Our Wedding Day: The Invitations

From the moment we started planning our Big Day I knew that I wanted elegant invitations that were simple but still fit our "theme."  I found the most perfect invitations for us on Wedding Paper Divas.  I was ecstatic when I found them and I was hooked and could not wait to order them.  Ryan and I had every detail of our wedding planned out in about 30 days - because that was all we had together before he deployed to Afghanistan - but I knew I couldn't order them that early.  I waited until about January to order. ::when they were having good deals for the holidays::

My favorite thing about Wedding Paper Divas was how you could customize ALL of their products.  You could change the colors, fonts, positioning, etc.  It was so nice to have a design template that you could finagle around to make it completely perfect for you.

I got my invitations, RSVP cards, and enclosure cards all from them and could not have been more thrilled with how they all turned out.  I ordered everything in "Fine Filigree: Emerald" and used coupon codes to help with the prices.

My RSVP cards were priced at $1.19 each and included ivory envelopes for each.

My invitations were priced at $2.04 each and also included ivory envelopes.  I did order an additional 10 ivory envelopes ::in case of mess ups:: for $2.00.

My grand total for this order was $285.21 but we used to coupon codes giving us $50 off and free shipping.  Our complete total for these two parts of the invitation was $$226.71 saving $58.50!

I love deals and I was not going to have it be any different with the wedding stationary.  After realizing how little I spent on this area of my budget I decided that I had enough left to buy the enclosure cards.  These cards were not necessarily needed but added a nicer touch. 

The enclosure cards were, once again, "Fine Filigree: Emerald" and came to $1.49 each with matching ivory envelopes.  I had a coupon code that gave me $11.18 off and free shipping.  My grand total for this order was $108.62 saving me $19.68.

Overall, my stationary only cost me $335.33 which was under my $350.00 budget.  I always love saving money whenever possible and without getting less quality on the items.

Wedding Paper Divas was awesome with their products, shipping times and coupon codes.  They are always having deals and running specials on their Facebook page and website.  I recommend them to all brides ::to at least check out:: because you cannot beat all that comes with your purchase.

The next item of my stationary was our return address stamp.  I did not want to hand-write the return address on 2 envelopes per invite ::one for the invitation and one for the RSVP card:: so I looked into getting a stamp.  I know that websites sell custom return address labels and that is fine and dandy for cards or bills, but for my wedding I wanted something a little more elegant looking. 

I found a deal on Groupon that gave me a custom stamp from InvitationBox for $15!  These stamps are normally priced between $25-$50 each.  I was so excited. 

I picked out a monogram stamp that had our last initial as the centerpiece and a circle of our information around it.  It was so easy to use and I still use it when mailing out our Thank You notes, cards, etc.

When thinking about your stationary budget I definitely recommend including enough for a stamp to save yourself time and adding a touch of elegance on the outside of the envelope.

The next item on my stationary was the addressing of the envelopes.  I was very torn about this.  It is all over Pinterest to have a calligrapher write out your invitations.  I could not see spending that kind of money on something like that.  I chose to spend the majority of my budget on the actual invitations so I could figure out a less expensive way to nicely address them.

I decided to go to Walmart and buy some big clear envelope labels.  This was the cheapest ::but still nice:: alternative to a calligrapher.  I purchased enough labels for the outside envelopes and the RSVP cards.  I chose a font from Word and printed up all of my invitation.  I spelled out every word to make it look nicer and more professional.  I do not know if this worked but in my mind it looked classy and elegant and that was what I was going for.  This was way less stressful than having to figure out who was going to do them, if they were going to do them correctly and in a timely manner.  I highly recommend this if you are trying to watch your budget.

The final item of my stationary were stamps.  This is such a simple thing that most people ::men especially:: don't think about when deciding on invitations.  I knew that I did not want to use the Holiday Stamps that were out at the time or the Patriotic Stamps that are always out ::even though I really love America - it wasn't the right fit::  I found the perfect stamp for all of my invitations and RSVP cards ::yes, you should stamp your RSVP card for your guests::

I chose the "Sealed with Love" stamp from USPS and got enough for all of the envelopes.  I had to order these online because they were not out yet when I found them and wouldn't be in post offices until after I wanted to mail them out.  This was an awesome option that we found because then you don't have to worry about making multiple trips to the post office ::once to buy stamps and again to mail the invitations::  I bought multiple books and still have some extras around the house.  They are "Forever" stamps so they will always be valid.

I could not have been more pleased with any part of my invitations.  It is a lot of little stuff that goes into creating one other little part of the big day.  Make sure that when you are planning your big day that you don't skimp on the things that are important to you.