the invite: my nemesis

When I first started planning this wedding I decided that I would do my own invitations. Mainly, to save a few bucks but also because I love making cards. I found the perfect DIY invites at Michael's, they were already designed with my damask theme, all I had to do was print out the wording with my home printer. Sounds pretty easy right? NO!!! I had read some nightmares stories on other wedding blogs about these invites but I was convinced it would go smoothly for me. It ended up being more like a complete nightmare for me! The main invite card printed perfectly, all 180 of them. Then I tried printing the RSVP cards and the information cards. Apparently, my printer couldn't handle these cards and they were coming out smudged or crooked. I brought them over to my soon to be mother in law's house and tried her printer, which worked a little better but I still ended up ruining about 1/2 the cards. I also tried printing the RSVP envelops and after the first one came out crooked I gave up. An emotional breakdown and hysterical crying then ensued.
So I went back to Michael's, picked up 2 more boxes of invites, and then brought everything to a professional printer who printed everything beautifully. Later, after we finalized our guest list, I decided I would try to print the invite envelopes. After 4 printed horribly and after I stopped crying, I again made a visit to the printer.
So after having to buy more invites than I actually needed and having to pay for a professional printer I figured that I went way over budget and spent way too much on a DIY project. I just did the math, and yup, I was right. And boy am I not happy!

I found this beautiful invite from Rexcraft, not exactly Damask but still fitting with my theme:

Price for invitation, outer envelope, lined inner envelope, RSVP card, RSVP envelope, and information card, and all printing for 100 invites: $403

Price for my stupid idea of doing DIY invites: $630

My biggest regret yet in planning this wedding. If I could do it all again I would have the invites professionally done from the beginning. I would've saved money and more importantly, I wouldn't have been so stressed out!