I wanted simple invites I could do myself that looked nice, I just couldn’t see spending $3 per invite, so this is what I landed on.

They looked nice, but were simple enough that I wasn’t cursing myself on invite number 60.

Front Paper:  Staples coverstock 67 lb. in Ivory
I chose this paper because it was the thickest I could get through my color laser printer well, and even then I did have to dry iron the pages flat.

Backer Paper: Colormate Textures Ribbon Cardstock 105 lb. in Navy
This was the perfect solution to add texture and beef up my 67 lb. paper. The 105 lb. gave it some bulk.

Envelopes:  Staples Easy Close Invitation Envelopes in Ivory
These were more see through than I hoped, but the self stick was awesome. In the end the envelope lasts about 15 seconds with recipient, so I wasn’t too worried. To jazz them up I embossed the flap with our monogram.

Font: Contribute
Contribute is a free font, the free version doesn’t have numbers or symbols so I swapped those for a different font.

Embosser:
My smartest wedding investment by far. I used this throughout and I can still use it moving forward.Wedding wise our embossed monogram made an appearance on the envelope, invitation, cocktail napkins, and goodie bags.

Adhesive: Scotch Advanced Tape Glider
My trusty scrapbooking tool didn’t fail me, this strong adhesive and comfortable tool made sure all my invites arrived intact.

The price breakdown without the embosser or toner:

Layout Tips:

I built my invites to minimize cuts. The backer paper is a 8.5x11 sheet cut in half, the front paper is .5” smaller, so I printed them in the bottom left corner of the page so I only had to make two cuts. Play with how you layout your invite to print and do lots of experimenting.

Other Tips:
If using a laser printer, flatten your print outs by ironing with a dry iron printed size down over parchment paper, they’ll flatten out quickly, do this before you cut.