Previously on The Search for the Perfect Wedding Invitation: I had decided to make them myself and was ordering paper samples galore.

After much layering, re-layering, test-printing, and polling of family and the groom, I eventually came up with this:

Me likey. *giddy giddy happy dance*

If you would like to create some variation on these for your own wedding invitations, read on after the jump.

The Paper

Quantities listed are for making 100 invitations.

From Paper Mojo:

• Pearlized Floral Print paper in Ivory (7 sheets)—paper was cut into 100 5 1/8″ x 7″ pieces with their custom paper cutting service

From The Paper Source:

• 1/4″ satin ribbon in Blossom (2 30-yd rolls)—each roll will supply 60 18″ pieces to tie around the invitation
• Yuzen Strawberry Plum Blossoms on Chocolate chiyogami paper (9 sheets)—each sheet will be cut into 12 3″ x 12″ pieces to make the invitation sash

From LCI Paper:

• 8 1/2″ x 11″ 80lb Oxford card stock in cream (2 boxes)—the Oxford line of paper is made of recycled paper and has a nice texture to it. It can be printed with both laser and inkjet printers and it looks and feels high-end while still being affordable.
• A7 Oxford cards in cream (2 boxes)
• A7 Oxford envelopes in cream (2 boxes)
• Oxford response envelopes in cream (2 boxes)

Total cost of paper and ribbon (excluding shipping and printing): $209. So this isn’t an ultra-low-budget option, but it looks nicer and still costs less than the non-letterpress invitations I looked at.

I designed a 4 3/4″ x 6 5/8″ invitation card, a 4 1/4″ x 5 1/2″ reception and guest information card, and a 4 7/8″ x 3 1/2″ reply card in Photoshop, drawing my own little cherry blossom motifs. I then laid all three cards out in an 8 1/2″ x 11″ file, added crop marks, and had the whole thing printed on my 80lb Oxford card stock at Kinko’s.

Kinko’s will also cut the pieces apart for you for a small charge per cut. Except at my Kinko’s, where the guy refused to do it for me because apparently their terrible cutter would ruin my pretty invitations. So I cut the pieces apart by hand myself, at home.

I printed addresses on the outer envelope on the reply envelope at home on my inkjet printer. The default print settings worked well for the paper.

Tomorrow: How to make and assemble the invitations.

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