Inspiration

I liked these little works of art created by Weddingbee Mrs Emerald. They are 4.25" x 5.5" big (8.5 X 11" paper cut lengthwise into 2 programs per sheet). Their small size is intended to keep them from being too large to take home (ie, small enough to fit into a ladies purse).  Mrs Emerald used her engagement pics in the programs--this would have been a nice touch if Craig and I had e-pics taken.

Wedding Program Elements

  • Vellum overlay 
  • Cover sheet/Title page
  • Welcome letter/Announcements
  • Listing of Bridal Party, Parents, Ushers, etc
  • Order of Ceremony  (2 pages)
  • Readings (3 pages)
  • Vellum overlay

Supplies

  • Outercard stock
  • Stamped embossed logo and Japanese Yuzen paper for cover
  • Vellum overlay
  • Interior page card stock
  • Ribbon (18" per program)--I used a lightweight 5/8" organza
  • Corner punch to round corners
  • 1/8" hole punch (to make holes for ribbon binding)

Finished Product

Please click on any of the images below to see a larger version.

Above: The outer cover--metallic Blueberry cardstock from Michaels

Left: The title page with the floral motif from our invites. All interior pages were trimmed 1/4 "at bottom to make flower bleed off the page and then 1/8" on vertical edges (total 1/4" smaller than cover stock all around)

Right: Thank you ltr on right and wedding party on left.

Left:  The order of the ceremony. We're doing some stuff that required audience participation (like ring warming and statement of support) so we had to have a program telling them what to do.

Right: The first 2 readings. Our officiant recommended including them in the program in case the readers could not be heard.

Above: The final reading and the vellum overlay

Template

I made these files in Microsoft Publisher and did the artwork in Illustrator/Photoshop. I don't guarantee my templates are amazing or anything like that because I taught myself Publisher while making these programs. However, they will show you how to layout the pages in the correct order. If you don't have Publisher and want to just look at the layout, you can look at the PDF instead. 

Outer Program File:  Microsoft Publisher or PDF

Inner Program File:  Microsoft Publisher or PDF

Kinko's Stickershock

These wedding programs were very expensive to reproduce at Kinko's. I needed to have the professionally printed because our printer could not print on both sides without bleeding through the paper. I used their 90-lb  white cardstock to prevent bleed-through, printed in color on 2 sides, and then asked for 5 cuts to make the text pages slightly smaller than the cover (the interior pages were trimmed to 4" by 5.25"). The total cost for 40 programs was a whopping $106!! Ouch! I would have considered leaving the blue flower off the cover if I knew it was going to be so expensive. This does not include the cover card stock ($10), interior vellum (around $5) or ribbon.

Other Research Links

http://www.weddingbee.com/2007/08/08/wedding-programs/

http://www.weddingbee.com/2007/11/30/get-with-the-program-2/ (put order of family portraits in program)

http://www.weddingbee.com/2006/09/19/sample-wedding-program-layouts/ (good link for sample program layouts here --but no templates)

http://www.weddingbee.com/2007/08/09/another-thing-off-the-list/ (sample with stamped cover; good list of announcements to direct guests to outdoor cocktail hour & guest book sign-in)