When it comes to planning a homemade wedding, let me offer you one excellent piece of advice: make sure there is someone really talented in your family at a wedding-related craft and then force them to give you their expertise for free.

Don’t have someone in the family already? No worries, divorce your current family and find a new one. A dressmaker would be helpful, of course, a florist maybe, a caterer would certainly save you a fortune or, in my case, a sister who has just started her own business making beautiful Letterpress wedding invitations.

I’d suggest scouring the endless, endless wedding blogs, find an appealing-looking supplier and then send them a (mildly threatening) begging letter, asking them to either adopt you or perhaps become your “blood brother” (or sister). Leave it a few months and then drop the request for lots of hard work for free. Job done. Money saved.

I jest, of course, but I am genuinely super lucky that my sister started to set up her business just at the time we were planning the wedding, so was more than happy to make us our invitations on her brand new press. (Those who were reading my blog earlier this year may remember the stunning business cards she made for me as well…)

Because the hubby and I met out in the Philippines doing a marine conservation diving course, we went for a seahorse picture on the main invitation and a weedy sea dragon on the RSVP card.

The RSVP card had our address printed on the other side, so people could literally just tick a few boxes and put it in the post. Being one of the world’s laziest people ever, I always find it a bit of a hassle to actually write a reply to invitations, so I work on the assumption that everyone else does too.

Everything was wrapped up with a three-way folded piece of card printed with the lovely seahorse again.

I chose the vintage pictures and did a very, very, very basic design (and, of course, all the wording) which my sister then licked into a beautiful shape and found us the excellent font as well (Manquis CP if you’re curious)…

We were really, really delighted with results and we got loads of compliments from our guests.

And if you’re wishing my sister was your sister too, then fret not! Her company will be open to take its first official customers in a matter of weeks. In the meantime, keep an eye on her blog Wolf & Ink for updates and lots of other wedding-related inspiration. (I’m not promising anything, but it’s just possible a certain someone might be guest posting on there in the near future too…)

Just please, please don’t send her any threatening letters asking her to adopt you.

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Take a look at some more of the homemade elements of our wedding:

• I did all my own flowers, and put together a few tips for arranging your own wedding flowers (it’s way more simple than I had expected)
• We made little drawstring bags full of fudge for favours for all the guests: homemade wedding favours
• And there are some photos of the day itself over here: Our wedding