Growing up, my grandma used to joke that I had champagne taste on a beer budget. The older I get, the more I realize how much “nice things” actually cost. As long as I’ve had my own money to spend, I have always been on the hunt for things that look really nice without the eye-popping price tag.
You may have already discovered in your own wedding planning that wedding invitations can be notoriously expensive. In fact, the inspiration for APW came in part after a blog post touting $2,000 wedding invitations as the “budget choice” drove Meg to actual tears. Much has changed for the better in the ten years since APW’s founding (you no longer have to budget your first born for paper goods, for starters). But still, even “affordable” invitations can rack up a significant price tag, once you add in the cost of envelopes, RSVP cards, and enclosure cards (those things add up faaaast). So, when I had a chance to get my hands on The Wedding Shop by Shutterfly’s paper suites earlier this year, and saw the accompanying price tag, I was like 😳, this can’t be real.
Chances are if you’ve done any kind of card or photo shopping online, you’ve already come across Shutterfly (or you’ve probably seen them here on APW). But over the last few years, The Wedding Shop by Shutterfly has really upped the ante on affordable wedding invitations. They now boast the whole library of Wedding Paper Divas designs (which are 👌), plus fancy upgrades like foil stamped designs and glitter cards. And if shiny things aren’t your bag, their styles run the gamut from modern to vintage to rustic to more simple designs. And once you’ve found something that speaks to you, you basically have unlimited customization options from there. Love the design but you want to switch the colors up? You can totally do that. If you’re like me and love the gilded look, they even have three different types of foil stamping to choose from. And because I’m a sucker for a small detail, I am totally here for The Wedding Shop’s coordinating envelope liners (there are over twenty prints, patterns, and solids to choose from, and they come pre-cut ready to slip into your envelopes).
Lucky for us, The Wedding Shop’s damn-good design still falls firmly on the “actual humans could afford this” spectrum. I could easily send my grandma these invites, and she would call me right after getting one in the mail and ask, “How much money did you actually spend?” (The answer is $270 for 75 foil invites.) But what would make my grandma really happy is that those same invitations were 50% off, thanks to a deal that Shutterfly was running that week. Which is exactly the right price to make me re-think DIYing anything ever.
So today we’ve partnered up with The Wedding Shop to share a few of APW’s favorite invitation designs that won’t hit your budget where it hurts.
Modern: I am not over greenery and tropical prints yet (come at me), so this invitation set is basically my favorite. It’s modern, with a touch of whimsical. Or if you want to go even more tropical (plus gold, because why not), there’s always this little number. Not feeling the palm fronds? The Wedding Shop has equally pretty greenery for cooler climates. For this invite, we kept the design’s modern, minimal typography, but with The Wedding Shop, you can change the font, the size, and the color of pretty much any text element on the page to make your invitations your own (and you can see those changes in real time so you know exactly how your invite will turn out).
Romantic: While we love a more is more moment, beautiful and classic can be just the ticket when done right. (And if I’m being honest, this design is a bit of both.) This invite is the perfect compromise between your desire for something a little out of the box, and your parents’ expectation of a more traditional invitation. Also, I can’t overstate how pretty that RSVP card is in real life. Is it weird to hang an RSVP card on the wall as art? The Wedding Shop has floral designs on lock, and I am particularly feeling this throwback illustration and the darker hued floral designs for a slightly edgier vibe.
Artistic: So, you love the look of handmade invitations but don’t have the time to make every invitation by yourself? This double-sided invitation does all the heavy lifting for you in a cool moody way I’m really feeling right now. See also: this guy. Though I’m not sure I could quite pass that one off as my own. And if you’re more into classical painting than the abstract arts? Got you covered there too. No trip to the craft store needed.
Opulent: Like I said earlier, APW’s motto is basically, “I’d rather be shiny.” So obviously we had to pick at least one design that was heavy on the foil (for research purposes, obvs.) While this invitation suite looked really pretty online, when it arrived in our offices, we let out a collective DAMN. Because don’t be confused: while The Wedding Shop’s invitations might be affordable, they are really, really nice in person. The paper is textured and substantial, and a picture doesn’t do justice to how impactful the foil looks. You can see all of The Wedding Shop’s foil invites right here, including my second and third faves.
Minimal: If you and your partner prefer a clean and simple aesthetic, this suite is where it’s at. (Sometimes less is more, but you never heard that here.) If millennial pink is too now for your tastes, this design is just the right combination of minimal geometry plus shiny. And we’ve been longtime fans of this egalitarian invite. Bonus: As you can see above, The Wedding Shop doesn’t phone it in with their printed backs. Which means you can be all business in the front and party in the back, should you be so inclined.
So if you’ve been stressing out over how to get beautifully designed wedding invitations customized just the way you want them, at a price you can actually afford, go check out the full selection of paper goods in The Wedding Shop by Shutterfly. Because no one should ever cry over wedding invitations. Except maybe from excitement.
This post was sponsored by The Wedding Shop by Shutterfly. Shop for your wedding from top to bottom, starting with save the dates and invitations, to day-of decor and wedding party gifts, all the way through to wedding albums and prints. (All of the stationery suites featured in this post are from The Wedding Shop by Shutterfly.) Click here to explore everything the wedding shop has to offer.
