Wedding Invitation - how much are you paying per set?

[YumCarrots]

Hi all !

I went to an invitation store yesterday for some custom invitation estimates and was quoted $8 per set (including invitation, outer & inner envelopes, RSVP card & envelope, map). I was wondering if that''s too high.

How much are you paying for your invites per set? (avg cost) - it can be DIY, custom made, catalogue, etc.

Thank you!

 

[E B]

Date: 7/11/2006 2:16:46 AM
Author:YumCarrots
Hi all !

I went to an invitation store yesterday for some custom invitation estimates and was quoted $8 per set (including invitation, outer & inner envelopes, RSVP card & envelope, map). I was wondering if that's too high.

How much are you paying for your invites per set? (avg cost) - it can be DIY, custom made, catalogue, etc.

Thank you!

Well, it all depends. Is $8 an invitation in your budget?

$8.00 is definitely too high for me. I think, all supplies and printing fees (DIY), ours will come out to around $100 for around 50 invitations, unless we decide to have them printed professionally (and in this case, they'll have to be comparable in price!).

I highly recommend www.paper-source.com if you want to DIY. They have lots of fun supplies and DIY kits with everything you need. For example, here's a link to several choices for only one style of invitation (they have many!):

Classic A7

HTH!

 

[jcrow]

i think it depends on not only what you are getting, but the quality and how complicated the invites are.

 

[saturn]

We ordered our traditional invitations with thermography from National Engraving, and paid about $170 for 100 invitation sets (Invitations, reply cards and envelopes, lined inner envelopes, and outer envelopes). My FSIL did the calligraphy for free, and they turned out really nice!

 

[flutterby]

I paid alot for mine, never really figured out per invite,till now, it was about $15. I had 60 invites made, 60 rehearsal dinner cards, computer calligraphy, menus and table cards for $950. I love them! She custom made them and they look awesome!

Heres a few sneak peaks!

 

[flutterby]

my favorite, the menu!

 

[Kaylyn]

I''m doing custom-designed seal-n-send invites that are in full color. I believe I will be ordering 125 invitations, which should work out to about $100, all said and done.

 

[San Diego Bride]

my invitations were do it yourself from michaels. i bought a kit with 50 invitations/outer envelopes/reply cards/inner envelopes. they''re usually $30, but i had a 40% off coupon so they were $18. they are simple ivory invitations so i wanted to jazz them up a little bit. i bought small paper gerbera daisies in pink and glued them on the top of the invitation with a glue dot. the flowers and glue dots were another $12. i printed them at work since we have nice printers (i hid in a back office). so my total was $30 for 50. they''re not terribly formal, but neither is my wedding and i think they look really nice.

 

[NewShiny]

My invites ran about $6.00 per set for 150. I had a reception card rather than a map. As you can see from all the responses, invites can be done very inexpensively or super duper expensive! The invites were important to me. Some people think they''re just throwaway paper, others (like me) think that they set the tone for the whole wedding and were high on my priority list when it came to the budget. I got them through a stationery store who ordered them from a subsidiary of Crane''s. Not sure what the company''s name is anymore.

I would suggest that you take your overall budget and determine the top few things that are most important to you. From there, then you can decide whether $8.00 per is too much.

For me, the top priorities were the reception site/food, photographer, and invitations. So I made sure to pad the budget in these areas. Of course, on the flip side, you have to determine what is not as important and what you''re really going to stick to the budget on. In this case, it was my dress (I set a strict $1K limit and almost met it if it hadn''t been for the alterations , videography, and favors.

BTW, my all time favorite paper site is: paperstyle.com
They aren''t cheap, but have great quality stuff and will really work with you through the proof process to make sure all is perfect. I used them for my new house announcements.

Good luck!

 

[ChargerGrrl]

I totally agree with NewShiny- figure out where invites fall on your priority list, and take it from there. Invite prices are all over the place, and there''s tons to choose from out there.

I''m in the middle stages of DIY-ing mine, and really don''t know how much they''ll come out to. I originally priced them on mygatsby and they came out to $6.

Stay tuned for my DIY-invite post!

 

[codex57]

I went with a cheapy place that was still decent. You chose from a bunch of different templates and got to pick ink color, etc. 2 color, ribbon/bow as some decoration, print on all sides, invitation and envelope, and rsvp card and envelope. Came out to about $130 for a set of 100.

Later on, my hotel double booked our ceremony about a month before the wedding so in exchange for moving and stuff, we got them to pay for professional cards to let guests know of the change in time. These were full custom, hand made, fancy kinds. For the full set, I think it came out to $5-8 each set (invitation, rsvp card, envelopes, etc). Depends on what kinda paper you used.

For $8 each, they better be real high end.

 

[snlee]

Our invitations were about $170 for 100. It had two layers with Chinese printed on the right and English printed on the left. Nothing too fancy. I really like how they turned out.

I think $8 is way too much.

 

[ellaila]

I was a DIYer (invites just went out today actually - yahOOOO!!!!), and ain''t no way mine cost anything near $8 each!!

I guess one thing to consider too is how many invitations you''d be ordering. I mean, we only had to do about 20, so if you''re doing a small amount like that at $8 a pop, that''s not too bad. BUT from what I''ve seen, most invitation companies had minimum orders of 50 or 100, so yeah, you''d definitely be getting up there.

Out of all the invitations I''ve received in my life, I could not tell you who spent $.08 on an invitation and who spend $8 on an invitation, so I personally would never put that much of the wedding budget on something that''s going to get thrown away! I agree that the invitation sets the tone, however, I think with a little research and some time, you can create really lovely invitations on absolutely beautiful paper that are classy, elegant, playful, formal, informal -- whatever you''re aiming for! So many PSers have posted their DIY invites, and there are some that are just fan-tas-tic!

Good luck with whatever you choose!

 

[jcrow]

i am going against the grain here in the invite category, but i knew that going into the wedding planning. this was the area i wanted to splurge a bit.

my invites should end up costing $11ish. at a glance, that might look steep. but, in reality *i* don't think they are that badly priced. they are a letterpress book format that contains the ceremony invite, the reception invite, map, hotel info, history of the church, history of the reception place, and a tear off rsvp card. they will be perforated and hand stitched. the price also includes letterpressing the return address on the envlopes.

we aren't doing save the date cards, or professionally printed menu cards, place cards or any of that. although we are getting quotes for letterpressed thank you cards.

so if you are going custom and are loving them, i definitely don't think $8 is too much.

 

[AndyRosse]

I paid about $5 per set, including calligraphy

(not including stamps)

 

[Tacori E-ring]

Mine were under $3 a set (includes stamps) but I designed and printed them myself (except the envelopes and the perf of the postcard) and got the paper wholesale. I like to think they *look* much more expensive