Whether you’ve got a tighter budget or you want to throw in some of your DIY skills to the wedding “ring,” you can save some money by designing and printing your own wedding programs using some free templates. Below you’ll find a host of inspiration and the materials you need to get started on your do-it-yourself journey. Personalize, stylize and have your wedding programs ready by the weekend.
See Also: Trying to get a wedding planned on a tight budget? One money saving idea is to design and print your own wedding programs using free templates!
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When it comes to wedding planning, checklists are going to be your saving grace. From entertainment needs to your bridesmaids’ must-haves, these outlines will have you on your toes and not missing a beat. Keep yourself sane and use this wedding program checklist to make sure you’re not forgetting important information for your guests.
Wedding programs are a great way to keep your guests feeling included and engaged in the celebration. Create one just for the ceremony, a separate one for the reception or design one that will outline the entire night’s festivities. It’s important that you include some of the most essential details though.
Learn about what you should include as well as some do’s and don’ts below!
Although including a wedding program is optional, if you do decide to use them it’s essential that you include all of the most important information.
First, you want to make sure that you’ve got the basics:
Second, add some extras to personalize the program a bit further:
You want to make sure that your wedding program is easy-to-read and logical in its format. Before we move on to some free templates that you can download and personalize, let’s have a look at some do’s and don’ts to keep in mind.
You can choose from a selection of free wedding program templates below. We’ve provided three templates (as Word documents) here, and we’ve even got some ideas on how to help you customize it! (When you click on the links below you’ll be asked to download a file which contains your wedding program which you’ll save and open in Microsoft Word)).
This third wedding program template is similar to the second template above. It is also designed to be printed out as a double-sided document, and then cut in half, so the program is 5.5 x 8.5 in. This program has a simpler (but still elegant) font, French Script, with some nice corner graphics of daisies. Daisies are flowers that can dress “up” or “down” so you can really have some fun with this template. The daisies will look great with either formal or informal fonts. You could also choose a fun paper color like neon pink or turquoise!
This second wedding program template is very versatile and classic. It’s a simple program with elegant Edwardian Script font and no graphics. It should be printed out as a double-sided document, and then cut in half, so the program is 5.5 x 8.5 in. You can play around with the fonts to find one that suits your style, with no need to worry about finding any pictures or graphics. Some of the fancier fonts (like Edwardian Script) can be difficult to read on a computer monitor, though, so you may want to finalize the text of the program before you start working with the fonts. This wedding program looks beautiful printed on ivory or very light pastel-colored paper.
This first free wedding program template is a full color, 8.5 x 11 document that after printing, will be folded in half. It has an Irish theme with a colorful rose bouquet on the cover and a Celtic knot cross graphic on the inside, as well as an Irish blessing (note that the program has the wedding guests reciting the blessing).
While the reduced cost is a major advantage, there are a few disadvantages to using templates that should be considered.
Wedding programs are a huge part of making your wedding day feel special. Yet, wedding programs are one of those details that can get lost in a sea of a hundred other things to worry about when planning your wedding. You forget about it until about a week before the wedding and then rush to create a wedding program with days to spare. It basically means a last minute word document job that looks amateurish and lacks inspiration. And yet, creating custom wedding programs that can easily be edited and updated with your information is as easy as ordering your wedding invitations online.
In this day and age there are lots of options for finding wedding program templates (we’re big fans of sites like Wedding Paper Divas and Etsy). Even better news is that the price for custom wedding programs is totally reasonable and worth every penny if you don’t see yourself going the straight DIY route. With Etsy you will likely still have some work to do yourself, but if you choose a full end to end solution like Wedding Paper Divas they will typically handle it all automatically.
Here’s how ordering custom wedding programs work. First, you need to find a design and style you like. We recommend looking to match your wedding program to your event colors, wedding season or wedding invitations – look for something that ties your wedding program to some other part of your wedding. In the last few years the sheer selection of wedding programs available has grown exponentially with independent designers and the larger printing companies are rolling out new distinct designs and themes on an almost weekly basis. You will have no issues finding designs that work for you. We selected some of our favorite wedding program designs below for you to check out and be inspired by, but we encourage you to explore because there are thousands of great options.
Once you’ve settled on a design then you start the customization process. Depending on the website you buy your invitations/programs from, you will typically have several color schemes and font styles to choose from for each design. You can play around with the options and see the changes in real time (warning, some solutions are better than others but we’ve found most to be pretty good here). If you choose a custom wedding program template that needs a photo this is probably when you will be prompted to upload it. Make sure to use a high-quality image as sometimes it won’t look good when printed. At this stage you are entering all the wedding details (probably a good idea to have that stuff handy when you start this process). You then pay and your beautiful, custom wedding programs will ship to you in no time.
