Invitation troubles

Jesskwarren

I'm having a tough time finding the perfect invitation! I'm on a budget but I have expensive tastes. I've already looked downtown at Azteca and was wondering if anyone had any suggestions on other places to search through!? Thank you very much

FutureMrsL.R.Allen

What are you looking for in an invitation?  I have been doing a lot of research on them lately and can pass along some ideas if you tell me what you want! What I am doing is semi-DYI.  You can look at my bio under paper.  I am getting a flat invitation off of a invitation website and am going to make it the pocketfold I have envisioned but can not afford!  I made a mock up, it looks really cute!

stahlop

The Wedding Accessory Superstore has good prices.  I think they give 30% off the regular prices.  They're at Cave Creek and the 101.

mresendez

DIY is the way I went. It would all be going rather smoothly if I hadn't chosen to order my paper through a company that seems incapable of sending the right thing. (PS, don't use www.clearbags.com). There are lots of people who are into scrapbooking/cardmaking these days. So even if you aren't a DIY kind of person, chances are there is someone close to you who could easily mock up the invitations you fell in love with but couldn't afford for a much lower price. Or, you could take a pic into a scrapbooking shop and the ladies there are usually thrilled to help you figure out how to do it. For printing, I used Americopy in Mesa. They have great prices (about half the price of Kinko's, Staples, etc), incredible hours (I have made more than one 10 pm trip to them), and my stuff all turned out well.

Fondue II

I couldn't find anything I liked either, so I went the DIY path.  And boy, has it been a long path!  Everything is almost done and I'm thrilled with how they're turning out--all the time and energy I've spent on them is so worth it.  I wasn't terribly skilled at crafting because I didn't have much experience at it, but after making 75 pocketfold invitations, I've become quite proficient.   :)I also have fairly expensive tastes when it comes to invitations, and because we've had 2 weddings in our extended family this year, my invitations had to look better than theirs, so I'm saving quite a bit of $$ by doing them myself.  I'll try to post some pics later this week (we're printing tonight, so I should have the finished product by Friday).So, if you have the time and the desire to do your own invitations, I highly recommend it!

Jesskwarren

Thanks for the advice ladies. We are having a very formal wedding so I would like the invitations to portray that. I like ivory invitations with champagne and black. Beyond that I am pretty clueless. How long did it take for you to make all the invitations?

jaye321

I made ours. (with some very very much needed help from my mother and bridesmaids)  It was a long, tiresome, messy few months of designing and then constructing.  But I received a ridiculous amount of compliments on them, which made my hard work totally worth it!  I designed them through Microsoft Publisher, purchased the materials through a bunch of different vendors (everything is in my bio) and had printing and cutting (3 layer invites) done through The UPS Store.  If you have the time and are willing to put the effort in, you can definitely make your dream invites for cheaper.  I think mine ended up costing less than $2 each, and they looked like $6+. 

scooter2371

These were our wedding invites.. everyone raved about them and it was such a easy website to create exactly what we wanted.  Our colors were black and lime green, so we closed the pocketfolds with a lime green ribbon.  I thought they were a decent price for pocketfolds.. and better yet you get an extra 25% off right now.http://sandstoneweddinginvitations.com/wedding-invitations-black-and-white-pocket.htm

scooter2371

ps. one other thing to consider when getting invites is the postage.  Mine were a 1.00 each to send out plus the reply card postage.  And that was before the new postage rate went up. 

Fondue II

I have spent quite a bit of time on them, but that's my own fault.  For some reason I think it's easier just to do some things my self rather than try to explain to someone how I want things done and then be upset if they're not done right.  I know, I have issues.  They've been consuming a good portion of my time for the past couple of weeks (they're scheduled to go out this weekend), so I probably should have started in earnest a little sooner.Mine have been so time consuming because I've done everything including making my own pocketfolds and envelope liners, cutting straight flaps into pointed flaps, adhering a wide band of ribbon to it, designing the maps, and fine tuning the invitation and inserts with the designer friend that has so very generously donated her time and talent in exchange for using our invitations for her portfolio.  Oh, and I'll probably do the wax seals on them on Friday.  So there is a lot of detail and time consuming work that are going into mine, but DIY invitations don't have to be that difficult.I'm sure a lot of the other gals here can give advice on where to go to get nice, high-quality paper for your invitations.  I ended up ordering most of mine online and was happy with the pricing.  I also ended up getting one type of paper locally, and could have kicked myself when I found it online for less than half of what I paid.

FutureMrs.Recker

I went and looked through the thousands of invitations at the Wedding Accessory Superstore on Cave Creek and the 101.  Once I found the invitation that I liked I went on this website https://www.yourinvitationplace.com/Detail.aspx?ItemNum=R1024&WebName=mediaplusand ordered the invitations for about $40 cheaper than I could find anywhere else in Phoenix.  For 75 invitations with colored ink, printed envelopes and printed return envelopes I only paid around $190 so I thought that was a great deal!

missamyd

The search for invitations can be so time consuming and frustrating.  I went to the Wedding Accessory Superstore but to be honest searching through mountains of books was annoying.  I got mine through Costco.  They work with einvite.com, I think they give a 25% discount.  I ordered several samples before I decided.  I love them.   I am finalizing them and sending them out tomorrow.   Eeek!

christina.araiza

I feel your pain with invitations...I had a hard time too with a limited budget. I went on etsy.com and looked for ideas and a designer that did them custom for me. I ordered 125 invites, RSVP cards, and reply lables for only $160. Many of the designers also offer a custom design then you can print on your own...good luck!