The growing trend for personal, custom weddings is a good thing. Unfortunately -- to do it really well -- you have to spend a lot of money or be Very Clever. (being rich AND very clever isn't bad, either...)

We at Invitesite try to help with the Very Clever part.

There's a reason custom work is expensive - it's not just another Wedding Industrial Complex conspiracy. UNIQUE means just that - new and fresh, never been done before, no prototype. Which means it costs more in time, materials, labor and attention. More prone to errors. So, in order to understand your options, it helps to know why businesses that sell you services and goods have such a large price difference between standard and custom.

There are 3 basic choices in the wedding invitation marketplace:

• factory-printed invitations
• boutique or custom invitations
• making the invitations yourself

You may have asked yourself: Why do all the standard wedding invitations look the same and why do they seem so cheap looking?

Inexpensive, factory-printed invitations all look the same because the companies save money by standardizing the process from start to finish.

Multiple setup/short run/low cost printing for a One-Time customer (as most couples are) is not an attractive business proposition to your average printer. (This is why your local printer pulls out the invitation albums.) The usual invitation set includes 4 - 6 separate parts. That means that a commercial printing press has to be set up 4 to 6 times (because you are printing different text on different sized paper). All the cost in standard printing is in setting up the press. Invitation factories have the printing process down to a science. Cost is in the process, not the materials. (Paper cost is minimal - all the cost is in printing and processing the order) Any change in routine and they lose money.

Also, most ofthese factories are owned by one company (even though they operate under different names).

The Upside: Many people are satisfied with these invitations.

• Ordering is simple and quick (either through a re-seller, catalog or online).
• The entire invitation issue is taken care of, rather painlessly.
• Lots of brides use them.

The Downside: Some couples find them cheap looking, run-of-the-mill, and somewhat tacky. Not a good way to invite friends and love ones to a very personalized wedding. When you get one of these invitations in the mail, you might figure the food and the reception will be cookie-cutter, too.

• The invitations all look the same.
• The designs are very middle-market.
• The paper is cheap and the printing is undistinguished.