Bride-to-be Blogger Carly: We Have a Lot of Questions About Our Invitations

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With our wedding only four months away (whoa that is soon!) it’s time for us to start thinking about invitations. In fact, according to my wedding planning checklist, we are really cutting it close by only starting this process now. Oops!

I have a few questions that are holding up my decision making, so I thought I’d share them with you, dear readers, in the hopes you could help guide me through this process.

Where do we buy?

Recently I went to a paper shop down the street from our apartment to buy a birthday card. The clever sales associate showered me with compliments about my engagement ring and then casually mentioned I should come back to order my invitations. She proceeded to ring up the birthday card, which happened to be about $5.00, and as I forked over my cash I thought to myself, if this is how much they charge for an un-customized birthday card, I’m not sure I even want to find out the price of a wedding invitation!

Then there is always online shopping. If you haven’t figured out from my previous posts, I’m a Googler. So I’ve researched and found a few online invitation companies (Wedding Paper Divas, Minted.com, VistaPrint, etc) where I can easily order invitations at the click of my mouse.

And there’s Etsy. Oh, how I love Etsy. Some of the invitations I find on there are so pretty they might be confused for art! And, what I love most is the idea of working directly with the seller who is also the artist/designer!

What do we need to include?

Obviously we need the actual invitation, but there are so many other pieces to think about. Should we include an RSVP card (or postcard, which I like better) or can we ask guests to RSVP online? If we do that, should there still be a separate card explaining the online RSVP or can we stick that on the invitation?

Since our ceremony and reception are at two different locations, do we need to include a reception detail card? Or can both be included on the invitation?

If our wedding website includes information about travel and accommodations, is it okay if we skip that insert?

Finished product vs. printable

I’ve seen a lot of really beautiful designs on Etsy that are offered as printable PDF files. I’m still trying to figure out how, exactly, these work. But, I’m guessing you take them to a printer (Kinkos??) or print them at home. Does it save a lot of money to print them yourself, or does it end up costing about the same?

Addressing the envelopes

I have nice handwriting, so I’m considering addressing all of the envelopes myself. However, I won’t be learning calligraphy in the next few weeks, so will that be too informal? I’ve seen websites where you can download pretty fonts and print the envelopes at home, or I’m assuming I could get them printed just as I might the invitations, right? I know I could pay a calligrapher to do them as well, but I’m pretty sure that cost could be better allocated elsewhere.

I fancy myself creative and a semi-DIY-er. I don’t mind doing some of the work, as long as the product comes out nicely. But, all things being equal, if the price is the same whether I print at home or buy online, I’ll probably take the easy road.

So, I need some advice and I need it soon. Where did you buy your invitations? Did you have a great experience, would you have done something differently? And to you DIY-ers, was it worth it?

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