Our quest to invite our guests: round four

My search for invitations had come up empty, three times over.  I was beginning to become pretty frustrated about the entire thing when I decided to try this offbeat, quirky website I'd heard of on some wedding website in a prior life - Etsy.com.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with this delightful little site, the only way I can think to describe it is as a blend of craigslist and eBay but for arts, crafts, jewelry, and paper goods.  Individual artisans and crafters can post their products on this site, allowing online buyers like us to browse through and buy one-of-a-kind, hand-crafted, professionally-designed goods.  Pretty friggin' awesome, if you ask me.

There are a whole bunch of wedding invitations, ranging from basic to mind-boggling in design, complexity, and price.  I poked through this site to my heart's content, amazed at the variety available to me.  Here are some that I bookmarked during my search:

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When comparing all of these options, a few things become clear.  One, I like invitations with color and interesting imagery.  Two, I still have a lot of narrowing to do in my search, since these pretty much run the gamut of styles.  Three, I am drawn to nature-inspired graphics, which is sort of surprising, since I'm not an outdoorsy type of gal.  I don't camp, I don't like being too hot or too cold, and I don't like connecting with nature in any sort of way.  I enjoy indoor plumbing, sleeping under a roof, and showering whenever I darned well please.  Here's my typical reaction to being outdoors whenever it doesn't include a lounge chair, a cold drink, and a good book on the beach.

(personal photo)

 

But I digress.  I could feel my excitement growing at the prospect of getting our invitations from this site - it seemed like the best possible solution.  I could pick an affordable option, choosing to print it on my own or have someone else print and construct it, personalizing it with customized text and colors.  I definitely felt like I was getting closer to finding the right invitation, but I was still pretty bogged down in the multitude of directions I could go.  Perusing the 1000s of invitations was becoming a nightmare, and I started to get slap-happy until I tried one last little idea.  I expected it to be a waste of time, so imagine my glee when it actually worked out - stay tuned!

 

Have you discovered and fallen in love with Etsy.com?  Any other websites come to your rescue?