Designing Invitations

Another weekend and another wedding task completed!

After making a conscious decision to be more green, we considered Banana Paper, Coffee Paper, and 100% Post Consumer Recycled Paper for the raw materials for our invitations. An immediate pro for this choice is that because they're free of chlorine, acid, and lignin, the paper won't yellow or disintegrate over time. (Probably not something anyone else cares about, but it's cool to have archival quality paper for our wedding scrapbook.) This choice also had the consequence of narrowing down the selection of colors we had to choose from and introducing visible fibers. Another design constraint was introduced by the personalized 44 cent stamps we'd already purchased - we needed to watch the size of our envelopes and the combined weight of our invitation, information insert, and RSVP card. As we were using photo postcards for our RSVPs, the envelopes had to be at least 4" x 6".

The paper and envelope combinations considered were as follows:

• 210 gram 8.5" x 11" Coffee Cover Stock, 75 gram 8.5" x 11" Coffee Paper, and #10 4.5" x 9.25" Coffee Paper Envelopes
• 210 gram 8.5" x 11" Banana Cover Stock, 75 gram 8.5" x 11" Banana Paper, and #10 4.5" x 9.25" Banana Paper Envelopes
• (Most cost-efficient; ruled out due to less interesting fiber patterns) 80# 100% Post Consumer Recycled Vellum Cover Stock, 24# 100% Post Consumer Recycled Paper, and A6 4.75" x 6.5" 100% Post Consumer Recycled Envelopes
• (Ruled out due to cost) 80# A7 Recycled Pocketfold Invitation Card, 70# Recycled Text Paper, and 70# A7 Recycled Envelopes

Total cost of DIY Eco-Friendly Invitations: $1.50 per invitation or $1.19 with Forever Stamps

• 2 - Reams of cover stock (50 sheets each): $23.98
• 1 - Ream of 75 gram paper (500 sheets): $24.98
• 2 - Box of envelopes (100 envelopes): $25.90
• 1 - Box of photo postcards and ink cartridges (108 postcards): $0
• 100 - Personalized Stamps: $74.95 (versus $44.00)
• (Optional) 1 - Calligraphy Return Address Self-Inking Stamp: $34.43