Wedding Invitations needed ASAP

HI,

We are getting married in Hawaii in Sept with I think a reception in Dec in New England. I am looking for wedding inviations but I have not found anything that helps us out or that I like.

Does anybody have any websites or anything that I can try?

Has anybody made their own? Would you recommend it or not?

Thanks a bunch!

Brenda

I used Coffee Bean Cards (http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5141155). If you search on the sales you'll see a few 'Custom Orders for Kim'. She did my invites, table numbers, place cards, and thank you cards. They were all gorgeous and reasonably priced. I had compliments on everything! She will work with you to come up with a design you like. Even the cake design came from the design of the invites! 

we used weddingpaperdivas- do a google search and they'll pop right up.  If you need something relatively cheap and fast they'll do the trick- and we were quite happy at the selection of designs as well.

I made my own - not something for the faint of heart, or someone with obsessive tendencies, as coping with every tiny aberration nearly killed me! 

If I were doing it all over again, even as much as I loved our invites, I'd definitely use Coffee Bean Cards - Sara's work is gorgeous and incredibly unique.

I used Coffee Bean Cards (http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5141155). If you search on the sales you'll see a few 'Custom Orders for Kim'. She did my invites, table numbers, place cards, and thank you cards. They were all gorgeous and reasonably priced. I had compliments on everything! She will work with you to come up with a design you like. Even the cake design came from the design of the invites!  

Coffee Bean Cards is my shop, link to shop & blog in my signature, feel free to contact me if you want to brainstorm or get price ideas.

I made my own using paper from Paper Source. They have lots of pretty colours in different sizes with envelopes to fit.

http://www.paper-source.com/cgi-bin/paper/envelopes/index.html

We made our own with the use of card and envelopes bought from an art shop in Islington, a poached picture from the internet, and my office printer. I really, really wanted to use Marlespo's, but we were on a tight budget.

Vicky

I made my own (before I knew Marlespo!). I kept it simple with black type on cream paper. We found a copy-right free image to use (try the local library using books on ornament and engravings). I then added a touch of color (red, which was my main wedding color). I just used a Sharpie for that.

That said, I have a design background (though hadn't practiced in several years).

We made our own using paper from a high end shop and a color printer.  They turned out nice enough and since we only had a month to get it all done, we were happy.

We made our own with deckled edge prefold cards and mulberry paper purchased locally plus a faux wax seal.  Got lots of compliments.

Congratulations! Getting married in Hawaii in the fall -- sounds beautiful.

One of my favorite wedding experiences was at the reception of a friend who had a private beach ceremony with just the the bride & a photographer/witness in Hawaii (where they live) with the reception on a pier in NYC (where his family lives). The reception was a blast! Hawaiian themed so the men wore hawaiian shirts and women wore fun sun dresses.

Anyway, there are a gazillion options for invitations. Have you scoped out any blogs? DIY is a good option depending a few factors, including your budget, design taste, DIY experience, and number of invites. It's great if you have a good vision of what you want. Otherwise, if you're set on having something fabulous and are making a lot (over 100), save yourself the headache and get them either wholly or semi-made.

Some of my favorites blogs:

If you DIY:

• http://www.diybride.com/
• http://www.projectwedding.com/
• http://www.offbeatbride.com I personally love it, but OBB is not for everyone.
• http://www.marthastewartwedding.com

Inspiration/Suggested Vendors:

• http://www.bklynbrideonline.com
• http://www.etsy.com There's a ton of stuff on this site, much of which is affordable (and you're supporting up-and-coming designers!). I've ordered a custom party site map, with directions for our various guests.

By the way, I live in Boston and after researching reception venues throughout New England, we decided to have it at my in-laws' house on Newfound Lake in New Hampshire. Let me know if you need any help finding a venue (especially if you're working with a tight budget!).

Best of luck and congrats again.

Rose

Whoa, just realized you wrote ASAP. In that case, check out your local craft store (Michaels, AC Moore, etc) for ready-to-print invitation kits. Depending on what you want, you should be able to print 100 for less than $100.

http://www.michaels.com/art/online/displayproductlist?categoryid=81484

I'm not married myself, but have lots of sisters, cousins and friends who are.  Most have done their own invitiations, and they've turned out very nicely.

One of my sisters, as well as my best friend, both used invitation kits that they got at Staples.  There are a lot of really neat designs available to suit a variety of styles/themes.  Another friend got paper from a scrapbooking store, cut it to size with a rotary paper cutter, and did really pretty layered invites. 

I helped put together the invites for each of them, and it's not difficult, but it is pretty time-consuming.  The advantage is that, depending on how much time/effort/money you're willing to put into them, you can get precisely what you want.  But my advice would be that, if you don't have family/friends available and willing to help put the invites together, try to either stick with a simple kit design, or just have them done professionally.  You're going to be busy enough.

I did my own.  My invitations I printed using a colour printer on paper I ordered from a website that sells Japanese products, so it was very thin and light and already had designs on it.  My RSVP cards I made with thin ivory card stock and the colour printer.  The latest version of Microsoft Word (and maybe older versions too, I don't know) allows you to set a picture as a watermark, which pretty much just means that you'll have the picture as a faint background to any words that you print on the page.  I set a wedding-y picture as a watermark then printed the RSVP stuff over it.  They turned out really well.

Oh my goodness ladies thanks so much for all the feedback!! I am going to look up all your suggestions to see what I can find! ( during work of course- shhhh!) I have looked at so many card designs and I still can't really find what I am looking for but I have an idea of what I want. Thanks again for all your help!! 

Yes wedding in Hawaii on the beach with parents and the photographer! Then in December a celebration(if you call it a reception they charge you more for it  ) so an invite that says all that I don't think is asking for much is it?