Given my budget, I thought there was no way I'd be able to afford custom invites. I was happily proved wrong. The customized invites plus all of the aforementioned extras and matching thank-you cards came out to a little over $2,355 (including shipping and tax) for about 200 people.
To give you some context: another engaged friend of mine said she was planning to do just save the dates for $1,000 via an Etsy vendor. (Our save the dates cost about $200, for the record.) While I am all about supporting local vendors on Etsy, when it came down to my own wedding, I preferred to spend the extra cash on a talented makeup artist (which can also cost in the thousands, FYI!).
If you are on a stricter budget, I still recommend creating your own personal invites but cutting back on the extra cards or doing an electronic rehearsal dinner invite. This will definitely save cash, and you can always direct people to your website for further details.
