WEDDING INVITATIONS and WEDDING STATIONERY: THE CHOICES.

The growing trend for personal, custom weddings is a good thing. Unfortunately -- to do it really well -- you have to spend a lot of money or be Very Clever. (being rich AND very clever isn't bad, either...)

We at Invitesite try to help with the Very Clever part.

Highly Personal = Highly Customized = Usually Expensive

There's a reason custom work is expensive - it's not just another Wedding Industrial Complex conspiracy. UNIQUE means just that - new and fresh, never been done before, no prototype. Which means it costs more in time, materials, labor and attention. More prone to errors. So, in order to understand your options, it helps to know why businesses that sell you services and goods have such a large price difference between standard and custom.

There are 3 basic choices in the wedding invitation marketplace:

factory-printed invitations
boutique or custom invitations
making the invitations yourself

Factory Printed Invitations

You may have asked yourself: Why do all the standard wedding invitations look the same and why do they seem so cheap looking?

Inexpensive, factory-printed invitations all look the same because the companies save money by standardizing the process from start to finish.

Multiple setup/short run/low cost printing for a One-Time customer (as most couples are) is not an attractive business proposition to your average printer. (This is why your local printer pulls out the invitation albums.) The usual invitation set includes 4 - 6 separate parts. That means that a commercial printing press has to be set up 4 to 6 times (because you are printing different text on different sized paper). All the cost in standard printing is in setting up the press. Invitation factories have the printing process down to a science. Cost is in the process, not the materials. (Paper cost is minimal - all the cost is in printing and processing the order) Any change in routine and they lose money.

Also, most of these factories are owned by one company (even though they operate under different names).

The Upside: Many people are satisfied with these invitations.

Ordering is simple and quick (either through a re-seller, catalog or online).
The entire invitation issue is taken care of, rather painlessly.
Lots of brides use them.

The Downside: Some couples find them cheap looking, run-of-the-mill, and somewhat tacky. Not a good way to invite friends and love ones to a very personalized wedding. When you get one of these invitations in the mail, you might figure the food and the reception will be cookie-cutter, too.

The invitations all look the same.
The designs are very middle-market.
The paper is cheap and the printing is undistinguished.

Custom Invitations

Why are all the really beautiful, unique and custom wedding invitations so expensive?

Boutique or custom invitations are either made by the business selling them to you, or the business is an exclusive re-seller for a boutique invitation house. An enormous amount of attention, time and labor is involved. Printing is usually high end: engraving, letterpress, embossing, hotstamping, silk-screen - all methods that involve a great deal of craftsmanship, handwork and attention. The design process itself is involved and time-consuming. Materials are expensive - silks, handmade papers, special handmade envelopes.

The Upside: Most couples who can afford these invitations (expect to pay from $2,000 - $10,000 for an invitation order) are pleased.

All the details are attended to - usually overseen by the wedding consultant.
Wedding stationery is extremely distinguished and personalized.

The Downside: Your vision might not be realized exactly as you wanted it.

Because your expectations (and costs) are so high, you might feel that you didn't get what you paid for.
It's easy to get obsessive about the details.
Time and attention commitment is high. The process can take months.

Making Invitations Yourself.

Is it hard to do? Why do so many do it yourself invitations look so ... well ... home made?

Wedding Magazines write about the growing trend for couples to print their own invitations. However, notice they never really get into the details and offer exactly HOW this is done.

Since 1996, (at our handmade paper store), we've seen fabulous DIY invitations (from our customers, of course!) and some downright horrific DIY examples. (Why didn't they come to us first?)
Graphic designers, web designers, architects and interior designers don't usually have a problem creating their own invitations -- their skill set is high. Non-pros (with guidance) can do a brilliant job. Most of the difficulty involves:

Getting sizes right - including the envelopes
Figuring out the typesetting rules
Finding components that match each other
Knowing what can be printed on, and by what printing technology
Getting parent sheets of unusual papers cut accurately

The rest is just labor and fussing.

The Upside: Good value: a highly personal, beautiful invitation for the same cost as cheap mail order (factory printed) invitations.

High quality materials
Personal satisfaction from doing it yourself.
Your friends are all impressed by the quality.
Your mate is impressed with your resourcefulness.
You save money

The Downside: About twice as much work involved with addressing and stuffing envelopes than factory-printed invitations.

Very complicated without clear instructions.
Making mistakes and having to do it over again.
Not being able to find the right size envelope

Invitesite Invitation kits remove most of the Downside and leave all the Upside.

What can I expect in an InviteSite kit?

You have already figured out that you are sending out an invitation that few people have seen before. You are doing the environmentally friendly thing as well as putting in the sweat equity that is saving you some serious money.

Sweat equity? Yes. Here is what to expect.

Plan the number of guests, then call us and order.
Start doing your typesetting. When you order you will receive instructions on where to get our MicroSoft Word templates. Or, you can start setting up your own typesetting in your own typesetting software. If you don't like any of the typefaces you already have on your computer, you may want to purchase one. We like MyFonts.
You will receive all the tools you need to get the job done. You may have to reinforce creases with a bone folder. You may have to punch a hole or cut something. You may have to tie a ribbon or glue a flower (following our careful instructions).
Printing. Printing on your desktop printer is the loneliest part of this. You can take the paper to a commercial printer, but plan ahead for this by taking a sample to the shop and asking how much overage they would need. They may want you to order more than our standard 10% over that we give you for home printing. All the other assembly you can do with a small party (no wine until after). At InviteSite we supply papers that can sometimes need special handling in your printer, and there are so many different printers that we cannot guarantee results. You will likely need to hand feed your sheets. You will have to cut them after you print. In order to be sure the paper is large enough to go through, most invitations are intended to print two on a sheet. Then you have to cut it in half. You can do this at home, or take it to a local copy center and have them cut the whole stack. They would probably charge you a dollar a cut for this (about three dollars for the whole job). Few of our customers have trouble printing, but to get an idea of what troubles might be encountered, see our printing solutions section.
Be sure you have the post office weigh a finished piece before you assume how much postage you need.
Be proud. You did it yourself.

Questions? Call us tollfree at 888.349.4684 or local 626.793.4600

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