Many people feel that invitations set the tone for the wedding because they're among the first pieces (or the first if you don't do a save-the-date) of information that guests receive about the wedding. While they mattered to us, we viewed them simply as a vehicle to get the word out about our wedding rather than as something very symbolic. As Lance said quite regularly throughout the process, "it'sonly paper!!"
When we first started looking at invitations, we naively assumed that they would be one of our easier decisions. So, we started the invitation process by going to our local Crane's store and hoping to hash things out in an afternoon. Who knew paper could be so expensive? For about 75 invites that weren't even in a style we loved, it was going to be several $1000s. There were also almost no options appropriate for a laid-back destination wedding, so we went back to the drawing board.
We wanted something a little beachy (but not over the top), possibly including blue that could be ordered in a relatively small quantity and wasn't too boring...so we probably weren't that easy to please. After much research, we couldn't find any designs that we really liked and that were in our budget. Unwilling to dedicate a larger chunk of money to paper, we decided to make the invites ourselves.
We found paper printed with blue seashells mounted on blue cardstock by William Arthur Invitations, which served as the main body for the invite. We found matching cardstock at our local Michael's store and ordered envelopes and ribbon from every DIY-bride's dream, Paper Source (paper-source.com). With materials in hand, Laura began the extremely labor-intensive process of making the invites - printing the main invitation, the reply card, the reply envelope, the outer envelope (front and back).
In the end, they turned out great, and we got numerous compliments. In retrospect, however, not being particularly crafty people or having a lot of extra time, we probably should have sucked it up and paid a little more money to have someone else make them.
There are plenty of stores and websites that will handle the invitations for you soup-to-nuts or just provide you with the materials to embarke upon your own DIY project. Some favorites among a lot of destination weddings brides include:
When we first started looking at invitations, we naively assumed that they would be one of our easier decisions. So, we started the invitation process by going to our local Crane's store and hoping to hash things out in an afternoon. Who knew paper could be so expensive? For about 75 invites that weren't even in a style we loved, it was going to be several $1000s. There were also almost no options appropriate for a laid-back destination wedding, so we went back to the drawing board.
We wanted something a little beachy (but not over the top), possibly including blue that could be ordered in a relatively small quantity and wasn't too boring...so we probably weren't that easy to please. After much research, we couldn't find any designs that we really liked and that were in our budget. Unwilling to dedicate a larger chunk of money to paper, we decided to make the invites ourselves.
We found paper printed with blue seashells mounted on blue cardstock by William Arthur Invitations, which served as the main body for the invite. We found matching cardstock at our local Michael's store and ordered envelopes and ribbon from every DIY-bride's dream, Paper Source (paper-source.com). With materials in hand, Laura began the extremely labor-intensive process of making the invites - printing the main invitation, the reply card, the reply envelope, the outer envelope (front and back).
In the end, they turned out great, and we got numerous compliments. In retrospect, however, not being particularly crafty people or having a lot of extra time, we probably should have sucked it up and paid a little more money to have someone else make them.
There are plenty of stores and websites that will handle the invitations for you soup-to-nuts or just provide you with the materials to embarke upon your own DIY project. Some favorites among a lot of destination weddings brides include:
3 comments:
http://www.calligraphylady.com also offers invitations featuring beach theme designs, custom details and pretty stationery.
Hi, what are save the date? Can a DVD invitation be a save the date? Does all invitations need a save the date? sorry for all the questions, but I am having a hard time looking for some idea what a save the date is. I got my DVD idea from Silver Screen Invites ive been customizing it for a while now though.
Thank you so much for mentioning My Personal Artist!
Our TRENDSETTING Starfish Invitations are Starworthy and perfect for Destination Weddings! >> http://bit.ly/LXB2x
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