The thing about choosing to have a wedding with guests is that you then have to actually… tell them about the wedding, and give them the information that they need to get there. Hence, the importance of the wedding invitation: without it, nobody would know you’re getting hitched. 
So where to start? There’s not really a wrong way. Anything goes: from pressing send on a simple evite, to commissioning a renowned calligrapher who hand stamps each invite with a custom wax seal and has them delivered via the owl postal service (oh wait, sorry, that’s only for wizards). That being said, for some of us, there’s a certain je ne sais quoi to getting a tangible letter in the snail mail. (Yes, even ordinary USPS.)
Learned The Hard Way Pro-Tip: While all rules are off in this brave new world, I can tell you that I’ve gotten wedding invites this year by email, and it’s confusing. In one case my husband was on the email list but not me… but he assumed I got the email, so he didn’t tell me… till the day before the Zoom wedding. The same happened with an in person reception. When we got an informal email, we didn’t write the date down because we were not sure if plans were going to change. In short, there is really good reason for a wedding invitation. People can put it on their fridge and remember that your wedding is happening, and it was important enough to put it on paper.
There’s generally four ways to get a physical wedding invitation: you can DIY from scratch (minimal $, but more effort), edit and print templates at home ($), commission an artisan ($$$$), or have someone else print from a modified preexisting design ($$).
If dealing with glue guns and Photoshop and paper jams and toner cartridges isn’t your cup of tea, that’s totally okay. I DIYed invites at my wedding, and if I were doing it again in this era, I’d just buy invites, because so many cute ones are on the market (in fact: I kinda did do it again, and you can see the choices we made here.)
Buying pre designed invitations is both super easy (no paper cuts) and pretty affordable. (Win!) There’s just one problem: the overwhelming number of wedding invites out there in the wild, wild Internet. How are you going to find the best ones? Not to worry. After strenuous hours of searching by our whole team, we humbly present to you a collection of stylish yet cheap wedding invitations, all under $250 for a set of one hundred, designed and printed by someone else to show your guests the adventures that await them. Plus, hopefully these will inspire people to RSVP by the deadline so you can finalize that headcount. (Just kidding! Nothing you can do will make that happen. But at least your invites will be super stylish.)
Pro Tip: Almost all of the invitations below are available in a wide assortment of colors, so if you don’t see what you like here, click through and you can usually update the colors. Also, remember that many of your guests will be invited in pairs or family units, so a hundred invitations will cover way more than a hundred guests.
TYPOGRAPHY: Clean & Simple
There Will Be A Party Wedding Invitation via Minted
Botanical Bliss Wedding Invitations by Paper Culture
Retro Wedding Invitations by Blush and Blossom Paper via Etsy
Simple Wedding Invitation by Amy Tarah Designs via Etsy
Modern Initials Wedding Invitation via Minted
Fortune Favors the Bold Wedding Invitations via Paper Culture
The Adelaide Wedding Invitation by Married AF Club via Etsy
Overjoyed Wedding Invitations via Minted
Cheap Wedding Invitations: GATSBY Decadence
Deco Nouveau Wedding Invitations via Minted
Gold Nouveaux Deco Wedding Invitations via Zazzle
Custom Wedding Invitations via Vista Print
Mosaic Wedding Invite via Minted
Art Deco String Lights Invitation via Zazzle
All Around The World: Places and Spaces
Starry, Starry Night All-in-One Wedding Invitation via Minted
Las Vegas Watercolor Invite Suite Digital Download by Nightingale Supply Co. via Etsy
Mountain View All-In-One via Minted
Desert Wedding Invitation Template by Joie Print Co. via Etsy
Summer Palm Wedding Invitations via Minted
Cheap Wedding Invitations: Abstract Art
Blend Wedding Invitations via Minted
Color Arch Wedding Invitations via Minted
Midtown Wedding Invitations via Minted
Swirl Wedding Invitations via Minted
Au Natural: Blooms & Greenery
Scarlet Rose Wedding Invitation by Papier
Polynesian Floral Wedding Invitations by Paper Culture
Collection Wedding Invitation via Minted
Woodland Wedding Invitation by Sienna Mail Invitations via Etsy
Wild Flowers Wedding Invitation by Papier
Blue Maracas Invitation by Papier
Organic Florals Wedding Invitation via Minted
Now it’s your turn. Did you love your invitations even if they weren’t $$$$? Were they way less expensive than you expected? Do you have an awesome resource for affordable wedding invitations that we missed? Tell us all your secrets!
