The great stationery debate

Today the stress has finally got to me. The financial pressure we are now under with the house, the wedding and the honeymoon manifested in a mini breakdown which has caused me to have a face like a 'slapped haddock' for most of the day. Irritatingly I quite liked James' turn of phrase when he described me thus. The upshot is that when I came home I decided I needed to bury myself in the fairytale world of weddings. My chosen topic for tonight was stationery. In comparison to the Save the Dates which were easily sorted and are standalone the rest of the stationery is set to be far more complicated as Bridezilla-to-be here is intent on co-ordinating. In plain speak I want the invitations, the order of services and the menu cards to tie in. I also wouldn't be averse to having a matching guest book. When it comes to the place cards and the table plan though, I have something else up my sleeve.

The easy bit is the colour. Without a doubt purple must predominate, but at the same time I want the invites to look clean and feminine (sorry James). Tonight I have immersed myself in the websites of everyone from bespoke stationers, to personisable cards, to hobbycraft and I am precisely no further forward in my quest to source the perfect products. I haven't even decided if I want to make the cards (by 'I' read 'Mum', as I have far too much in the way of craft on my plate at the moment) or have them made. The easy, but expensive option, is to have them made. I say that option is easy, in fact it's remarkably difficult as it relies upon us finding stationery we like, at a price we can afford (currently that would be the stationer paying us for our custom!). As yet I've not seen anything that stands out to me as a must-have design.

Perhaps the obvious answer then is to create my own. Unfortunately I have never been blessed with creativity. I have mocked up a couple of invitations but I worry that they will look fussy and/ or budget. It's not even as though they are the inexpensive option when the cards and envelopes I like could set us back £13 for 8 and that's before adding on extra for the embellishments, not to mention the time that would be involved creating the many tens of invitations that will be required. The invite is the first impression most people will get of the wedding and I want it to be a good one. It's not about having the best or the most novel, it's about having an invite that will reflect our personalities and the theme of our day. Who knows what I'll decide on but whatever it is I think it needs to be soon!