It is just paper!

After we got engaged, and I got immersed into all things wedding, I drooled over the pretty invitations that people had. It is just paper, I know. But invitations have come a long way since I was a flower girl. Look at these pretties...

(credit)

(credit)

(credit)

The cost of pro invites has also astronomically increased over the years. And to make matter worse, the cost of recycled paper invites is astounding!!! So this is something I thought that I would DIY from the get-go. Sure, Target, Michaels, et al have print your own invites in a box, but I had hoped that we would have some more unique, recycled invitations.

I obtained my gocco (that Ralph renamed the go go) before I was even engaged and so I pretty much knew that we would screenprint our invites with them.

I did a cost analysis a long time ago for DIY paper supplies at the famed Paper Source and found that if we did the traditional invite suite (an invite card, an RSVP card and envelope, within an inner envelope, all encased in an outer envelope), it really doesn't save us any money and uses up alot of unnecessary paper.

So, we decided to pare back and just include an invite card and envelope. I was able to get pretty recycled paper envelopes for a very reasonable cost and heavyweight cardstock to elimate the need of layering pieces of paper upon paper. We decided to forgo the RSVP cards altogether and just do online RSVP from our wedding website. Even the elders on my side of the family are internet savvy. No inner envelope either - yeah we are just bucking tradition :-)

Anyway, this really allowed us to save a ton on them, in terms of materials cost, printing cost, and in postage. One of the little tricks I learned is to NOT buy pre-cut cardstock, it is overpriced. Instead we bought all our paper in 8.5*11" sheets and then got it professionally cut by Kinkos. All the extra paper could then be used for other project and crafts.

So in the end, our unique invitations will cost around the same as super simple invites from a place like Costco, except we also were able to also have Christmas cards, thank you cards, and still have enough really cool paper for other a bunch of new projects that I dream up when I go through wedding withdrawl.

Then again, they haven't been made yet. If the design doesn't work out on Saturday, Costco here I come!