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Your very cheapest method is going to be ordering an invitation kit from target, an office supply store or a craft store. There are quite a few options and styles if you just print them yourself on the premade invite, and they come with all the matching inserts, envelopes, etc
I think that depending on where you order your paper/invitations, DIY and ordering onilne are probably very similar in price. Make your decision based on how complicated the invitations are, and how complex the design your looking for is. Both ways have their benefits!
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What is your budget and how many do you need?
You can make invitations really cheap if you understand what you're doing. If you were to make a simple invite (no pocketfold) and RSVP card/whatever else you needed to include- it would run you around 2 bucks per invite. If you're interested in pocketfold and actually put the time into making your own pocketfolds, 3-4 dollars.
A great site that is sort of DIY is www.bella-kai.com
These invites are around 4.5 and are super easy to make yourself, here is there wedding invite page http://www.bella-kai.com/category.php?category_id=244&page=2 if you wait to order until around March they generally go on sale for around 3.50$
If you wanted to order invitations http://www.weddingpaperdivas.com/shop/wedding-invitations.htm#101L24P0D0 has very nice invites, and their prices are pretty decent. You could do 50 invites from 100-200 dollars.
Etsy is a great place for cheaper invitation options. Also you can usually get someone to design the actual invitation and then you can do the assembly? I am happy to answer any questions you might have!
DIY can be expensive, especially if you are new to this kind of thing and don't really know what you need, or are like me and tend to be indecisive or over-order. Plus they will take up time - so whether that's a good trade for you really depends on how much spare time you have, and whether you want to spend it making invitations. I personally think the semi-DIY route - invitation design by somebody else and printing locally, or even on your own printer - is a nice compromise. Target has some nice options, as does Costco.com, and although I didn't have my invitations done on Etsy I have some gorgeous personalized stationery and thank you cards from Etsy vendors that were really reasonable. We ordered our STDs from Wedding Paper Divas, and they were very nice as well as inexpensive.
It is hard to advise though, without knowing what your budget looks like. I do agree that at the lower end of what you can spend to order invitations ($2 - $3 per invite) you probably aren't going to save a lot by DIY.
I've found that the reason many of my friends are doing it themselves is because they really wanted something unique. In the end, they all said they would never do it again, except 1 - who is a total scrapbooker extraordinaire, and they spent just as much or more on invites, and then spent all their time on putting them together, and I helped. Now I'm in the same boat, and I'm not doing anything myself!
I've been shopping JM, and they offer all sorts of options per budget. Here are a couple highlights that I've found with them that might help you.
DIY cardstock and kits (the same kits are sold in Target too)
Single cards - pretty darn affordable for what you can do. You choose a paper, layout, wording, 2 ink colors, 2 fonts, a monogram or design, and envelopes. You can get a really custom invite for $124/100. Not bad. And not worth the angst - seriously. For me anyway.
Hope that helps!
Good luck Colleen!
J
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I made my own to save money, and in the end I spent as much as I would have for super high end silk boxed invitations. I did, however, end up with a really unique invitation that I could not have purchased elsewhere.
If budget is really an issue, try Costco, which links to invites from evite.com. The average low end range is $74.00 for 100. The really simple ones with just raised paneling, thermography (raised ink) in any color, and envelopes with liners are a little cheaper at $63 - $70. I might go this route because I am not just 100% sold on paying more for invites. I ordered a few samples and they are hit or miss. Some people really liked, but others were thumbs down. If you want more info about specifics, pm me b/c I ordered 10 - 12 already.
I have also toyed with the idea of getting someone to do a design for $25 - $30, and print them locally. FYI, Kinko's in my area can do 2 on a page for .31 cent for each b&w sheet if I use their paper (.08 if I bring the paper, but it has to be cardstock, not the prepackaged blank invites). Color copies are 1.49 per page, but I am sure that Staples or Office Depot can beat this because they often have sales where color copies are .29 or .59. Each place can do a sample for you beforehand.
I used a PW member to do monograms and used them for my STDs printed at vistaprint. I love the design and it turned out better than expected so unless I just say to hell with it all, I will probably go the route of getting someone to design something and print it locally.
I think it all depends on the quanity of invites. When ordering online, the price typically goes down the more you order. I am planning on ordering some simple invitations online ($126 for 150) and then adding my own ribbon for a more personal touch! Good luck!
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If I have already bought the paper, how much should I expect to pay per invite for simple printing (two colors -- invite and RSVP card only)?
As someone else said, it depends on where you go. If you have a good quality printer at home, I would recommend printing them yourself. We figured out the cost of printing somewhere else, versus buying ink for our home printer and it came out way cheaper to print them on our own printer. If a home printer is not an option, I would recommend checking around. Sometimes local print shops can outdo the major chains. And they are usually more easy to work with because they NEED your business.
we made our own invites, which came out to $2 per invite including materials and rsvp cards, so we saved money. i wanted to have something more unique and chic while saving money, and honestly, i think it looks better than other invites $2 or less that i saw. i went to paper zone, michaels, and papermart for the materials, which include lining paper for the outer envelopes (note: i don't line the whole envelope, just the part that most people will see, so you save on paper this way), rsvp cardstock and envelopes, envelopes, organza bags (inner envelopes), cardstock, filler paper, glitter pens, stamps and ink, and black printing ink. i used a lot of things to make the invites and managed to make an invite for $2 each.
as for time, i really like making cards, and i thought about how i want the invites to look for a long time, so that helped with efficiency. plus, i do have some time to make them and have experience with layout design. if you have an idea in your head about how the invites should look and designed print materials using ms word or other software before, perhaps the diy route may be best for you. just a heads up, what took me the longest time was bargain hunting - i found that taking advantage of the 40% or 50% off coupons at michaels helped a lot - searching for free fonts that i liked (i'm very picky when it comes to fonts), and proofreading. once you get your materials together, i'm guessing that you can probably make all of your invites if you devote 5-7 days to designing, printing, and assembling them. it could be shorter, but i'm just guessing.
or you can go to michaels to purchase diy invite kits, and be sure to use their coupons to save a lot of money.
Here is another route other than shelling out major cash or printing off some pretty generic (sorry for those who love them!) Target or Walmart invite kits.
Go to www.darmanddesigns.com. This company has many beautiful designs and also makes custom invitation suites. There are several DIY options that they offer as well to give price breaks.
My favorite is that they will custom design an entire invitation suite for you for around $70 and send it to you on a disk. You can then take it to someone with a quality color printer and quality paper and print out and cut your own beautiful and unique invitations. I am estimating then that you would spend $150ish on up on the printing and the paper plus the $70 for the custom design.
This would put you WELL under what you would normally pay for these beautiful designs while still keeping a beautiful and personalized look for you stationery.
If the invitations are part of your overall wedding theme, then it will help to buy something custom designed or design something yourself. We designed our own invites but spent about $800 on the project because I letterpressed them myself, spending money on paper, ink, plate making, studio rental and so on. The process was one of my favorite parts of wedding planning and one of the things I enjoyed most about our wedding elements. The cost was justified because I wanted the invites to set a certain tone and be something that guests would take noticed of from the moment they opened the invite. At the same time, I've been to countless weddings where the invite was simple, from a kit and store bought and the wedding was just as memorable and fabulous. Etsy is a great source but since you'll find mostly handmade items there, the cost may be just as high as custom invites. If you really want custom invites, why not eliminate a few pieces like the inner envelope, the directions card, the reception card and create a post card rsvp as opposed to one that you mail back. That way you are just sticking to the basics, invitation & rsvp. The rest of the information you can upload to a website. Good luck!
P.S. You can see our invites and read about the entire diy process here: http://perfectbound.blogspot.com/search/label/our%20invitations
I'm definitely going to DIY. I did it once for my co-worker and we just spent 1 afternoon to do it and there were 4 of us. It was such an easy process, but back then I didn't think too much into it. I know I won't be spending a lot of money on it either because nobody will even care, but that doesn't mean I don't want my invites to look nice. The hardest part for me right now is to decide what style I want. This was her style http://www.formal-invitations.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=AP-AstrShee&Category_Code=petal&Product_Count=1 but the ribbon was a purple and it was a lot prettier. I think she spent less money than that and got all her supplies from staples.
I am thinking about doing my invitations myself, but I have not decided yet. I found a website that offers a unique DIY process. You can customize your DIY package. If you want a unique design but do the work yourself, they will sell you a cd with the customized invitation and cards that you want so you can take and print them off yourself. The invitation only cd is like only $35 and the whole suite is $50. They also have a diy package where they print everything off and then you cut and assemble it. Sounds good to me. This way I can have a nice invitation, at a great price and not have to design it myself.
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oops...I tell you all about them and I forget to say who...you should check it out: www.darmanddesigns.com
Check out www.CraftMasterInvitations.com They offer quality invites at low prices. Ask for a quotation first. Compare it with the cost you might incur if you do DIY - do consider time & effort spent and also the extra order of materials you might end up ordering due to error prints and all. On the other hand, ordering online incurs shipping cost. Check all the hidden costs from each side, compare and choose which would be worth it. Good luck!!!
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I'm very torn between doing invitations myself or finding a place on-line. I want to keep them as inexpensive as possible, and the DIY route seems just as expensive and time consuming as just ordering them. Any one have suggestions?
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