What Do Wedding Invitations Actually Cost? A Savannah Studio's Honest Breakdown.

Take a breath. You are not the first to fall down this rabbit hole and come up confused.

The reason the numbers feel all over the place is because they genuinely are. Cost of Wedding Invitations can span an enormous range because they're not all the same thing. Here's what's driving the cost.

Paper

Hold an invitation from a mass market invitation site and one pressed by hand on cotton stock and you will immediately feel the difference, it's not subtle.

Standard commercial paper does its job and prints cleanly. Cotton stock is a different material. It has longer fibers, no wood pulp and naturally acid free. That last detail matters more than most brides realize. Wood pulp paper contains lignin which breaks down over time causing yellowing and brittleness. Cotton paper doesn't. An invitation pressed on cotton stock will look exactly the same in fifty years as it did the day you received it.

All that being said, we do print on both cotton and premium mill papers and both are beautiful. What's worth knowing is that cotton has a warmth and texture that even the finest colored pulp paper doesn't quite replicate.

Quality paper is one of the best places to invest in your suite. It's what your guests hold, what photographs beautifully and what you'll still have in fifty years.

The Printing Process

Digital printing sits on the surface of the paper, letterpress presses into it and foil adds dimension and light. Each process has a different price point and a different end result. Digital being the most cost effective and foil printing being the most investment.

Want to learn more about the printing processes? Visit our blog here for more info on foil printing & here for letterpress printing.

Design

A template suite, a semi-custom collection and a fully bespoke suite are three very different investments. The more original the design, the more time and therefore cost is involved. If you have been saving custom designed suites with hand painted watercolors, hand illustrated venues and bespoke crests, know that those are invested elements to make your invitations truly yours.

Quantity

Printing is largely fixed cost upfront. The more suites you order the better your per-piece price. Ordering 50 costs significantly more per invitation than ordering 150.

The Honest Numbers

A beautiful, well printed digital suite on quality paper for a 100 guests typically runs $300 to $700 for print only, design fees vary depending on whether you are working from a template, a semi-custom suite or a fully bespoke design.

Semi-custom letterpress sits mid-range and is where many brides land. A professionally designed foundation you personalize with your wording, palette and details. Here at Lolli Pop Letterpress our Curated suites start at $700 for 50 and most brides invest around $2400 for 100ct.

Fully custom means starting from scratch, original designs entirely yours. Illustrations, watercolor, typographic or all three. Custom suites start at around $3000 and grow from there. Custom suites are where your suite stops belonging to someone else and is uniquely yours.

Where to Spend and Where to Save

Where to Spend:

Paper and process. These are what your guests hold, photograph and keep. A beautiful cotton stock invitation with foil or letterpress is worth every penny. It sets the tone for what's to come.

Where to Save:

Your enclosure cards. Detail cards, accommodation cards and the like are a place where you can think about saving. Putting more information on one card to consolidate your pieces or flat printing those digitally on quality paper while keeping your invitation letterpress is a smart way to save without losing the overall quality and feel.

Semi-custom design is another way to save without sacrificing beauty. A curated design tailored to your details gives you a stunning suite at a fraction of the fully custom price. Explore our Curated suites here.

We also recreate invitations from our portfolio. See something you love? We can make it yours. Browse our portfolio page here and be inspired.

A lower count does save overall, but know that printing carries significant upfront costs that get dispersed the higher the quantity you order. The fewer you print the higher your price per piece becomes. So while it will be cheaper, just keep in mind that the price per piece may be more.

The Bottom Line on Wedding Invitation Cost

There is a beautiful invitation in every budget. What changes is the paper, the process, how many pieces and the level of design. Start with what matters most, what you can't compromise on. Everything else follows from there.

We'd love to help. Let's find your suite together. Start the conversation at hello@lollipopletterpress.com.

-Ash, Lolli P