Invitation Imagination Part 1

Beautiful matching suites of flawless invitations have caused me to wipe a bit of drool off my chin more than once.

From Martha Stewart's always elegant "Wedding" magazine pages,

Source
to the innovation featured in Etsian shops,

Source
to the incredible ambitions of DIY-ers like Mrs. Penguin at Weddingbee

Source
I've been drawn to lovely themes and delicate details.

After all of my wedding dreaming, I was called back to reality with soaring costs for all of the details I found most attractive. Letterpress suites? 12+ a piece. Hand addressed calligraphy envelopes? 2+ a piece. Vintage stamps? Dream on!

As much as I loved paper, I didn't love it as much as some other things on which I've chosen to place a higher budget priority. Out went boxed invitations with floating pearls, multi-layer pocketfolds, and the like. In came understated invitations with a DIY twist.

Miss Planner, my event designer/wedding coordinator extraordinaire, suggested I look at eInvite.com. I loved the look of engraving, but decided I could live with its near-twin Thermography. I admired several of their designs that matched our winter black and ivory wedding:

Pearl Artistic Border ($99.00 for 100)


Satin Square ($159.90 for 100)


Duet on Creme ($189.00 for 100)


Flawless ($195.00 for 100)


Symmetry ($195.00 for 100)


Charming ($195.00 for 100)


The thing I liked most about eInvite.com was that I could personalize any of the invitations and see an instant mock-up. You can also personalize it line by line, add spacing, change colors and fonts - and still see the instant mock-up! After playing around for a while, I decided on a favorite. Unfortunately, my favorite did not have the option to order a sample (for only $1.50!). . . right.

What is a girl to do? Search the whole website for an invitation that is the same paperweight with thermography lettering, of course.

Tune in next time for pics of the sample, to find out which invite stole my heart, and to see how much damage this is going to do on the budget. Oh yeah! and I'll tell you about my DIY designs to add some pizzazz!

Did you order your dream invitations? Or did you have to reprioritize due to budget constraints?