Storymix Bride Ashley: Where to find budget friendly bridal invitations
I’m a bride on a mission; to have a gorgeous wedding while maintaining practicality when it comes to spending for the event. As I’m planning out my wedding I have tried to take into account the average costs of the necessary vendors and items and stay reasonably within my budget, while not losing the vision of what my fiancé and I want our wedding to be.
When I began my search for invitations, this was my philosophy: find invitations that show the guest a glimpse of the wedding to come and not spend too much money doing it. Remember, it is not only the cost of the invitation, but all the inserts, should you choose to add them, as well as postage for the envelopes and the reply card envelopes.
My wedding is taking place in Connecticut, and I knew in my head what I was willing to spend, but I was shocked when I found out that the average CT bride will spend $800 and up on invitations. You have got to be kidding me!
My first stop was Paper Presentation in NYC. This store is amazing and if
you are in the area, you need to go! They have everything when it comes to paper crafts. All shapes, sizes and colors of paper for every project imaginable. Their custom invitations, while gorgeous, were too expensive. I contemplated making my own invitations, but when I thought about finding time to make approximately 80 invites along with table numbers, escort cards and the other zillion things I had planned to do on my own, I realized that for me, personally, it wasn’t worth the time and effort. But, if you are a DIYer and making the invitations is your dream, this is the place to go and their prices are very reasonable.
you are in the area, you need to go! They have everything when it comes to paper crafts. All shapes, sizes and colors of paper for every project imaginable. Their custom invitations, while gorgeous, were too expensive. I contemplated making my own invitations, but when I thought about finding time to make approximately 80 invites along with table numbers, escort cards and the other zillion things I had planned to do on my own, I realized that for me, personally, it wasn’t worth the time and effort. But, if you are a DIYer and making the invitations is your dream, this is the place to go and their prices are very reasonable.
Papyrus, another stationary retailer, is a great find with decent prices and they frequently have
good discounts. You can look online for coupon codes or they usually have in-store coupons as well. The retailer actually gave me a coupon while I was in the store that I could have used that day! They had many options, designs and prices ranges to pick from, I just unfortunately didn’t find what I was looking for.
I went to a couple other stationery stores in New York and Connecticut and still wasn’t striking gold, so I moved to online stores.
For my save the dates I used Pear Tree Greetings and had a great experience. You can completely customize most of their products and their prices are unbeatable. I even ordered my save the dates on Cyber Monday after Thanksgiving and got a huge discount. I was really hoping to find invitations here, but again I didn’t find what I wanted for my wedding. Their paper and printing quality is great, they have a lot of photo invitations and modern designs, and for my wedding invitations I wasn’t looking for that.
I tried Wedding Paper Divas as I’m sure many brides have. They have so many options and they are always having great deals and coupons. They allow you to order 8 FREE invitation samples, so I did. The samples not only came quickly, they also came with the corresponding reply card as well and a coupon to use should I choose to purchase something. This site by far has the biggest selection along with cheap prices, but none of the invites I sampled really stuck out to me, like the ones I found at this next site.
Storkie Express Inc., the jackpot, finally! This site has many unique invitations that are embellished with die cuts, interesting layers and pockets, that I had been looking for. Traditional, elegant and unique; after a long search I was finding what I wanted. I narrowed my choices down to two invites and decided to order samples of each to see what the quality would be like. I did have to pay for these samples, but they came extremely fast and I was very impressed with the quality and their prices.
The customization and design process I was able do online on their website. They had many font and color options along with templates on how to word your invitations. It was a very smooth and easy process. I chose to have a proof of the invite and reply card emailed to me before printing. DO THIS if they give you the option, no matter where you order the invites from. It was so helpful to see the invite and make sure everything was aligned and they also gave me a few changes and recommendations that I hadn’t thought to do with the invites. It was very helpful.
Once the proofs were approved, they were on more doorstep in about a weeks time. It was great and they look fantastic! I wish I could show you them, but I am currently in the process of assembling them, and besides, it’ll be a secret till my guests get them in the mail!
Till next time!
We hope you enjoyed this post! If you’re hoping to score some free thank you notes, check out the Storymix Pinterest contest where we partnered with Wedding Paper Divas and other sites. Prizes include beer mugs you can write on, a caricature, GigMaster Entertainer credits, and yes, a Storymix package worth $400. The contest ends soon, so be sure to share and enter quickly! We wish you the best of luck with finding invitations that are right for you.
[…] Link: Storymix Bride Ashley: Where to find budget friendly bridal invitations […]