At some point during the wedding planning process, couples will think about their wedding invitations. There are so many options and suppliers out there that it can be hard to decide.

Today I will introduce you to six different options for your wedding invitations - all varying quite heavily in price. The wedding invitation is the first flavour your guests will receive about your wedding and for some couples it is very important to introduce everyone to their theme and have it carried through from invitation to thank-you cards.

One: Make the invites yourself. Many couples choose to design and hand-craft the invitations themselves. This can be time-consuming, but also very rewarding and a fun thing to do. You can go to shops such as Hobby Craft for inspiration, and use Pinterest to gather invitation ideas. You can customise the way you want them to look and don’t need to liaise with a supplier if you want to change things. 

Two: Choose a stationery designer online. They will need you to provide a few details about your wedding, such as your theme, or any preferred colours. They will then provide you with digital designs online which at some stage you need to sign off for printing. They may send you paper samples too for you to choose from. The invites are then digitally printed by their preferred printing company or themselves and then posted to you. Digital printing still means a professional printing company will deal with the job, rather than someone’s home printer.

Three: Professionally hand-crafted invitations can have that particularly luxurious finish that you might not get from digitally printed invitations. The paper options these designers have access to can be very tactile and different to what you have seen before. Some of the papers cannot be used by modern printers and the designer might use an old printing press which gives the designs an amazing finish. 

Four: Choose an online service which will provide you pre-designed wedding invitations. You can then insert your own dates, names, locations and often additional comments for your wedding guests. You might also have the option to upload your own photographs for personalising your invites. Fridge magnets are also popular for save-the-dates. 

Five: You can go to your local stationery shop or supermarket and buy a pack of pre-printed wedding invitations. They usually come in packs of ten, 25 or even more invites.

Six: Go paper-free. Use an online system for your wedding invitations such as RSVPify.com. You basically design a beautiful email which is then sent out to your guests. The system also keeps track of who has received and replied to the email. The online service can also include things such as meal choices, and an online RSVP functionality, so that all people need to do is press a button to let you know if they will be attending or not.