WEDDING INVITATIONS

A beautiful wedding starts with a beautiful invitation. Your wedding invitation sets the tone for the entire event - and you never get a second chance at a first impression.

Are you interested in a traditional type of invitation? Or something more whimsical and less formal? Or perhaps an invitation that's more unique, representing your interests as a couple? There are literally hundreds of styles of wedding invitations to choose from.

Of course, you can always buy wedding invitations from a local store. However, purchasing your wedding invitations over the internet can give you many more options to choose from, and at a much lower cost. In fact, it's for these very reasons that online sales of wedding invitations have enjoyed record growth over the last few years.

There are many factors to consider when shopping for wedding invitations. Some of these factors include:

•  Variety.  Some stores offer you dozens, even hundreds, of choices; others have only a handful of options.

•  Quality.  A cheap, poorly made invitation won't please anyone. You want to be sure you're purchasing a quality invitation from a reputable company.

•  Cost.  While it's true that buying wedding invitations over the internet can save you hundreds of dollars, some internet stores offer you better prices than others.

We hope you find this information valuable in choosing the right Wedding Invitation for you!

 

 

Jean M offers a large variety of sleek and upscale wedding invitation designs at prices less than what you'll find at your local store. You can mix and match a large number of paper colors and ribbons, as well as design a one-of-a-kind unique invitation. We enjoyed spending time scrolling through the designs as well as creating our own distinctive originals. The site also offers a "Dreaming Up Designs" section that offers even more creative ideas.

After narrowing down your invitation style, Jean M will conveniently send you a color kit with up to four paper color choices, as well as ribbon samples if applicable. The cost of the color kit is only $5, well worth the price if you are concerned about getting just the right color. Invitations arrive fully assembled, ready for mailing. Attendant gifts, favors, and paper goods can also be designed to match your invitations. - a nice bonus for those looking for this level of coordination.

We were impressed not only with the many design options available, but also with the quality of the invitations themselves. Customer testimonials are also extremely positive, with most comments referring to the high quality of the products. Live help and print catalogs are also easily available. Order processing times tended to be a little longer than some other sites, due to the personalized nature of these wedding announcements. If you are not satisfied with your purchase for any reason, Jean M offers a 30-day money-back guarantee or full replacement for your order.

Jean M is a top-of-the-line, professional company that delivers high quality, personalized wedding invitations. With an impressive variety of choices and tailoring options, and a consumer-friendly refund policy, Jean M earns our highest rating.

 

 

Fine Stationary offers invitations, as well as stationary for every occasion, from 81 well-respected and leading invitation manufacturers including Kate Spade, Crane & Company and Vera Wang. Styles vary from traditional to contemporary, ornate to simple. Be prepared to spend a great deal of time scrolling through samples, as there are over 725 designs to choose from. This process may be well worth it as it's a one-stop site that has brought many great designers together for your convenience.

With so many designs available, Fine Stationary at times flirts with being a bit overwhelming. Fortunately, they have implemented some ingenious navigational features that solve this problem. For one, you are given a close-up view of each invitation by holding the cursor over each design. This simplifies the search process because you don't have to click on every style that you're interested in. We also appreciated the "recently viewed" section, which continuously registers your 12 most recently previewed invitations. This gives you a place to compare your top selections side by side. As an added benefit, Fine Stationary also offers a feature that allows you to narrow your search based on four pricing tiers.

Samples may be ordered for $2 a piece. The invitations themselves are printed, typeset and shipped from different manufacturers. Unfortunately, no print catalog is currently available. If you're not satisfied with your order, Fine Stationary offers a full refund or replacement.

Fine Stationary does an excellent job of bringing together a large number of top wedding invitation designers in a convenient, easy-to-use interface. The site has something for every personality and every budget, and earns some of our highest marks.

 

 

With over 80 years in the industry, Rexcraft is a trusted name when it comes to wedding invitations. Rexcraft offers a variety of invitation designs that are appropriate for someone looking for traditional wedding announcements.

The site is very easy to navigate, but seems slightly impersonal when compared with our top-rated choices due to its size and standard designs. Most of the invitations offered are somewhat basic with the exception of their "Picture Perfect" line. This line allows you to personalize invitations with the bride and groom's pictures. This is perhaps the most unique of the Rexcraft designs.

You can choose from several ink colors, typesets and verses for your invitation. If you have any questions during your design, Rexcraft provides you with easy access to receive live help. For a minimal extra cost, invitations can be personalized with original artwork or even a foreign language. The price point for these invitations was on the low to moderate range, depending on invitation style and options. You can expect to stretch your dollar with this company without compromising quality.

If not satisfied, Rexcraft will replace or return your money within 30 days of a purchase. Samples as well as print catalogs are also offered at no additional cost.

If you are looking for quality, traditional wedding invitations while shopping on a budget, Rexcraft presents a tremendous value. Definitely worth checking out.

 

 

Now and Forever offers a website that's simple in design and easy to navigate. Although they offer a smaller selection than some of the other websites reviewed, they do so without sacrificing a variety of styles. The selection is high quality and you aren't overwhelmed with too many options.

Because Now and Forever offers basic styles in addition to some unique and modern designs, the company can satisfy a broad clientele. Ink color, font styles, and verse choices can easily be customized to your liking. The price point is firmly in the low-to moderate range. They do offer a specialized line of invitations, which includes folding card wraps and seals. This is their most expensive line, due to the additional cost of preparation and materials.

Samples, catalogs and live help are all conveniently offered free of charge. Customer testimonials are positive with many comments on the quality of the invitations and exceptional customer service.

Now and Forever earns high marks for delivering quality wedding invitations at an affordable price.

 

 

American Bridal offers a wide variety of wedding invitation designs from Carlson Craft. They also offer a 20%-25% discount from retail prices on all online orders.

At first glance, we were overwhelmed by the amount of information and choices offered on the home page. We found the layout visually distracting and unappealing. It took us several attempts to find the wedding invitation section.

Once we did find the wedding invitations, announcements, we were pleasantly surprised to find the designs appealing and up to date. There are a variety of styles to choose from, including traditional, elegant, embellished, and whimsical designs. There is definitely something for everyone here. Prices ranged from moderate to high, depending on style and options selected.

American Bridal offers a consumer-friendly money back satisfaction guarantee, and shipping is free for orders over $300. Samples are available for $2 each.

If you can find the wedding invitation section, you may find it worth the effort. The selection is refreshingly up to date and offered at reasonable prices. If you are a patient, computer-savvy customer looking for quality wedding announcements, American Bridal is worth a look.

 

 

EInvite offers a variety of top quality invitations at upper end prices. Styles are offered in several categories from classic to trendy, simple to ornate. If money is not an issue, there are many beautiful designs with prices in the upper range of wedding invitations.

Although the eInvite home page is rather busy to look at, it's actually easy to navigate. Conveniently, eInvite allows you to enter your own text and preview your invitation before placing an order. As a nice option, you can choose between print-at-home announcements and custom printed invitations. eInvite also offers designs from the top designer Braun & Brown - a respected company known for its letterpress printing process that dates back to the 1400's.

EInvite provides wedding invitation samples that vary from free to $5 each, depending on invitation style and content. Unfortunately print catalogs are not available. Orders over $200 are shipped free of charge.

If you are not satisfied with your order, eInvite will replace your order within seven days. This return policy suffers in comparison with other sites in our review. We'd like to see the return policy extended to 30 days and a money-back provision offered.

EInvite offers upscale invitations at upscale prices. The designs are interesting to browse, but we feel you can get similar quality invitations at lower prices with our top-rated selections.

 

 

Invitations By Dawn offers a large selection of wedding announcements at reasonable prices. While the numbers are impressive, we feel that many of the designs are somewhat dated.

At first glance, we thought it would take a long time to scroll through the wide selection of wedding invitations. However, as we spent more time browsing the designs, it became increasingly evident that many of the invitations were of low quality and unappealing. The assortment was not only unoriginal, but we found it tediously boring to search through the samples just to find a few worthwhile styles.

Once you've selected a design, you can choose from several ink colors, typesets, and verses. For a special touch, and an additional charge, ribbons and charms can be added to your invitations. And as an added convenience, a selection of wedding supplies such as favors, decorations and paper goods are offered.

Free samples, print catalogs, and live help are all offered with easy access. If not satisfied with your order, Invitations By Dawn offers to replace the shipment or return your money within 30 days.

Although Invitations by Dawn offers many low-cost designs, we found the quality of the invitations suffered for it. You can find higher quality invitations at prices that are competitive with the selections offered here. As one of our reviewers put it, many of the cheaper designs from Invitations by Dawn are, well...cheap.

 

 

The Front Door is a large website dedicated to many different occasions and party planning. Wedding invitations are available but not necessarily the focus of this site. The company has a collection of stationary, gifts, gift-wrap, and scrap booking supplies in addition to wedding announcements. However, we do not consider this a benefit for The Front Door. We feel that the lack of focus on wedding invitations has taken away the opportunity for The Front Door to sit beside the better wedding invitation sites.

The Front Door offers a limited and unoriginal selection of wedding invitations. We found nothing to set this site apart from the others. Prices are squarely in the moderate range. They do have a special selection of top-rated Jean M invitations, but these are offered at the same price as on her website. We would rather shop directly from Jean M if we wanted those designs.

Customers may customize their invitations by selecting typestyles, wording, and ink colors. Unfortunately, we could find no satisfaction guarantee. This is a glaring omission in the wedding invitation area; our top-rated companies proudly proclaim their 30-day money-back satisfaction guarantee. Live help is available, and there are three event "experts" available to respond to customer questions via email. On the positive side, the site is easy to navigate with many interesting party planning ideas and tips.

Although The Front Door offers wedding invitations, we can't recommend this site when there are so many specialized companies that offer high quality and unique invitations at competitive prices.

 

 

Hanson Ellis offers an extremely limited but unique selection of wedding invitations. There is a total of eighteen designs separated in two categories: casual and traditional. The casual designs include a darling beach invitation, which is rolled and placed in a bottle complete with sand and shells. If someone wanted a unique way to announce their upcoming beach wedding, this would certainly be a way to do it!

The "traditional" styles are multi-fold designs with multi-layered accents. Contrary to its name, we wouldn't consider these to be "traditional" wedding announcements. Customers have the opportunity to personalize their custom made invitations, creating a truly one-of-a-kind invitation. Prices were firmly in the high end for the invitations offered. Samples and print catalogs are not available.

Because the options are so extremely limited and not what most customers are looking for, we would not consider Hanson Ellis to be suitable for most people in the market for wedding invitations.

This is a site for those few individuals looking for a specific style of invitation. If you are looking for something a little more traditional, don't waste your time.