Weddingbee Blog

… want to make another invitation as long as I live. If you’ve been following along, you know that the home party invitations have been quite the pain in my little arse. But my friends, they are finished, thanks to you!

I decided to make one mock-up on VistaPrint and one on Shutterfly to compare the quality. The mock-up on VistaPrint was pretty much identical to what I had tried to make myself (this is the actual VistaPrint card)…

…except I kept the wording on the inside black because it was an extra charge for color.

I only wanted to order 1, except they have a minimum order of 10. Then I got a coupon for 10 more for 50% off, so like a sucker (or a very smart shopper, discuss amongst yourselves) I decided to go ahead and order 20. I figured if we use the design, we already have 20 in our hands, and if we don’t then I could cut the wording part off and give the picture portion to our families to use how they’d like (send to friends and family, use as a dartboard, it doesn’t matter to me). I received them in the mail and they looked… ok. The quality is so/so but bearable considering the low price. The main problem I had with them though, was this…

Can’t see it? Here, let me get a little closer…

That’s exactly where I wanted to put my “all you need is love” stamp . I know most cards you buy have the company logo on the back somewhere, but I don’t know, I guess I didn’t expect them to put their website on there. I went on the live chat and asked if there was any way to order the invites without their website on the back. The response was that like all other card companies, they put it on there and it’s there to stay. BUT as a one time deal, they’d give me a credit for the money I spent on the cards and shipping. I was getting a 100% credit! Thank you VistaPrint!

While all of this was going on, I made a card on Shutterfly. Unfortunately, they did not have the same design option, so I made one semi-similar but with a black border around the front. Fortunately, they do let you order just one, so I did. I received it in the mail a few days ago (their shipping was a lot slower than VistaPrint), and surprisingly, I like it even better than the other one.

The quality of the paper and the picture are so much better. The back has this on it…

… but honestly, it looks more professional than the little website scrawled across the bottom of the VistaPrint invitation. And I can always use my love stamp on the envelopes.

After seeing the quality, I compared prices. With the VistaPrint credit they gave me, 70 invitations will cost us around $15, while the same amount through Shutterfly will be a whopping $88! That is a HUGE difference. So I brought them home for mr. N to see, fully expecting him to want to save the cash and go with VistaPrint. His response?

“These will be the first impression of our party; I’d rather spend the money for the nicer ones.”

I was shocked and happy. Even though it’s so much more expensive, you definitely get what you pay for. Shutterfly it is! I loved all of your suggestions for the wording the other day, took your advice, and Bunny2010’s wording won in the end. So the invites will now read…

And I took everyone’s advice that said we should include the actual wedding details and added the location to the front…

So here’s my critique of the 2 companies I tried:

VistaPrint

Pros:

• way cheaper
• fast shipping
• lots of coupons

Cons:

• quality is “eh”
• website printed on the back looks a little cheap

Shutterfly

Pros:

• great quality picture
• better paper
• no extra cost for color on the inside

Cons:

• slower shipping
• way more expensive

FINALLY these are finished! Seriously, the one thing I thought would be the easiest ended up being the biggest pain.

Have you encountered anything during your planning that you thought would be super easy but turned into your biggest headache?