According to bride.com, the average bride can expect to pay hundreds if not thousands of dollars for the wedding invitation suite. With my $10,000 wedding budget, I can’t justify spending hundreds of dollars on paper that everyone but my Mom will probably throw away.
How to Save on Wedding Invitations and Save the Dates
Below are the 7 ways that I am saving on printing and stationary costs for my wedding.
1. Stick to your wedding budget
Minted offers gorgeous wedding stationary including unique save the dates, wedding invitations, and menus.
Minted charges $2.00 per invitation and around $1.00 per save the date. That’s around $300 for save the dates and invitations for a wedding of 100 people.
Vistaprint on the other hand is better known for business cards than wedding invitations but does offer invitations and save the dates as well.
I found that wedding invitations and save the dates from Vistaprint start at 52 cents each. That’s around $105 including postage for a wedding of 100 people.
Take the time to research and choose the best product for your wedding budget and style.
Related post: Our $15,000 Budget Winter Wedding
2. Skip the glossy finish
I skipped the glossy finish and stuck with the matte finish that was included in the price from Vistaprint. I was nervous about going with the matte finish since the accent color on our save the dates was gold.
I was happily surprised to see that the gold looked great in the matte and that the glossy finish was not necessary.
Save yourself some money and skip the fancy finishes and paper.
3. Find promo codes
I searched for a Vistaprint promo code on Retailmenot and saved 20% on my save the date order. I have seen special sales on Vistaprint where you can save up to 40% on your order.
Make sure you check for promo codes and sales before you purchase your wedding invitations and save the dates online.
I also recommend using Ebates and seeing if any of your vendors offer cash back.
4. Don’t take engagement photos
Many brides like to use an engagement photo for their save the date.
I personally skipped the engagement photos and saved hundreds of dollars in photography costs. Engagement photos were not important to me and I felt the save the dates looked fine without a photo.
If you did want to include a photo on your save the date, you could always use one that you already have. Most couples have at least one nice photo in front of a beautiful landscape that they could use.
5. Keep the guest list down
Even though you’ll see the greatest savings in your catering budget, you’ll still achieve savings on printing costs when you go with a smaller guest list.
The fewer people you invite to the wedding, the fewer invitations and save the dates you need to print and the fewer stamps you need to buy.
6. Forgo the extra printed materials
If you truly want to save money, skip the engagement announcements and party invites, registry cards, formal rehearsal dinner invites, Sunday brunch invites, etc. You can let people know where you want them to be and when by many other methods than printed paper. We created a free wedding website on The Knot that gives our guests all of the information they need about our day.
In addition, skip printed programs, menus, and individual escort cards at the wedding. Those items won’t make or break your night and probably aren’t worth the added expense.
7. Pass on customized cards post wedding
Avoid the premium you pay for wedding thank you notes and purchase regular ones. It’s what you write inside the card that your guests will remember and appreciate.
Additionally, skip the practice of sending out special wedding holiday cards the first holiday season after your wedding. There is no reason to continue to pay for wedding customization long after your wedding.
How much money I spent on my wedding invitations
I just sent out my wedding invitations. Below is exactly how much I paid. Keep in mind that I also paid about $80 for stamps. I needed 9 books of stamps so that I could put stamps on both the outside of the envelope and the RSVP cards.
I purchased about 10 extra invitations so that I had room for mistakes. I also have many single friends. If you’re inviting mostly couples and families, the number of invitations you need to send goes down.
I could have cut the cost further by leaving less room for mistakes and skipping the RSVP card. I had wanted to do online RSVPS through The Knot but my fiancé and I decided that a printed RSVP would be easier for our guests since many were older and his side would be traveling out of state for the wedding.
Related post: 16 DIY Wedding Invite Kits We Love
Other posts in the Frugal Wedding Series:
How to Determine Your Wedding Budget
Choosing an Off Season Wedding
Saving on Catering and Photography
Minimizing Costs for Your Bridesmaids and Guests
How to Do Your Own Wedding Flowers and Bouquets
Am I missing any strategies to save money on wedding printing and stationary? How did you save money on your wedding invites?
- How to Make a Backyard Movie Theater with a projector screen - September 19, 2020
- HONEST Passive Income Planner Girl by Michelle Rohr course review - May 25, 2020
- 35 Pink Aesthetic Wallpapers with Quotes and Collages - May 20, 2020
I designed my invitations and save the dates on Photoshop, and then printed them on Vistaprint. I spent probably around $200 on both combined! Plus, I got exactly what I wanted. The only downside was that my fiance and I had to spend (several) nights constructing them (I was really elaborate and made sleeves out of gold scrapbook paper), but hey… bonding time, right? 😛
Haha that’s amazing! Thanks for pointing out that you can design yourself too. Templates are convenient but not always necessary.
Great tips!
We actually did our invitations ourselves at home on fancy paper we got at the office supply store. My mom then did some calligraphy for the guest addresses, and we sealed the envelopes with wax and a stamper. The total cost was fairly low…I think even lower than the standard “thank you” card sets we got at the same office supply store. 🙂
That’s a great idea! I bet they looked so nice with the wax too!
Great tips! My hubby is a graphic designer, so he was able to design our invitations and print them. We only had to pay for paper, envelopes, and stamps.
That’s great! I’m envious! I bet they came out amazing!
We used the free printable from coprinted. Those are free design templates that you can customize for free and we printed it ourselves. http://www.coprinted.com/free-printables.html
Great idea! How much did that save you?!
Great Article! Invitations were definitely something we wanted to save money on after seeing my sister spend almost $800 (!!!!) on hers. I found a site called textmycards.com that I used to send our save the dates as well as our thank you cards. They saved the addresses of our guests and it also only cost $1.50 per card with postage and shipping included. $135 for our 90 save the dates.
Thanks for sharing these frugal tips! I will definitely keep your advice in mind as you have proved it can be done without spending thousands of dollars on it. I couldn’t agree more on forgoing the extra printed materials, I believe these are just extras that you can forgo.