Picking My Battles

The bowtie issue was resolved. I agreed to drop it, and Ryan has turned the invitations over to me, as we couldn't agree on anything in the world of paper. Ryan didn't feel particularly strongly about the invitations, so they are now in my hands.

That being said, this is my favorite. All photos courtesy of Printable Press, PS.

A quick word about Ryan's invitation preferences: He likes absolutely nothing on them except for writing. He wants them to look like wedding invitations. Fair enough. Even though I have free reign with this aspect of the wedding plans, I don't think it would be very nice to totally disregard his preferences.

Potential Invite #1. Pro: Relatively simple, leaf motif in initial. Con: One initial looks kind of weird to me, I feel like it should be the full mongram. Also not crazy about the flower on the bottom.

Potential Invite #2. Pro: Nothing but script, looks like a vintage typesetter gone crazy. Con: Kind of on the busy side, maybe not so readable due to the variation of fonts.

Potential Invite #3. Pro: Nothing but script, lots of white space, unique horizontal design. Con: Ryan wasn't super crazy about it when shown. Then again, he wasn't super crazy about any of these!

I am definitely leaning towards Potential Invite #3. Even though Ryan wasn't crazy about it, it does fit his all text preferences while still making me happy inside.

The only thing I am confused about with the printable invites is how much the online printing service is going to cost. We'll need to print about 200 invitations and response postcards, 300ish programs, and 200ish thank you cards, and probalby 200 direction cards. The online printing services use lots of lingo I am not familiar with, so I am having a hard time getting a clear idea of the price. I am afraid that after printing, these might be cost prohibitive. By cost prohibitive, I mean over a dollar per invite. I know that's not much, but invites are just not high on my spending-money list, what can I say. I would be perfectly happy with these printed on some nice 80 lb paper instead of letterpress and custom maps.

I never thought programs were really necessary, but since Ryan and I are having a Unitarian ceremony that many family and friends might now be familiar with, I think we need it. Also, I have more readings than I can fit into the ceremony, so I want to print some on the programs! I know people can Mapquest, but I have really made use of the direction cards for the last couple of weddings I've gone to, so I think it would be helpful for our guests.

On the other hand, I could just whip up an invite in Microsoft Word or Publisher and be done with it. Why not simplify matters on something that isn't high on my priority list?

Any tips on online printing services? What did you do for you invitations?