Choosing your invitations is going to be the first taste of all the creative wedding planning that is in your future, which is why it is so exciting. Choosing affordable wedding invitations means entering the world filled with ribbons of all colors, regal monograms, and rich colors, shimmering papers. However, a wide range of invitation choices means a wide range of costs. The average price for 150 invitations and response cards is around $245, but you should also factor in save-the-dates ($114) menu cards ($114), programs ($108), thank-you cards ($92), and place cards ($77) for an average grand total of $750 (all that is, of course, before postage).
Yet it is possible to spend as much as $3,300 for a set of 150 engraved invitations alone. Clearly, some serious shopping around is in order, and we prepared a guide that is going to help you invite quests to your wedding without going bankrupt.
Know your guest list
Your first step is to figure out how many people you are inviting, before you even look at wedding invitations. A lot of online companies tend to offer bulk pricing, which means the more invitations you buy, the cheaper each wedding invitation will be.
Compare the prices
There are so many places to buy wedding invitations these days, from mass-produced invitations at big box stores to beautiful, handmade invitations offered by sellers on Etsy. You should always compare prices and stay open-minded, because you never know where you will find that perfect invitation for your big day.
Make sure to read the reviews
So many invitations tend to look great in the photos, but they are rated poorly in the reviews. This can happen either because the paper quality just wasn’t the best or the seller wasn’t prompt when problems arose. You want to avoid both of those scenarios. After all, wasting money is not really your final goal.
Get a sample
This, above anything, is the most important tip you are ever going to receive. You don’t want to order 200 invitations only to find out that you can’t read the type, you don’t like the color up close, or you misspelled your own name! So, order a sample and make sure you like how it looks and feels when it comes in.