Hello fellow Brides....
This is my lil rant a rave about invitations. My fiance finally put a ring on my finger 2 months ago. He is in the Navy, so we are quickly putting together a wedding on a budget on a short time (whew).
My love of paper has been instilled in me for my whole live. So, I thought I could tackle the invitations myself. And here is my story.
Day 1: The invitations started out with paper, of course. After driving around dozens of office supply and art supply stores, I finally found the paper I wanted to use. A tank of gas and a whole day off spent, but I found good quality paper.
Day 2, 3: I spent 2 days doing research online, finding the right fonts, finding a damask pattern to use on the top of my invitation. Finding just the right wording rules.
Day 4: I spent today designing it on my computer. Getting just the right color, just the righe placement...and of course, cutting the paper (it was layered)
Day 5: Printer needs ink. I get ink and start printing my invitations. Unfortunately, my printer does not like the weight and size of paper I had (heavier weight and not a normal 8.5x11 sheet) So, a return trip back to the office supply store to buy a new printer. At this point, I am thinking I spending too much money
Day 6: Sample invitation is DONE! I show it to my loving fiance, my mother, and my soon to be mother-in-law. It gets butchered. Fiance says it looks like a carnival invitation (I did all my colors i there). My Mother just flat out says No, and that if I was to send them out, I would have to remove her name from issuing it. Mother-in-law offers to pay for new ones.
Day 7,8,9,10: I am in TEARS!
Day 11: I suck up my pride and start looking at invitations online.
Day 12: I stop online because there is WAAAY to much to choose from, so I go local.
Day 13, 14: Shopping!
Day 15: Placed order for invitations! Everyone is happy!
As you can see, I spent 12 days tryiing to DIY, I have a new printer, and old printer and ink... and paper... all for nothing.
I live in Jacksonville, Florida. So here is a list of vendors I did visit to help those brides/grooms in search:
Impressions: They had quite a few books to choose from, but I felt I was not getting any assistance. The invitatations were not within my budgets, stretching it to the max. I give them a 3 out of 5 based on great selection, but bad service.
The Write Touch: Just down the street from Impressions (literally) is a high end place. Very pricey, and just did not work with my budget and wording. I felt spoken down to there. Not much selection (that I know of... she only showed me overpriced books). I give them a 1 out of 5 based on price and service.
My choice was:
Things Very Special: They are a 5 minute drive from the two above. I told them my budget and they worked within it. I needed 100 invitations under 200 dollars. I was shown a few invitations slightly over my budget, but only by $20. I ended up getting double envelope invitations, a reply set, and another enclosure card for under $200. I rate them 4 out of 5. They were helpful, listended to my needs, and were within my budget. They are hard to find and I wish they were more convienient.
Attached is my Seperate and Seal invitations!
