First published April 18 2018 | Updated November 14 2019
Nearly two years ago, I wrote a blog post about how much wedding invitations cost. I wanted to revisit this post after holding a discussion on my Instagram stories about the misconception of wedding stationery costs.
The discussion started after a fellow stationer had picked up on an article published by the Knot, that the average cost of wedding invitations was under $400. While this might be true, it also confuses couples into thinking they will be able to afford luxury printing or calligraphy at a very small cost. After all, I do, and I’m sure you also go on google to ask ‘how much does xxx cost’ when you’re trying to budget for something!
Therefore a survey was conducted by 200+ wedding stationers on how much their average customer spends on invitations and other wedding stationery. I think it’s super important to share this information and to help people understand what the costs are when you work with someone who does this for a living, and when you’re looking for something handcrafted with a more personal experience, rather than an online invitation service.
Below I’ve uploaded the video that was shared by 60 wedding stationers on Instagram stories yesterday, along with the pie chart that I uploaded to show what the survey results were. I’ve also created another chart which shares further information from the survey about the cost of save the dates!
Below is the updated article with updated pricing based on 100 invitations, rsvp cards, envelopes, and detail cards:
Wedding stationery can often be overlooked in anyone’s budget, however they play such a prominent role in being the first glimpse of your wedding that your guests see that it’s important to get it right. There is such a wide range of stationery websites, designers, and calligraphers, that you’re sure to get something that fits within your budget and you’re proud to send out to family and friends.
If you’re on a tight budget
As I mentioned above, the article published by the Knot stated that the average spend of wedding invitations was under $400, and I don’t want to sit here and tell you the article is completely wrong and that you can’t find wedding invitations that cheap because of course you can! There are places like Etsy where you can buy digital downloads at a very low cost. I wouldn’t recommend actually printing these at home as chances are, you don’t have a great printer (neither do I when I’m just printing paperwork!) I would advise getting these done at your local print shop to ensure the quality is as good as can be. You can also look at sites such as Minted where you can find digital and foiled invitation suites in the range of $500-$800.
Calligraphy
I absolutely love calligraphy, and admire anyone who can do it! If there’s one thing I regret about my own wedding, it’s not having calligraphed envelopes. They can be quite a large additional cost but they add such a personal touch. Envelope addressing usually costs anything from $3 per envelope. Some of my absolute favorite calligraphers are Ayla Pena, Kelsey Malie Calligraphy, and Calligraphy en Vogue.
Semi-Custom Suites
Many stationery designers and calligraphers offer semi-custom invitation suites at a lower cost. This is because the design has already been created, and you (the couple) would choose the design you’d like for your invitations, and customize the papers, inks or foils, envelopes, and wedding text. This allows you to play with your budget a bit more, and receive something more carefully crafted in return. There are often options in the type of printing, from digital, to letterpress and foil, meaning that the cost fluctuates a lot more as you enter a world of fine printing and handcrafted production. The costs you’ll find for semi-custom collections created by stationery designers will be more reflective of the information shown in the graph. For example for 100 semi-custom invitations, envelopes, rsvp cards with return envelopes, and detail cards, I would charge $1,558 (with foil).
Bespoke Invitation Suites
Bespoke wedding invitations are best suited to anyone who’s happy to spend a bit of extra money, along with having something totally unique to them, their wedding, and their style. As a stationery designer it’s always wonderful to work on bespoke projects, as we’re able to play with new colors and papers! You could expect to spend anything up to $10k on something custom designed. If you’d like to request a quote for a custom designed invitation suite, you can do so here!
I hope that was helpful! Happy to answer any questions or comments below :)
Original Article: https://nicetystudio.com/blogs/blog/how-much-do-wedding-invitations-cost