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As I sprint through the final month of a 14-month engagement, I salute those who are just beginning the journey. Wedding planning can feel like a Sisyphean mountain of unfamiliar tasks, especially when approached with a DIY mentality. Have you ever planned a party for 100 people before? I surely had not. With no experience, it’s easy to get overwhelmed by the wide-ranging and sometimes unprecedented decisions that have to be made. (How would you like your 100 napkins folded? And should those be made of a polyester blend, washed cotton, or linen?)
One of the choices my fiancé and I struggled with early on, even as visually opinionated creatives, was the selection of save-the-dates and invitations. A storied part of wedding etiquette, these analog missives are meant to embody the tone and taste of your wedding within a single envelope. I for one do not send many paper communiques these days and felt unequipped to choose just the right style, paper quality, and delivery method (while staying under budget).
After considering many stationery sources, both online and brick-and-mortar, and hundreds of invitations (the number of open Chrome tabs gives me anxiety just to recall), we landed on a slightly modified version of Minted’s Sense and Sensibility in Sage. In order to pass along the wisdom we’ve gleaned and hopefully pave the way for those whose path toward wedding bells has just begun, I’ve narrowed the field to the four best online sources for wedding stationery.
If ease of use, affordability, and a distinct design voice are important to you, then you should start here.
If you’re an artist at heart…
Although usually our go-to for art prints, Minted has dedicated an entire section of its site to an exhaustive wedding stationery collection (there are thousands!). Given that the design marketplace is known for crowdsourcing works from independent artists, I’d recommend it for finding a one-of-a-kind canvas for your milestone invitations.
If you’re a minimalist…
With all the options at hand, it’s easy for a wedding to start feeling scattered. Kondo your way to a serene postal experience with Artifact Uprising’s refreshingly curated assortment of contemporary, typography-driven invites.
If you always have fresh flowers on hand…
Who doesn’t love a floral wedding invitation? The trick is finding one that doesn’t feel overly cute or prim. For more than the garden variety, explore Paper Culture’s swath of imaginative botanical designs. And to help you feel even greener, the company makes all its products from sustainable materials and plants a tree with every order.
If seasonality is key…
Fall wedding? Feel those crisp changing colors. Holiday nuptials? Get (tastefully) festive. To give your guests a sense of what’s in store, go for one of these noncliché invites from Zola. Plus, if consolidation is a must in your process, the platform has also mastered registries, planning tools, and wedding websites, too.
My final piece of advice? Don’t worry about it being perfect. Enjoy the search process, narrow it down to a handful of options that catch your eye, and trust your instincts—the one you both feel content with is the right one.
Get more wedding ideas: The First 5 Things to Do Right After You Get Engaged, According to a Wedding Planner The Wedding Floral DIY We’re Seeing Everywhere 2019’s Most-Searched Wedding Colors (So Far)