Inexpensive Wedding Invitations

Advice for saving money on your
wedding invitations

Inexpensive Wedding Invitations are possible! Selecting your wedding invitations is an area where you can save money in your wedding budget. You just need to be creative in researching all the options out there and there are many. From online sites, to DIY packages from stores like Michaels, to stores like Target and Office Depot you can find beautiful invitations that will invite your guests in style and still be within your budget.

Do It Yourself Invitations : You can buy blank invitations and print them yourself. This may be one of the most cost effective ways to get inexpensive wedding invitations. Packages of blank wedding invitations are available on the web and in stores like Target, craft stores and office supply stores. They come with templates that will allow you to create and print perfect wedding invitations. Look at them first to make sure the card stock is heavy enough so that they are not look flimsy. While you want to save money, you do not want them to look cheap. Many come with ribbons and adornments that you attach yourself. These can tricky and very time consuming. My advice is that if you choose this option, simple is best. Also make sure you have a decent printer. Keep in mind that to do 100 invitations, you probably will need a full ink cartridge so factor that into the cost. Also printing them is usually a manual feed process. Still, this option can save you a great deal of money on your wedding invitations. My daughter in law chose this option and their invitations were beautiful.

Costco Wholesale Club: Who would have thought that Costco has a wedding invitation department..but yes they do! They use a well known internet invitation company and your Costco membership offers you a substantial discount off the regular online prices. We used Costco for our daughter’s invitation and were thrilled with the results. The quality was excellent, the invitations shipped quickly and we saved a substantial amount of money! Go to the Costco site and search "wedding invitations". It is an excellent place to find inexpensive wedding invitations.

Internet Invitation sites: There are a multitude of sites which advertise inexpensive wedding invitations. Comparison shop and choose carefully. You can search wedding forum websites like “The Knot” for recommendations and comments about sites other brides have used successfully. Many internet sites will send you samples and for the minimal cost, it is worth it to see what you are ordering.

Whenever you order online, check, double check and triple check the copy before you hit the submit order button. Make sure everything is correct as once you order, they are yours. Also, keep in mind that the invitations costs are a la carte: the invitation, the response card & envelope, the reception card. Any inserts with additional information are your responsibility. Most of the time the invitations will offer an inexpensive option of pre-printing the address for the response card and your return address. This is worth every cent. Keep in mind that you are responsible for addressing the individual invitations. If you want to pay to have this done, it can be expensive.

1. Hire a local college art student who can do calligraphy to address your invitations.

2. If you are going to do labels, look for the clear labels and use a font that is similar to the invitations themselves.

3. Buy extra invitations. It is much less expensive to add an additional 10 invitations to the initial order than to have to go back and order extras separately, plus many times there will be minimum requirements. If you are buying "do it yourself invitations", you can always return them. You don’t want to go back to the store and find the ones you initially bought are out of stock or discontinued.

4. Before you buy your invitations, consider their size. Some invitations are of irregular size and require additional postage. While you may love the invitation, do you want to spend double the amount of usual postage costs? ALWAYS bring a sample of the completed invitation to the post office to be weighed. Even though they may be a standard size, when you add the inserts, one stamp will usually not suffice. The last thing you want is having invitations returned for incorrect postage or arriving to your guest with postage due. The post office has very pretty wedding stamps that are the same cost as regular stamps. They add a nice touch.

Here is some good etiquette advice on wedding invitation wording.

Weddings are expensive and brides are always looking for ways to keep within their budget, so shop carefully and you can find beautiful inexpensive wedding invitations. And remember our "TRIPLE C" cost saving tip: Costco and College Calligrapher OR do as my creative daughter in law did.. Make them yourself!

Inexpensive wedding invitations are just one way to save money when planning your wedding. Find more ideas here.

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