As a reminder, here's the whole enchilada (mmmm enchiladas are my fave):
Paper
Cougar Natural 130# Cover
I picked up a swatch from a paper store to confirm that the thickness and color were satisfactory, and Uncle G ordered it. This had the potential to get much more complicated, since no one believed me when I said I just wanted some shade of ivory and did not care what. The salesclerk wanted me to look at all the different swatches, but I only saw that ending with me curled in a fetal position whimpering surrounded by little card stock pieces that all looked the same. I selected the Cougar because she had a little sample book for me to keep, and I moved on with my life.
Outer and Inner Envelopes
Outer A7.5/A7 Envelopes from Cards & Pockets in Cream Puff - $81.60 for 170 of each size
I ordered a sample first, to confirm that the color matched the Cougar Natural paper, and the match was good. I was pleased with everything that I ordered from Cards and Pockets, it all felt really high quality and shipped pretty quickly. However, be warned that we found the adhesive on the envelopes was pretty weak. We tried licking and using a wet cloth, but they wouldn't remain closed. At first I thought it was just on the inners, as if the liners were interfering, but the outers gave us trouble too. We ended up having to use glue sticks to seal all of them, and that was probably the hardest part of the assembly process. That said, I couldn't find too many places that offered the correct sizing for inner and outer, and you can order the exact number you need, so I would still recommend them.
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| The envelope in "Peacock Teal" from Cards & Pockets has a slight shimmer to it. |
RSVP Envelopes
Euro Flap RSVP Envelope from Cards & Pockets in Peacock Teal - $27.00 for 150
We wanted to add in a pop of color with the RSVP envelopes, and I love how these came out. I had ordered swatches of a few colors and picked Peacock Teal based on that. From what I can tell in the ones we've received back, the RSVP envelopes didn't have trouble sealing. I was worried about writing on these, but the paper color wasn't too dark, so I was still able to use a black pen to write out the addresses.
Personalized Wax Seal Stamp
BacktoZero on Etsy Script Initials with Heart Stamp - $25.00
The only complaint I have about this is the length of time it took to ship, but coming from Hong Kong, it actually wasn't that bad. Total time from ordering to my doorstep was 20 days. Just something to keep in mind if you're deciding to purchase at last minute. The stamp was really easy to use, I love the design, and would highly recommend the seller.
Sealing Wax & Glue Gun
Sealing Wax from Cards & Pockets - $42 for 7 packs of wax sticks, $12 for glue gun
When ordering envelopes, I saw C&P had the wax and gun also, so I decided to go through them too (probably could have found a glue gun elsewhere for cheaper, but at that point it was convenient). We ordered three packs of gold wax, three packs of purple wax, and one pack of scarlet wax (because that's what Caesar used). Overall we were really satisfied with the glue, the colors, and the ease of use. You can kind of tell in the picture in my last post, that the gold looks better than the purple or red. The non-shimmery colors ended up being a little too translucent once the wax was flattened out. They worked well, but the golds turned out the best. I'd definitely recommend getting some extra sticks, just to ensure you're able to push your wax all the way through the gun. We were able to get about 11 seals out of each stick.
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| My pink dress is looking very orange in this picture, but that's now how the moo cards look in real life. They printed very clear and true to color. |
Mini Moo Cards
Classic Mini Moo Cards - $32 for 200 cards (20% off coupon code)
Because I haven't an original bone in my body and I love any chance to use our engagement pictures, Moo cards were an obvious choice! I used seven different pictures for the fronts of our cards, and text on the back. These were so easy to design, arrived one week after ordering, and the print and thickness of the cards is really high quality. The only issue is that you have to order in sets of 100, so we have a lot of extras. We considered dropping extras in some friends' envelopes with a note that says "Trade with your friends! Collect all 7!" I love that I was able to use some of my favorite shots that didn't work out when designing the save the date cards.
Envelope Liner Paper
Paper Source Gold Dots on Cream Fine Paper - $78 for 12 sheets
It wasn't until I decided to DIY the liners that I realized how hard it was to find metallic gold, polka-dotted paper (I ordered some wrapping paper from Zazzle that claimed to be gold, but was brown, and Michael's and Hobby Lobby had nothing). So even though the price on this was kind of high, I just bought it. It's a very soft, linen paper that was easy to cut and easy to get into the envelopes. The gold dots were a good size and well spaced, and I think they add a pretty pop to the inner envelopes. I mocked up the size of the liners before ordering, so that I would know how many sheets to order. I was able to get 13 liners onto each 20" x 30" sheet, so I had just enough, even with botching my first sheet.
Ribbon
3/8" Sheer Ribbon From Hobby Lobby in Plum - $7.50 for 5 rolls (50% ribbon sale)
Who knew there were so many places in Hobby Lobby where ribbon was shelved? I ended up finding this one in the floral/wedding aisle, after the scrapbooking and clothing sections didn't have what I wanted. There weren't enough plum colors of either ribbon, so two of the rolls were satin plum ribbon and three were this sheer ribbon, but I was happy enough with both looks to not care. Each invite needed about a foot of ribbon, so I was able to get 30 ribbons out of each roll.
Stamps
$100 (invite) + $68.60 (RSVP)
The invitations weighed in at 1.45 ounces, which meant that it required $0.70 postage (for regular envelopes, you can mail up to 2 oz for that price). I checked out the USPS website and couldn't find any stamps that really jumped out, so we stayed simple and went with the colorful "Yes, I Do" stamp. I still think they're really pretty! The return envelopes had a $0.49 stamp on each, the white wedding roses, because we had a bunch leftover from the save the dates.
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| Yes, we sent off some extras to a few special guests! I'll let y'all know if we get anything back. They haven't been kicked back yet, so that's a good sign. |
Calligraphy
$200 gift
Honestly, the thought of calligraphy never really entered into the realm of possibilities when dreaming up the invitations. I didn't want to find another vendor, I didn't want to have to pay someone else, I just wanted to keep it simple. But Momma P let me know that the art teacher from my high school does calligraphy! He only took a couple of weeks, and didn't ask for any payment. We did gift him as a thank you, of course, since he was so awesome. I didn't get to see any of his work beforehand, but I was very pleased when I saw the final product. Sphinx loves Old English lettering, so his style was perfect!
Other Stuff
Hobby Lobby ~$30.00
Glue dots to secure the ribbons, glue runners and glue sticks to adhere the liners to the envelopes, corner rounder punch, and pens to self-address the RSVP envelopes.
Costs
Total Number of Invites Mailed: 146
Cost of Materials $503.70
Cost of Labor $200
Shipping Costs $36.70
Total cost $740.40
Cost per invite $5.07
So overall, this wasn't cheap, but I was able to splurge a little knowing we'd be getting a deal on the designing and printing. I planned on paying my uncle for the paper or the outsourced printing, but he gave it to me as a gift, which was amazing! So I'm not sure if this is really helpful, except to serve as a testament to how much things add up. Even without the cost of paper or printing in there, it still wasn't a tiny budget project!
I kept the quote from the invitation shop that I visited, and two-toned thermography on a nice paper (not letterpress) for 150 invite cards alone was coming in at $900. Total cost with all of the same extras was adding up to around $2500. And that design would have needed to be changed up a bit anyway. Since I was doing a big chunk of the design work either way, might as well go with the route that is a better deal! To me, the extra effort was worth the money saved and getting invitations that were exactly what we wanted.
Hope this was helpful for someone!
I've got one more invite post for you guys, about our assembly process and some tips and tricks learned along the way!
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