This by far is our most asked question. We field a lot of phone calls from brides asking “how much do your wedding invitations cost?” Our response is always the same, it depends what you choose. With any vendor in the wedding industry, you can go high, you can go low, or you can find an in between spot that not only works within your budget, but does it’s job in giving your guests a preview of what is to come for your big day. Your wedding invitation is a tangible piece that you (or your guests) keep for years to come. Let’s take a closer look at what determines the investment of wedding invitations.

Print Method/Number of Colors

We offer a few different printing methods that determine cost. It’s not a huge difference between foil stamping and letterpress, but your cost increases when you combine these methods or choose two colors of the same print method. A big chunk of the wedding invitation cost is found in the setup. With more than one color, you are requiring the setup to be done twice, or even three times. Want to cut a cost? Stick to one color. Hard, I know. On the other hand, there isn’t anything better than names that make a statement in a gold matte foil next to a soft taupe letterpress.

Stock

Several types of stock are available when printing wedding invitations, all from the finest paper mills in the US and the UK. Find them listed below in order of least expensive to most expensive.

Smooth Cotton

There is not a texture but it still takes a great impression with letterpress, embossing, or foil stamping and is offered in 1 ply, 2 ply, or 3 ply, with the 2 ply being our best seller. Smooth cotton comes in a wide variety of colors and shades.

Cotton

Secondly, cotton stock shows a texture that makes letterpress printing that much more beautiful. If you put a cotton stock next to a smooth cotton stock of the same weight, the cotton feels thicker because of the texture. It comes in bright white, white, and ivory.

Handmade Collection

Lastly, our handmade stock comes in white, ivory, blush, light blue, and gray. It is a single ply deckled edge stock that gives wedding invitations a soft, romantic, and vintage look that is not achievable by simply tearing the edges off of a flat stock.

Number of Invitations Needed

Are most of your guests out of town? Chances are, you’ll need a details card. At the very minimum, a website card so guests can visit your wedding website to see where you’ve blocked rooms, what to do in the area, and any additional weekend events that they need to plan for. Is your ceremony at the same venue as your reception? In this case, cut a cost by including “reception to follow” at the bottom of your invitation. If your reception is at a 2nd location, include a separate reception card. Visit our gallery to see creative ways to include reception information.

We always encourage a reply card with a pre-addressed envelope. Occasionally, wedding websites are set up to collect replies. This may work for some guest lists but people generally take the invitation a little more seriously when you ask them to write their names and drop it back in the mail. A wedding website rsvp is also going to give the invitation suite a more casual feel.

The quantity involved helps determine the cost of wedding invitations, but is not a huge factor. Again, the design and set up is the bulk of the cost. Don’t forget, you need one invitation per household, not one per person. Don’t order 300 invitations to invite 300 people. You’d typically need about 160 invitations to invite 300 people. The difference between 150 and 160 invitations is minimal. Therefore, be sure to order extra! (that’s a blog post for a different day)

Embellishments

Look, I’m not going to tell you to skip the liner. It adds an element of design that usually doesn’t work anywhere else on your invitation suite. It’s your chance to get creative and show your style. Edge painting, double thick stock, hand calligraphy, belly bands, wax seals & vintage postage are all embellishments that are going to take your invitation suite up a notch and is a first step in creating a truly unique and customized guest experience.

My suggestion in this area is to rank your priorities. You may not have the budget to have ALL the embellishments, but take a look at what you love and what will make the most impact for your guests. Additionally, look at your saved pinterest pins or instagram post and find a common theme. We always encourage double thick stock for the invitation piece, and keep the accessory pieces at a singly ply. The upcharge for double thick stock is typically around $1/invitation and is the most bang for your buck.

Prioritize

In conclusion, the best way to figure what your wedding invitations will cost is to prioritize. Will some people throw them away? Yes. Are they available to keep? Also, yes. Most of our couples spend between $1,500 and $3,500. Of course there are exceptions that may make your order less than $1,500 and many factors that would make them over $3,500. What you can be sure of is the quality you’ll get from Oliver’s Twist and the personalized experience that comes with shopping at your local paper boutique. There is no doubt your invitation will reflect your vision for the wedding day. I’ll be the one to personally walk you through etiquette scenarios and hypothetical situations while offering nothing short of the most on trend and stunning wedding invitations.

Ready to get started? Schedule an appointment, I’d be honored to learn more about your day while you find inspiration in our little corner of the world.

Until next time,

Kristyn