Wedding Blog
As promised, here’s the cost breakdown for my DIY invitations… They were (mostly) fun to make, but they did take H O U R S ! Since I’m still a grad student, my time = 0$/hour. Here’s the price breakdown of the rest of the supplies:
Paper (all from Paper-Source):
A7 envelopes in Superfine soft white: 15 packs @ 3.83 each = 57.45
(10% discount for 10 packs or more)
4Bar envelopes in Night: 15 packs @ 2.70 each = 40.50
4Bar cards in Night: 6 packs @ 2.75 each = 16.50
4Bar cards in Superfine soft white: 12 packs @ 2.48 each = 29.76
A6 cards in Superfine soft white: 6 @ 3.75 each = 22.50
A7 folded cards in Night: 8 @ 7.00 each = 56.00
Total paper = $222.71
Gocco (some from Art Things in Annapolis, some ordered from Northwood Studios and Paper-Source):
Gocco screens: 13 @ 3.00 each (10 used, 3 screw-ups)= 39.00
Gocco bulbs: 26 @ 1.50 each = 39.00
Gocco ink- 3 gold, 1 light blue, 1 navy (with tons left over) @ 3.50 each = 17.50
Total Gocco Supplies = $95.50
Misc: Envelope lining paper: 15 sheets @ 3.50 each = 52.50
Paperclips: 3 boxes of 50 @ 9.00 each = 27.00
Ribbon: 20.80
Grand Total for 150 invitations: $418.51 or $2.79 each
The original ideas we considered ranged from ~$3.50- $5.00 each, so I was pretty happy to save a little. Stamps for the RSVP envelope and the main envelope were an additional $1.00 per invite. Invitations were pretty important to me, so I would have been willing to pay more if I had fallen in love with something else. I’m happy that Gocco kept me away from letterpress- so beautiful but much more pricey! Did you decide to splurge or save on your invites?
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Sounds like good savings for lovely invites, but what about the cost of the Gocco machine itself????
These are lovely. A couple questions: 1) Could you share teh source for the lining paper and the paperclips? 2) Did you find it difficult to print on darker paper with metallic/lighter colors?
Thank you!
@brooklyn baby: Hi! I didn’t add it in because I’m using for so many other projects, but at $150 (incl shipping), it would have added exactly $1.00 to the cost of each invite.
@vyeta7: Thanks! The lining paper is from paper-source, and I actually couldn’t find enough of that particular gold paper for all of my envelopes so some are done in a similar gold vellum, also from paper-source. The paper clips are called “clipiolas”, I saw them originally at Paper-Source but found them cheaper online. I can’t find the exact website I ordered from, but they have them here at a similar price: http://handmade-paper.us/page/CPO/CTGY/clp
@vyeta7: Oops, forgot about your 2nd question- The gold was probably the easiest color to print, but the light blue was a little tricky- I ended up having to make the font a little bigger than I wanted on my RSVP cards, and pressing down a little harder with the Gocco than for my other colors.
Thanks! I am considering goccoing light silver on a dark silver (Stardream Anthracite) paper and wasn’t sure how impossible it would be. 
What is the smaller font size you used?
I decided against splurging on the invitations, although it seems I’m in the minority on this. Personally we couldn’t justify spending a significant amount on something our guests would end up throwing away (or recycling!)
More money for the locally brewed beer at the reception!
We splurged a little. Ours came out to around $6 per invite — but that was a pretty good deal when you consider they were engraved, 2 colors, had lined envelopes, return address embossed, custom maps and all the other usual inserts (reception card, reply card, etc). If we had gone through a more obvious, traditional supplier of this type of invitation — say, Crane’s — it could have easily been $10 per invite.
thanks for the breakdown! it is so helpful to see how much other DIY-ers spent. we did ours all ourselves, w/ an laser engraved/ cut out enclosure & 3 enclosure cards and i believe with postage (a sick $1 + 0.29 Rsvp per!) came to about $3.50. So half of that is the 60 cent envelopes & postage. When you think about it, that is cheaper than even a store bought birthday card (which are only 1 folded page & an envelope). of course… we added up the time it took & both of us working on it constantly for a week after work… i’d say about 40 hours each altho i dont know if that includes paper shopping etc. we’re both designers that sadly know how much that would be if we were actually getting paid for it lol.
Wow…I wanted originally to make my own invites but I just can’t part with that much money. I ended up buying Wilton Flirty Fleur-80 invites + 80 responses=$34.88. About to buy the matching programs for about $15. I’m queen of DIY too but no way am I spending that much on invites alone. That costs more than my dress! Whew!
@MayGrad: Wow what a great deal… and a dress for less than $400! I’m impressed
@vyeta7: I ended up with 14 pt. It was 12pt that wouldn’t work with the light blue- but I’ve printed smaller than that with other colors and it was fine. Something about that light blue ink and me just did not get along Silver on dark silver sounds gorgeous- keep me updated on how it goes!
that’s seriously pretty amazing, considering how intricate and beautiful your invitations are. well done!
Yea, I got lucky. I found a Mori Lee gown in a bridal shop here in my town and wasn’t going to pay the ticket price…so I waited, searched, waited and searched again and found a bridal shop that was closing-bought the Mori Lee that I wanted for $100 including shipping—this dress had never been tried on—Perfecto conditiono!! I was super happy! The color is an ivory/pearl shimmer color with lots of pearl accents so the invitations I found have pearl colored flowers as the border. Very cute! As you can probably guess, my theme is actually pearls. I’m planning on stringing pearls on some sort of thread and hanging them on birch branches for 1/2 of the table centerpieces for my reception.
Miss Tiramisu, your invites are gorgeous! I LOVE the gold swirls on the front! Did you create the design yourself? Would you be willing to share that design?
@SDannie: Thanks so much! The swirl design was about $3 (oops I didn’t include that cost) from istockphoto.com.
@Miss Tiramisu:
Thanks! I’ll look on istockphoto for design ideas. Did you have to use multiple gocco screens to print the scroll on the A7 cards?
Yes, I did two screens for that- top half and bottom half, and if you go back to my invite post and enlarge the top picture you can see that they don’t quite perfectly line up. I didn’t need them to because I was planning on putting the ribbon there, so I didn’t worry about it. You could definitely take the time to do careful registration and get them perfect, but it would have taken a lot longer!
These are beautiful. Thanks for the cost breakdown, as that makes decision-making much easier.
Re. The clipiolas (round paper clips):
On Paper in Ohio has them in silver, gold and black. You can also purchase them on line at http://www.onpaper.com
[...] If you’re interested in making your own invitations, upgrading your art supplies, and probably being the only person on your block with a Gocco, there’s some helpful information about where to get one and how to use it on DIY Life, and a Grocco’ed wedding invitation cost breakdown on Weddingbee. [...]
I did my cards myself. We were going to print them, but decided to take them to kinos…one of the few places that can print to cut cards. We paid $30 to do all of our invitations (50-100ppl). It was easy. I even wrote it myself because I wasn’t crazy about the “standard” invtation wording
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Mrs. Tiramisu, Annapolis, MD/Maine
Age and Occupation: 26, Eye Doctor
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 26, Project Manager/Real Estate Management grad student
Engagement Date: May 15, 2007
Wedding Date: July, 2008
Blogging Since: March 4, 2008
Venue: Oceanfront lawn and tent
About Me: I was born and raised in Maine, now living in Annapolis, Maryland and planning a hometown wedding from afar. I’m nothing short of obsessed with wedding planning, and am loving the do-it-yourself madness that has now taken over my life! As for me, I’m a craft-loving, martini-drinking, girly-girl who loves traveling, photography, my schnauzer, and above all, spending time with Mr. Tiramisu.
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