How much are you spending on stationery ?

I'll be at about $125 total for STDs, return address labels, invitations, programs, favor cards, and thank you notes, thanks to Groupon and the great ladies of WW that taught me how to game the system. I'm another one that doesn't put a lot of priority on the invites -- I've never kept one.

But like Mrs. S said, if you love it and have it in your budget, go for it!

Wowza, I gotta say that just sounds crazy to spend that much on invites. But, hey, if you have the money, go for it-they are def awesome.

I spent $200 for 100 invites, 100 enclosure cards, 100 RSVP cards, ribbon, etc. I did my own labels, envelope seals and table bumbers

My stationary budget was over $5000 I think for a guest list of 75. I admit I have a paper fetish. I went with classic Vera Wang invites and my wedding programs were custom made boxed fabric scrolls from India.

You need to check out Edubbswife invites

https://www.weddingwire.com/wedding-forums/show-me-your-invitations-post-pic-here/05f134921d96e9b2.html

and Andrene

https://www.weddingwire.com/wedding-forums/invitations-advice/72b4931e09586563.html

and Thelma's Twin

https://www.weddingwire.com/wedding-forums/are-you-using-or-used-acrylic-invites-looking-for-something-different-suggestions/334ffb4a1f48d8e3.html

They are more on your page and budget when it comes to taste in stationary.

You could send them a message if you click on their profile, they all still show up from time to time.

LOL - Speak of the Angel!!!! Hi Andrene!!!!

Tami: I LOVE your invitations. They look amazing.

Hi Hayley. I was told my input may be needed so came right on. I so loved my wedding paper. A pity I can't send them out again. But, I get to do something totally new and creative for the baptism. Very excited about a new designer I've been working with. Will post pics when we're done.

@ Andrene ~ Do you have your wedding stationary framed or anything?

It must be on display some how? or is that still in the plans?

I would love to see a picture of the actual invite. Isn't that a sample you always post?

And Baby Announcements!!!! You are going to need something for those too.

Can't wait to see the finished products.

Shamefully I do not. Everything is still sitting in a plastic tub waiting for me to do a scrapbook. Been too focused on baby to get to it. Maybe on maternity leave I will do something with all of it. Never got a pro pic of the invite but we do have the menu cards and place cards. The menus were actual invites in the same Vera design that I modified to use as a menu.You can't really see the embossed design as it's tucked in the napkin but here is a link to it on the william arthur site:

http://www.williamarthur.com/products/Vera-Wang-Embossed-Scroll-Personalized-Wedding-Invitations_85-68055-44_2860

I paid about $120 for 60 ish invites and RSVP cards, 50 STD magnets with 100 cards to go with them, 100 invites for our second reception.

Stationary was not super important to me. i wanted them to look nice, but they didn't need to be anything extra fancy.

@Hayley: Already picked out announcements. Found these and got a sample and love love love them.

http://www.tinyprints.com/product/35099/girl_photo_birth_announcements_handwritten_hello_soft_pink.html

The trick will be getting her newborn photoshoot done in time so that we don't have to wait forever to finalize the cards and mail them out. I don't think the family will be as patient waiting for the first baby pics as they were waiting for the wedding pics.

We spent about $2500 as well for letterpress. It was definitely more than i wanted to spend originally - but we never regretted it for a minute. Im the first to admit im a paper snob and i can't do cheap invitations... its just one of those things for me. Even after the $2500, i spent about another $600- lining every envelope with handmade papers and embellishing the original design. 6 months later people still talk about the invitations. Absolutely worth of every penny for us. To me, the invitation sets the tone of the eventand it was critical to me to make a big impact with the invitations.

*also - thats an ammmaaaazing deal for letterpress by the way! We spent $2500 for 150 invitations / envelopes (w/letterpress return address), RSVP /envelope (w/return), and thank you cards /envelopes.

I second what Ashlee said about the invite setting the tone. Ours too are still being talked about and more than one guest expressed pleasure at the thought we put into them. Would spend the money again in a heartbeat.

I'm also a paper snob but tried to restrain myself and do it on a budget. I also agree that paper sets a tone, and it's something many people neglect these days. I'm drooling over these gorgeous letterpress suites. Sigh.

We paid around $280 for 115 STDs - they were custom printed CDs with custom printed mailers from www.bisondisc.com. Pic #1.

We paid around $500 for 115 invitation suites from www.cardsandpockets.com. I would have loved letterpress, but we allocated that money elsewhere. All in all, I'm very happy with the quality of the C&P papers and their printing quality. We got tons of compliments on our invitations and people thought they were a lot more expensive than they were.

I DIY'd calligraphy using the fake/cheat lightbox technique. Basically - I printed all the names/addresses on a word document, set the iPad screen brightness all the way up, flipped a pyrex dish on top and traced each envelope. People thought we paid a calligrapher.

Also - when I was shopping around I went to Hallmark and got some really great quotes and design ideas for letterpress and embossed stationery. You can choose a stock design from the books, or you can give them your custom design (which you can DIY or purchase from an etsy/etc stationer) and their vendors can help you finesse it with the paper selection so it works to what you want.

$250 or less. I can't imagine spending more than that for something that only a few people will appreciate enough to save or to even bother with the details

That being said, I was very picky and thankfully I was able to find something I liked

It is all about priorities; your invites and save the dates really set the tone for the whole day, but they are not key for some couples. If they are going to make you happy eery time you look at them, then definitely go for it!

Wow!! I never thought it was that expensive! I got my invites, rsvp cards and envelopes thank you cards all for $40.00 for 100(caught an awesome sale). I purchased a 30.00 printer and printed them out myself. I bought a pack of stock paper for 5.00 and Ribbon (1.00 for each) and printed out the programs. So I roughly paid 75.00 for everything besides postage.

However If I could afford to have someone else do them I definately would!

@Hayley: Just for you I went and tacked my scrapbook box Here are some pics of the invites and menu cards. These are crappy cellphone pics but you get the idea.

Tiffany, I'm a graphic designer, so paper quality and invite design were very important to me. I'm very lucky that my boss and the vendor that I chose to do our invites love me very much, so they picked up the cost, but if we had been paying for it it would have cost around $1500. I chose not to do letterpress because I wanted a two-sided design, but that's a good cost for what you are getting. If the stationery is high on your priority list and you can afford it, do it! They are gorgeous.