Thus far in wedding planning, we’ve been lucky enough to happen upon the vendors or supplies that really felt right. Our venue, our caterer, our photographer. . . all of them felt like the perfect match. However, our luck seems to have run out this week, because the search for the perfect wedding invitation has still resulted in no success.
Invitations fall pretty low on my priority list, both with my budget and with my overall views. The day after I got engaged, I was at Petsmart and started talking to a woman who was getting married in the fall. She told me she was having a small wedding of 25, but then she said that her invitations cost $1,200! That was definitely not my style; I’d rather spend my money on extra appetizers or more goodies for my bridesmaids than drop a ton of cash on pieces of paper that people will throw away in six months.
But at the same time, everyone says that the invitations “set the tone” for your wedding and that if you go cheap on the invites you’ll send the wrong message to your guests. So I’ve been on the hunt essentially since Andrew proposed, trying to find something that stayed within my budget but matched the tone of our wedding.
I realized very quickly that online shops were going to be the golden ticket; all the local places or personalized creations started at about double what I was willing to pay. There are hundreds of Web sites where you can order lovely invitations, but it’s absolutely necessary to see samples before ordering (we’ve all been tricked by online sales before).
I weeded out shops that charged for samples and started picking things off of different sites. Over the course of six months, I’ve received more than 30 samples from various invitation Web sites . . . and still there has been something wrong with all of them. Every time I sign up to receive more samples, I run expectantly to our mailbox daily to see if they’ve arrived. But when they finally come, something is always lacking—it’s not the perfect invite.
I’m sure the faults I find in these samples are things that our guests would never notice, but I don’t want to feel as if I’m settling. So I’ll continue to listen to suggestions of new places to search and keep sending away for samples until I know I’ve found the perfect invitation. Until then, I think I’ll focus on more tasty elements of the wedding planning. . . . It’s cake-tasting time!
Lisa Marie, a local bride-to-be, writes every Friday about planning her wedding, which will be in Washington in July. To follow her adventures from the beginning, click here.
If you like reading about Lisa Marie, make sure to check out our other blogging bride-to-be, Eleni, who writes every Wednesday. Follow her adventures here.
To read the latest Bridal Party blog posts, click here.
