Wedding Invitations - What I Paid, Who I Used

I haven't shared with you all yet one of my favorite aspects of our wedding, which was our invitations.  I had a lot of mental specifications of what I was looking for.  Here's my basic checklist:

What I Want:

• Beautiful, timeless, stylish design
• Unique and memorable ... something that would easily stand out
• Raised printing (thermography)
• Something that people texted, called, and emailed me about with compliments
• Easy to create, proof, and order
• A design and color scheme (black, ivory) I wouldn't regret in the year 2032

What I Don't Want:

• Something so painfully expensive that the thought of someone trashing it would give me heartburn
• Blah / boring / predictable layout
• Something I've seen two dozen times before
• Fussy or outlandish design
• An ordering process that takes too much time or know-how

I stumbled upon the Betsywhite Stationery Boutique somehow, and I instantly fell in love.  Based out of Atlanta, Georgia, this online boutique focuses on stylish yet affordable stationery. 

The style I went with is called the Emmy.  It is from a Betsywhite collection called Simple Solutions that is extra affordable.  You can get 100 invitations and response cards for $250!  Anyone who has placed a wedding stationery order knows how good of a deal this is. 

One thing to note: the set does NOT include an inner envelope, and it was important for me to have an outer and inner envelope.  I emailed Betsywhite to inquire about this and heard a response back super quickly.  They gave me a special code to enter upon check-out that would add inner envelopes to my order.  It was incredibly easy.  So my final order was for 150 invitations and response sets, an order of 150 inner envelopes, and an extra order of 25 outer envelopes for calligraphy mess-ups.  I ended up spending approximately $3.08 on each invitation suite (excluding postage).  It was affordable and beautiful ... exactly what I wanted.

Do you like them as much as I do?
And if you're not done falling in love yet, check out some of my other favorite styles:

And finally, did you know that if you invite the President to your wedding, you'll get a congratulatory letter from him and the First Lady?  Coincidentally enough, I received this letter from them on our wedding morning!  I was sitting at the table doing some last-minute calligraphy and Mom brought in the mail.  It's such a thrilling feeling to see "The White House" in the return address area of the envelope.

All you have to do is mail your invitation at least six weeks in advance of your wedding day to:
The Honorable Barack Obama and Mrs. Obama
The White House
Greetings Office Rm. 39
1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
Washington, DC 20500

This is what mine looked like:

I won't show what the card they sent us looked like just for you brides-to-be ... I want you to be surprised when you get this in the mail!