handwriting the addresses to your guests on the front of envelopes for a personal touch, and using our easy-to-print return address envelope labels on the back of envelopes, which double as a seal. The envelope is addressed with the guest’s full name and address, avoid using abbreviations for streets and cities. The return address should be on the back flap of the outer envelope. When assembling your invitations, the reply card with stamped envelope or reply postcard should be on top, then the reception card, then the invitation. Use an envelope seal for an elegant touch.

Mailing your Wedding Invitations

Before stamping, bring a sample of the completed invitations to the post office to determine the correct postage. Invitations should be mailed four weeks before your wedding or six weeks for out-of-town guests or if your wedding falls near a holiday.