The How-tos of Who, What, When and Where

You're planning a party. You've set the date. You've booked the location and know what time it will start. Letting your guests know when and where is easy. The tough part: choosing your invitation.

Invitations range from the simple and stylish to over-the-top elaborate creations. Hopefully we can help you wade through the chaos you might encounter. The invitation world can be broken down into three basic categories: book invitations, parts & pieces, and custom design.

Book Invitations

The first category, book invitations, is made up of invitation lines found in books produced by stationery companies. These companies, such as Birchcraft, Regency or Oblation Papers & Press, design invitations for weddings, bar mitzvahs, holidays, and other special events and distribute their collections to dealers nationwide. Books containing such collections can be found in stationery stores, bridal boutiques, and party supply stores.

Book invitations are available in a wide variety of styles and also have a wide price range (ranging from approximately $3 to $15 per invitation). Companies often compile their collections based on specific occasions but wedding invitations can be transformed into bat mitzvah invitations and vice versa. Once you find an invitation you like from one of these collections, you choose a color, add your own wording and order as many as you need. This is often the simplest and most cost effective option in the invitation world but there are some limitations.