Invitation Shopping
August 26th, 2006 @ 12:53 pm by Mrs. Poppy
Is invitation shopping that difficult? Well for me it is. I think I have literally looked at everything online and have even gone into some print shops.
Last week we went with a friend of ours to a print shop and when they came up with a estimate for 80 invitations, it was $1600. That didn’t even include rvsp cards, direction/map cards and whatever inserts we needed. So that’s not an option at all.
But the good news is that we found a bunch of sites online that sell very cheap invitations that don’t look bad at all. The only thing is, when I had the samples in my hand they were a bit on the plain side. But then I figure with the amount that I’m saving in cost, I can use more money on embellishing. I know for sure I would add ribbon and some sort of sealing for the envelope. I promise to show you girls once I decide which invites, and the finished product as soon as I get them done.
Where are you getting your invites from? Online, print shop or diy… or both?
Whatever you ladies choose to do: best of luck to you! 
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17 Responses to “Invitation Shopping”
I was in the same position as you, Miss Poppy. I couldn’t afford anything I actually loved! We finally went with invitatons from Reaves Engraving which were very traditional and a little too plain for me, but then we did DIY envelope liners with paper from Paper Source and I was head over heels. They are more traditional, but that’s what we wanted. You can see them in my planning bio here, though the pictures don’t do them full justice:
picking the invitations was actually one of the hardest decisions for us too. everything i liked was super expensive, and in retrospect i think we spent way too much. if i could do it again, i would have ordered them online… or done with a gocco!
We went the DIY route.
http://www.weddingbee.com/2006/08/17/hand-made-with-love/
It ended up costing less than $150 for 60ish invitations, including postage.
the two hardest things to choose during this whole wedding planning was 1) our invitations, and 2) my wedding band jewelry…
… i think i spent literally hours cruising the web and finally just decided to make my own.
As a graphic designer, I designed my own wedding invitation, but I am having them professionally printed. 300 invitation including all the collateral cards will end up costing a little less than $500.
I’m making my own. I got so frustrated looking at invitations online and trying to find something for about $1 an invite. I found something I liked online I couldn’t afford, and then designed my version of them. I haven’t started the major production, but it’ll be way easier than shelling out $500 of my limited budget. Good luck!
http://www.presscharming.com
I LOVE Jenny’s work. She is awesome and does this part time in her basement. She did our invites and rehearsal dinner invites. Letterpress, but not break-the-bank expensive! She has an MFA, so she is super creative.
My friend got her’s done at http://www.mygatsby.com and they were beautiful. I think they’re pretty cheap too.
DIY. i’ll be spending no more than $100. i will be doing my invites a little differently from the norm. heavy metallic cardstock, thick & pretty scrapbook paper & a cool stamp will be used. i’m using my own laser printer.
I went the DIY route. I feel in love with something I found at Jean M, but couldn’t see paying their price. I bought my bronze metallic cardstock and matching envelopes from http://www.envelopemall.com. I bought text chamapagne paper from http://www.paperandmore.com. I have to say putting it together was quite the task, but I have received tons of compliments. I’m happy with how they turned out. I have pictures in my Knot bio, but those pictures really don’t do them justice. I’m knottie AmandaCan.
I’m going through whiteaisle.com. Affordable and beautiful!
we used whiteaisle.com and loved them. they were a great balance of style and economy
$20 per invitation?!?!? Are you serious?
The plan is for my FI to design the save-the-dates and us to buy invitations. We’ve been looking though and the ones we like are crazy expensive! We’ll see what we end up with…
KATIE: If you’re willing, I’d love an e-mail or a post with more info on your experience with http://www.presscharming.com
also…
BECKY-O: Where are you getting your invitations printed?
i had the most beautiful invitations…then katrina came along and i had to get new ones, fast. my original invite designer was also in NOLA, so there was no way for her to re-do them for me with the new location.
so i got some fairly simple ones from myjeanm.com and added a ribbon belly-band to gussy them up a bit. we got tons of compliments on them, but they still weren’t as beautiful as my pre-K ones. 
wow! $20 / invitation. that’s intense. i hunted high and low as well. i think i book marked over 100 online vendors. i ended up going with http://www.oliostyle.com for our wedding invitations and couldn’t be happier. they custom designed our invites, so we got to pick the color, fonts, etc. but the part i loved the most was their creativity. they came up with tons of ideas it actually made the process fun! everyone raved about the invitations!
Mrs. Poppy, New York
Age and Occupation: 27, PhD Student
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 27, High End Retail General Manager
Engagement Date: February 25, 2006
Wedding Date: July 2007
Venue: Astoria World Manor, Queens, New York
About Me: I'm a graduate student majoring in Piano Performance. I love knitting, crochet, cooking and learning languages ( I know six so far!). You can find me at your local karaoke bar, yarn shops, sheet music store or any store with Hello Kitty!
I’m seriously considering buying a Gocco and screenprinting all of my cards, and then having a local shop die cut the wraps for my invitations for me. I’ve already purchased cardstock and embellishments as I was going to hand-letter them all…but looking back, I would hand-letter one, with my design, and then use the Gocco to copy it 200 times. It’s much easier that way.