invitation advice?

[lanabanana]

I'm considering making my own invitations and am wanting to price the folders and envelopes. Any good suggestions? And do the folders all have to be folded or do they come that way? We're looking at probably 175 - 200 invitations, is that crazy to try to make??? I'm just trying to save a little money and not sure if it will come out cheaper in the long run?
Also, for putting a return address on the envelope, would it look nicer to use a plain stamp or would it be okay to use one of those embossing machines that would just raise the texture but not have ink on it? How much do you think your DIY invites ended up costing???

[s_r_d3]

I made up about 10 mock invites about 2mos ago for my sis inlaw. I have alot of the materials here at my house cause I scrapbook and her colors were simple black white and a splash of red. I gave her a round about price then called around the following day for prices of the cardstock I would need. I figured I could get at least 3 invites out of a 12x12 sheet of paper, that would make them each 5x7. If she wanted it a layered invite the top layer would have been 4x6 so I could get 4 per sheet of 12x12. The most exspensive invite I made up would have cost her 80 bucks (just for materials) for 150 invites. I didnt think that was bad and was willing to do it all free of charge. This did not include envelopes. If you have like a hobby lobby or micheals or joanns close to you, you can get the supplies cheaper. I only have 2 scrapbook stores and walmart to get the materials at.

I dont think making 175-200 is crazy if you have help or do a little at a time. I wouldnt sit down 4mos before the wedding and try to do them all in one night by yourself. I'd ask the bridesmaids and your fh for help doing it. Make it a party one night. Serve pizza and soda and sit and chat all night while doing it.

[sweetvenus]

If you are wanting to do pocketfolds, I got mine from paperpresentation.com. They came pre-folded. They also sell some at cardsandpockets.com which may be cheaper (they didn't have the paper I wanted so that's why I went with Paper Presentation). DIY pocketfolds are definitely a lot cheaper than ordering them through an invitation store.

I think either the plain stamp or embossed would be nice. Embossing doesn't require a special machine, just some embossing powder and a heat gun. I chose to emboss mine because my envelopes are black and the white ink alone wasn't showing up that great.

[amyatom]

I've looked around quite a bit and definitely one of the cheaper places to get blank pocketfolds is cardsandpockets.com. However, I've found that trying to buy all the pieces separately can end up being quite pricey in the end, especially if you have layers of backing and/or accessories like ribbons or decorations.

I've been trying out DIY-"kits" (they provide the materials and instructions, you provide the effort) from various places and found the price-per-invitation to be a little better in the end.