Monday, October 6, 2008

My new internet obsession

For a while there, every time I turned on my computer, I couldn't resist looking at wedding gowns. Now that I've put down my hefty deposit on my gorgeous La Sposa, however, I've quit gown-surfing cold turkey. Instead, I have a new obsession: invitations.

I'm kind of a stationery addict. I absolutely adore Crane's, that grand old stationery store (I always hit up their sales for lovely thank-you cards), and when I was a kid I requested personalized stationery for Christmas or my birthday several times. I didn't have anyone to write to, but that wasn't the point. Eventually I printed my own on our crummy Canon inkjet, but it wasn't the same.

Now, finally, here's my chance to have my own gorgeous personalized bits of paper! I quickly informed Econo Boy that the invitations, like the gown, would be my domain. (He wanted to buy plain ecru cards and print them on our crummy HP inkjet. "It will convey the same information," he said. Econo Boy is always ruining my fun by being concerned with things like logic and functionality.) But a visit to Crane and Company killed my dream of ordering my invites there -- over $1000 for just invitations and RSVP cards, folks. Much as I love stationery I just couldn't justify spending that kind of money on an item that (let's be honest) will almost certainly end up being thrown away by most of my guests.

So I'm looking for something with a vintage vibe, preferably with a subtle floral design. I'd like to spend $4 or so a set (a set being an invitation, an RSVP card, and all necessary envelopes). And I'd like the color theme to be blue. So far, here are my candidates!

Two Econo Boy-approved favorites are from the amazing Wedding Paper Divas:
I also love the invitations at The White Aisle, including this one (which can be ordered in blue).


Finally, a Weddingbee reader alerted us to Glidewell Press, a printing company that does affordable letterpress invitations. (Letterpress is a printing technique that presses the ink into the cards for a very cool, old-fashioned look. Gorgeous but normally quite expensive. The rest of the invitations I've posted here are flat printing.) I'm a big fan of this design:


But I could probably only afford to have it done in the single-color option -- would this look OK if I did it in all navy or all sky blue?

Tell me which one's your favorite and why!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I like the last one. It looks so old and stuff. And considering the business we're in...:0)

Anonymous said...

and sky blue would be nice, I think. But they're all lovely!

Mrs. in May said...

There is just SOOOOO much out there, its hard to decide!

Bride in Exile said...

Tell me about it, Mrs. in May! And they're all so pretty!

I ordered samples of the Wedding Paper Divas invitations and the White aisle invitation. The WPD ones were pretty, but the White Aisle ... Wow. Stunning. Soft paper, gorgeous printing, looked and felt SO luxurious. If you're still looking, check them out!

Words and Steel said...

we splurged on (still discounted) letterpress in one color. It's a personal thing, but I wanted something a little higher quality and was willing to sacrifice on having a more modern or colorful design for it.

In general though, those White Aisle invites are amazing. Best flat printed invites out there for your money, period.

Bride in Exile said...

Sweet T, you were the one who introduced me to The White Aisle! I wasn't sure how I'd feel about the torn edge, but I love it. I also love that their paper is relatively eco-friendly, and the fact that it's a small company where I can correspond with the owner personally instead of dealing with 4 different customer service reps.