3 things you need to remeber when dealing with wedding invitations

1) As soon as you know your wedding date, count backwards:
1 month before: this is your reply by date
2 months before: this is your send out date
3 months before - you need to decide on the way you are printing and you will need to have information on the time of your wedding, reception and on dinner choices.

2) There are several ways to print invitations:
- you can buy a kit from a crafts store - the best ones are in Michaels and in Target - and print the invitations yourself. Total cost would be about $150 for 75 invitations plus your time, ... lots of your time!
- you can buy your invitations from Wedding Paper Divas or Minted (there are many more companies out there). You still need to print your envelopes and apply postage. Cost: $300 - $2000 per 75 invitations, depending on number of items in your package and the type of printing. Letterpress is the most expensive (and beautiful!).
- you can use a local invitations specialists to print the invitations. This is a way to still receive personalized invitations, and it can be even less expensive than going through an internet company. Maggie, our day-off coordinator has offered her services, but I wasn't quick enough to take her offer (my schedule got a little out of hand). This service will cost about $350 per 75 simple, elegant invitations minus all the hustle and headaches of printing and mailing. The price is an approximation, as it heavily depends on the invitations themselves.

3) if you end up with one of the do-it-yourself (partial or entirely) options, make sure to invite a couple of friends to stuff your envelopes. Goes sooooo much faster!

Which route I took? Wedding Paper Divas + printing the envelopes at home. I didn't follow my advise #1, so this was my only option. :( ... :) The company has excellent customer service, by the way, and I am really happy with their job.

The best way to do wedding invitations in my opinion? If you have time, do them yourself from a kit. They do really have beautiful kits out there!

If there is no time, hand it off to your invitations specialists. It might cost you a little more than ordering invitations online, but it is way less hustling. Maggie Heely in my opinion is just the right person for this task and for wedding planning in Buffalo.

This is how our invitations turned out.

What do you think?