You selected the perfect date and time.
Your guest list is handpicked, the decor meticulously groomed, and the caterer hard at work creating a brilliant menu.
But have you ordered your invitations?
First impressions count, and invitations make a statement about a party’s style, theme and formality long before the guests arrive. Still, this first detail in entertaining often gets relegated to the back burner.
Getting started
Choosing the “right” invitation is all about inspiration.
Your vision of an entire event unfolds with the invite, says Ashley Giles, stationery manager for Sturtz & Copeland in Boulder. Look for something stylish that reflects your personality and tastes.
The event “can be represented by the font and color scheme,” she says. “Even the paper can give the recipient hints about what to expect.”
Planning a casual beach wedding? Choose a quirky font printed in deep blue, and paper in shades that represent sand and sea.
Or give guests a preview of your toddler’s monkey-themed birthday party with invitations featuring a spring-mounted “wiggler” monkey that dances when the recipient opens it.
A formal dinner would be well represented by a custom invitation on fine-stock ivory paper engraved with elegant black script.
“For us here in Boulder, having a Colorado or outdoorsy theme is very popular,” Giles says. “You can incorporate a mountain or pine tree motif, or use natural fiber paper in earth- tone colors.”
When it comes to cost, invitations run the gamut. A fun, freebie Evite is fine for last-minute cocktails with friends. Cool custom printing, on the other hand, requires some forethought and a chunk of change.
“A big part of my job is to help clients create their dream invitation within their budget,” Giles says.
“Some people are surprised that the printing process, not the actual invitations, can be one of the most expensive elements,” she adds. “Engraving or letterpress are two of the most expensive options, where using thermography or just flat printing can be $200 to $400 less for a run of 100 invitations, for example.”
Of course, when you’re deciding how to spend your event budget, it’s all a matter of personal preference. One person might splurge on spendy-yet-elegant handmade paper and save on printing costs; another prefers moderately priced paper to allow for fine engraving.
“When you opt for engraving, they actually make a copper plate, called a die, and press the ink down into the paper, so you get an embossed quality with an indentation,” Giles says. “You get to keep the copper plate as a memento.”
Letterpress, a similar technique, and thermography (in which powder is sprayed onto the printed ink, then heated), are two other printing options. Flat printing with an inkjet costs the least.
Help wanted
A knowledgeable stationery store staffer can explain the latest looks, colors and styles.
“Chocolate, pink and Tiffany blue are hot,” says Veronica Lopez, corporate marketing coordinator for Papyrus. “The current trends in Colorado are rich, colored papers used in multiple layers, as well as the use of pockets, which keep your invitation ensemble together.”
At The Stationery Co. in Denver, owner Lin Logan has been doing business for morethan 25 years.
“Right now everything is color, color, color,” Logan says. “The really new look this spring and summer is bright oranges and yellows.”
Do it yourself
When it comes to DIY invitations, the sky’s the limit. You might start by enlisting an artist or graphic designer to create your motif from scratch. Or peruse a specialty paper shop such as Xpedx Paper Store, where shoppers will find mix-and-match sets and handmade papers.
“We see a lot of people adding their own bows, glitter or other embellishments,” says Kim Sullivan, owner of Paper Wares in Englewood. “Kids’ birthday parties are huge these days, and parents are spending a lot of money and want to make them special. You can do something as simple as punching a hole and adding ribbons, or using Photoshop at home to add photos.”
The especially hands-on crowd might ditch the laser printer and head to Superhero.es, a letterpress gallery in Denver’s South Broadway district. There, owner Ian Coyle instructs customers in the craft of letterpress printing.
“I have two letterpresses and a foil machine,” Coyle says. In addition to band posters and other specialty advertising pieces, he can help create highly personalized stationery and invitations.
“I’ll typically do low-run, high-end personal stationery,” he says. “These are small- run pieces that are co-authored by the customer, and allow people to create it themselves and get into the letterpress process.”
In order to share the artistic experience, Coyle tries to keep his fees low.
“If someone is willing to do it as part of a public workshop so others can learn, it’s free except for the materials costs,” he says. Materials for a small run of invitations cost about $15 to $60 for the plate, plus the paper.
The main investment here is time; the entire process can take anywhere from a few hours to half a day. But the result is more than just a piece of printed paper.
“When you participate in the process, you’re part of the story,” Coyle says. “You can say, ‘I actually made that.’ ”
Crafty bride-to-be
Shortly after I became engaged, my mind went into overdrive. The thing I was most excited about wasn’t the dress, the cake or the reception. I was completely thrilled that I could use my design skills to create the most perfect invitation.
My enthusiasm waned slightly after realizing that I wasn’t going to create just one perfect invitation — I’d have to do 120 of them. But I soldiered on, and, come May, our guests will receive a beautiful, professional-looking invitation suite, for one-third the price of having them done by someone else.
Want to DIY it with your next party invitations? This list can help you get started. Inspiration. Look at magazines, websites and catalogs. What do you like? What don’t you like?
Software. Photoshop, InDesign and Illustrator are powerful tools that professionals use. I created my design using a free Photoshop “brush” that with one click makes what looks like a beautiful hand-drawn flower, something I would not have been able to draw.
Font foundries. I’m a font geek and spent weeks searching for the right one. is an excellent source. Fonts are relatively inexpensive and easy to download and install.
Paper cutter. Cutting 300 pieces of paper with a rotary cutter keeps me sane and hand-cramp-free.
Paper. If you don’t want to cut hundreds of pieces of paper or fold pocketfolds from scratch, consider buying invitation kits. I bought pocketfolds and precut card stock. sells inexpensive pocketfolds. If you want to DIY it all, offers templates.
Scrapbooking tricks. Want to make a plain invitation snazzier? Think about stickers, stamps, embossing and more. Check out a scrapbooking store for more tricks.
Time. There’s a reason you’re saving money when you DIY it. YOU are the labor. This is not a speedy, easy task. Prepare to spend hours with this project. It takes time to design, print and assemble the invitations. My advice: Bribe your friends to help you. Get a little done each day to make it feel less daunting. And don’t obsess over every little detail.
– Jacqueline Feldman, The Denver Post
Read more about Jacqueline Feldman’s DIY wedding plans at .
