Stationary!

Anyone who knows me knows I am obsessed with stationary. When I was a little kid my parents got me a three binder box set that when put together looked like a beautiful cloud sky. I thought this was the coolest thing ever and played with the constantly. (I remember this vividly, but my doll house, not so much.) I just finished the start of my wedding scrapbook and can't wait to look at our guestbook scrapbook that I decided on before I was even engaged. Now it is time to look at stationary.

Bradley and I want an April wedding, which means as of right now we have  a tad over 9 months until the wedding. (9 months to do what I had planned to take a year, it's meltdown time .) You're typically supposed to send out save the dates 6 months before hand, and 8 if it is a destination wedding. Our wedding isn't destination to us, but my whole family is all spread out, at minimum, a state away. Due to this, I'm going to go in the middle and say we need to send them out at 7 months. That leaves us two months to pick the invitations, get them delivered to us, and send them out. The expense is going to be pretty large, which is why we're going to do cost effective things like an online RSVP. (We're using AnRSVP and I highly recommend it, but more on that later.) We're also going to do some lazy things, like getting a stamp for our return address. Still, Save the Dates and then invitations are a time consuming process.

I don't have to think about that though, because right now all we have to do is the fun part- picking out our stationary!

Minted

For the 75 post cards and stamps (80, they come in sheets of 20) it is $179.96- hot damn. I love getting stamps that match, I think having the little American flag in the corner will look a little out of place. As far as brand, I do love Minted. They offer complete sets that you don't have to order all at once (unlike Wedding Paper Divas, who require you to order the basics and then some from the jump). To edit the stationary is very easy, and you can communicate specific requests.

Minted, Inked

The size is adorable and the card is a little warm and welcoming, but still formal. The script is fancy, but easy to read, and the card offers a busy design. 5/5

Minted, Elegance Illustrated

This one is very simple and formal, easy to read as well. I love the flower detail, but I'm also not sure why I put it on here. Bradley absolutely hates flowers. Ah well, a girl can dream...  4/5

Minted, Alabaster Florals

I'm not 100% on this one, but it does intrigue me. The flowers aren't super flower-y, so Bradley may actually like them. I'm always up for sneaking flowers past him, xD. These look very natural, a look that works well with the Twelve Stone Farm venue, and they're more traditional post cards in that they are landscape.  Unknown/5

Vistaprint

What? Vistaprint? Really? Really. They're not sorted by stationary sets, like Minted, because they aren't 100% catered to weddings but they're much cheaper which allows for nicer paper and other options while still keeping a low price point. However, since they're not sorted into design, it took me a little longer to find these group options. Finally, they do not offer designed thank you cards for all of their designs.

 

Vistaprint

I like the green in this design! It adds a very mature color and ups the fancy level quickly. The set includes a tall invitation. The cost, including thicker matte paper, is $56 for 80. Whoooa that is amazing, but it doesn't have stamps.

Vistaprint

This is a lot more formal design, but there is no color in it. Bradley likes it though, so that's a huge bonus. For 80 cards it is $56 without any sales on it, and Vistaprint always has sales. We would, however, need to buy the stamps separate. I actually like the matching invitations that match more than the save the dates, which just means they'll get better!

Etsy

On Etsy you can get the files to print your own wedding suite, which works well because you can upload your design to Vistaprint and get it printed. Hells yeah! In addition, we can get a custom design made through Etsy. Our favorite so far is the Inked by Minted, but we're just not willing to pay that price. Additionally, having custom made cards would be nice.

Well, that's all I have for now, I'll keep you updated!

Approx. 9 months from the wedding.