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Beautiful matching suites of flawless invitations have caused me to wipe a bit of drool off my chin more than once.
From Martha Stewart’s always elegant “Wedding” magazine pages,
to the innovation featured in Etsian shops,
to the incredible ambitions of DIY-ers in the hive,
I’ve been drawn to lovely themes and delicate details.
After all of my wedding dreaming, I was called back to reality with soaring costs for all of the details I found most attractive. Letterpress suites? $12+ a piece. Hand addressed calligraphy envelopes? $2+ a piece. Vintage stamps? Dream on!
As much as I loved paper, I didn’t love it as much as some other things that I’ve chosen as higher budget priorities. Out went boxed invitations with floating pearls, multi-layer pocketfolds, and the like. In came understated invitations with a DIY twist.
Miss Planner, my event designer/wedding coordinator extraordinaire, suggested I look at eInvite.com. I loved the look of engraving, but decided I could live with its near-twin, thermography. I admired several of their designs that matched our winter black and ivory wedding:
Pearl Artistic Border ($99.00 for 100)
Satin Square ($159.90 for 100)
Duet on Creme ($189.00 for 100)
Flawless ($195.00 for 100)
Symmetry ($195.00 for 100)
Charming ($195.00 for 100)
The thing I liked most about eInvite.com was that I could personalize any of the invitations and see an instant mock-up. You can also personalize it line by line, add spacing, change colors and fonts - and still see the instant mock-up! After playing around for a while, I decided on a favorite. Unfortunately, my favorite did not have the option to order a sample (for only $1.50!)… right.
What is a girl to do? Search the whole website for an invitation that is the same paperweight with thermography lettering, of course. When the sample arrives, you’ll get a first hand look at the goods!
Did you order your dream invitations? Or did you have to re-prioritize due to budget constraints?
i plan on making my own invites. all the ones i really like are super expensive and if i plan on blowing my budget on an item, it’s gonna be on photography.
I got close to my dream invitations–beautiful letterpress in black ink on ecru paper. I would have had a custom design if they were really my *dream* invites, but, eh, pretty dang close. I only spent $3.50 per invite. 
Definitely won’t be getting my “dream” invites… Probably will be DIYing. 
ahh invites. very pretty inspiration–requires either lots of inspiration and time, or lots of dough!
Budget definitely came into play with the invites. Momma MB just kept letting me know that no one but me would notice. She was right, I got tons of compliments on my invites as they were, without all the added expense.
This is why I loved finding Hello Lucky. It was one of the few sites that used cotton paper and eco-friendly inks as well as having lots of cute colors and options to customize. I got the invites, response cards, and seating cards all for under $500 for a set of 100 - which, yes, not cheap, but certainly cheaper than anything else that nice that I had seen!
Wow, that “Pearl Artistic Border” one is a great deal, and it looks super fancy. My invites are a mini-splurge, but I’m trying to restrain myself with all the enclosures…
I looooove letterpress. I dream of letterpress. Thick, heavy, cotton paper, with smooth indentations and rich color that I can run my fingers over.. be still my heart.
BUT it’s not in my budget, by any means (especially for a smaller wedding, which means less invitations, which means that each piece is even more expensive).
Ah, well. Instead, my best lady will be designing my invitations for me.
I used “Charming” and then printed my own inserts on blush colored paper. We thought the quality was good for a less expensive product, but couldn’t bear to spend so much on paper.
I, too, drool over wedding paper products. It’s kind of a sickness. Not sure what we’re doing yet — but I keep telling myself that I have time to figure it out. Great links, btw!
I love the “Flawless” one. Bickham Script Pro, how I love thee.
I have to agree with the plug for hello lucky. I got my invites there and while not inexpensive (they were $650 for a set of 75 that included invite, response card, and details card) the cardstock was so lovely I felt they looked as nice as letterpress for 1/2 the price. Hello lucky gives you the option of the same design in letterpress or offset printing. I have now had 3 people tell me my invitations are “the most beautiful” wedding invitation they’ve ever gotten. They are much more beautiful than what I originally tried to do with my home printer, even with good cardstock.
Sigh, Martha triumphs again…. but I have to say I agree with fiftyfootbride on the “Flawless” evite. It’s modern with that little touch of whimsy
Paper certainly isn’t for everyone and even though I made my own because i enjoy working with paper passionately, it took me awhile to get to the thank you cards because of a little “paper-dread” after making, invites programs and menus.
Good luck with your decision xo
I saw that photo in Martha Stewart! I love that invite!
Charming making me happy. I love paper too much … and have to say that I will be making ours - it’s one of my “high priority” items on the budget scale!
Dream invites all the way, but we were fortunate to have an awesome friendor who gave us a FANTASTIC deal
For those of you brides who talked about how expensive invitations can be…check out Invitations by Dawn. They have some more budget invitations, and even a section for invitations under $100. There is also a section for some DIY print your own invitations. Just a thought for those of you who don’t want to take the time to DIY, are on a budget, and still want professionally done invites.
I couldn’t afford the pocketfold invitations of my dreams, so I made some myself. While this was our biggest DIY of the wedding, we started plenty early so it was never stressful, in fact, I loved every minute of crafting. We ended up making them for about $2 each. All of our paper products were DIY…invites, programs, menus, thank you cards, etc. and we did it all for less than $500. Thank you Paper Source!!
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Mrs. Lamb, Norfolk Age and Occupation: 25, Homeland Security Consultant Fiance's Age and Occupation: 27, Graduate Student Engagement Date: January 2009 Wedding Date: January 2010 Venue: Trinity Presbyterian Church/Harrison Opera House About Me: I’m a Homeland Security Consultant with a tendency towards pulling office pranks, taking lunch breaks, and drinking Wawa shakes. I’m also an English major with a serious obsession with alliteration and rhymes. While I’m not keeping America safe, I’m training for half marathons and the Escape from Alcatraz swim. Or moving for the third time this year. Or baking. Or wedding crafting. Or crying about wedding planning. All the while, I’m getting myself into Lucille Ball-esque scrapes and making Jim Carey-esque faces. Our big fat Czech/Baptist/Jewish/Italian wedding is a combination of vintage eclectic, DIY, and little spoonful of sugar from our Event Coordinator. It’s going to be a Norfolk flavored wedding with the verve of an only-daughter-blow-out bash!
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