Bride 1: “I know this girl that spent $3,000 on wedding invitations…isn’t that crazy!? She must be totally insane!”
Bride 2: “Seriously. Why would you spend any money on something that people are just going to toss in the garbage.”
Ummmmmm, yeah. The feeling that passed over me when I read that is comparable to a bride hearing that someone just dumped red wine all over her dress. Okay, maybe that is a bit dramatic (I did play the lead in the 8th grade school play) but, seriously. That is the WORST attitude in the world! The invitation (and I am saying this partly because I design invitations for a living, and partly because it’s true), is the first thing that guests will see! Not only does it set the tone for the entire affair, it helps your guests determine just how great the wedding will be! It helps them decide what to wear, it helps them to understand the formality, it helps them to know your personalities even better, it helps them to determine whether you have taste or not. Although it sounds extreme, it’s sort of true. How many times have you received an awful invitation and thought to yourself, “ugh, another cheese cube kind of wedding.” (am I still being a little dramatic?)
Bottom line, even if you don’t have a large budget, your invitations can still be spectacular…AND, can still make your guests think that they are being invited to one swell party.
Ilee is this incredibly beautiful collection that I found the other day, when browsing Pomegranita. The watercolor designs are gorgeous and have sort of a contemporary/romantic feel to them. And, the prices start at $4.50 for a set of 200 including the invitations with hand painted illustrations, outer envelope with return address, blank inner envelope, reception card with hand painted illustration, rsvp card and rsvp envelope with imprinted mailing address.
WIley Valentine, one of my very favorite designers, is also doing a great job at designing affordable luxury invitations. They have a line of GORGEOUS invitations that is flat printed on smooth, heavy weight papers so you get that really expensive look, without the really expensive price tag.
Crafty Cards is yet another great budget-conscious option. According to one of the posts on Daily Candy, for $350 they’ll do it all (invite, R.S.V.P., return address on envelope), and only charge you for the paper and the shipping. That is pretty impressive. I didn’t check with them but if this pricing is still the case (or anywhere near this pricing for that matter), this is quite a deal. And, to make it even sweeter, their designs are really great!
Kenzie Kate just finished her new collection of invitations and they are beautiful. For around $1000-1500, you will get a set of 100 invitations, response cards, printed envelopes and enclosure cards. Although that isn’t cheap, it certainly isn’t unreasonable. Here are some pictures from her great new designs…
So there you have it. Proof that you really can get a great invitation on a budget. So please, people…don’t just assume your guests will toss the invites into the trash. They just might put it on their fridge with all of their treasured artwork!
