Updated October 26, 2026: we priced 100 invitations at nine shops and checked every sample, addressing and reprint policy.
If you’re deciding where to order wedding invitations, Zola is the best bet for most couples: 100 foil invitations run about $250, guest addresses print on the envelopes for free, five customized samples ship free, and the whole suite matches the wedding website and registry you may already have there. On a tighter budget, The Knot had the lowest full price we found for 100 printed invitations ($199). Skipping paper? Greenvelope sends digital invitations with RSVP tracking built in, from $99 for up to 100 guests.
To compare them, our editors opened each shop’s own product, pricing and policy pages on October 26, 2026, priced the same order everywhere (100 flat 5-by-7 invitations with envelopes, at full price, before sales or codes) and wrote down what comes free: samples, guest addressing, reprints. Below are the nine shops worth your time, who each one is for, and the fine print that changes the math. Prices move all year, so we refresh this guide annually.
9 shops in this guide. Jump to: Compare | Best overall | Best paper | Budget | Digital | When to order | Mistakes | FAQ
Where to order wedding invitations: 9 sites compared
Every price below is for 100 invitations as each product page set them up by default, at full price. Several of these shops were running sales the day we checked (Shutterfly at 50% off cards, Zazzle at up to 40% off), so treat the table as the ceiling, not what you’ll pay.
| Shop | 100 invitations | What’s free |
|---|---|---|
| Zola | $249 (foil) | 5 samples, guest addressing |
| The Knot | $199 | 3 samples, reprint if your date changes |
| Minted | $309 (foil) | Up to 10 samples, guest addressing |
| Papier | $230 | First sample |
| Paper Culture | $274 (foil) | Address printing, design help |
| Zazzle | $271 | Guest addressing |
| Basic Invite | $287 | Peel-and-seal envelopes |
| Shutterfly | $288 | Sample kit, address printing |
| Greenvelope | $99 to $179 (digital) | RSVP tracking |
For context, couples spent an average of $220 on invitations and $510 on their full stationery suite, according to The Knot’s 2026 Real Weddings Study of more than 10,000 couples who married in 2025. Our wedding budget breakdown shows where paper fits next to the venue, the food and everything else.
Where should you order wedding invitations?
Start with the three shops that do everything: hundreds of designs, matching save-the-dates through thank-you cards, free samples and a wedding website that matches.
Zola: the best place to order wedding invitations for most couples
Zola Vasara Portrait Foil Wedding Invitation
Zola’s prices sit in the middle and its freebies are the best of the big three. Most of its designs are $1.99 each at 100. Vasara puts a spray of foil wildflowers around an ivory panel on a light mauve card for $2.49 each, or $249 for 100. Zola prints your guests’ addresses on the envelopes for free (its Contact Collector sends guests a link to fill in their own), includes the envelopes, adds a QR code to your wedding website at no charge and offers eight paper stocks, from smooth to triple thick. Five customized samples ship free, and that’s the right way to see foil before you commit. Ordered on Oct. 26, this one could arrive by Oct. 31.
The fine print: samples take one to three business days to process and five to 10 more to ship, and letterpress designs can’t be sampled. Zola doesn’t mail invitations for you, so plan an evening of stuffing and stamping.
The Knot: the lowest full price of the big three
The Knot Eucalyptus Bouquet Wedding Invitation
The Knot’s invitations start at $1.99 each at 100, and Eucalyptus Bouquet is one of them: watercolor roses in terracotta and peach on the front, an engagement photo and your wedding website on the back, $199 for 100. Orders ship within four business days of approval, QR codes and design help are free, and there’s a matching wedding website. The perk we’d want most is the reprint policy. If your date or location changes, you get one free reprint of the invitations that carry it, as long as you tell The Knot within 90 days of the original order. Three personalized samples are free.
The fine print: the free reprint covers a new date or venue, not a typo you approved, and you pay shipping on the reprint. The Knot only delivers within the U.S.
Minted: the best designs (and the most free samples)
Minted Arch Frame Foil-Pressed Wedding Invitation
Minted sells designs by independent artists, and its catalog goes deeper into foil, letterpress and heavy paper than anyone else here. Arch Frame, by Emily Betts, sets an ivory panel inside a gold foil arch on a dark card, $309 for 100 ($3.09 each). White envelopes and recipient addressing are included, and you can choose signature, pearlescent, 100% recycled, double-thick or triple-thick stock. Minted lets you request up to 10 free samples, the most of any shop we checked, so order your whole shortlist.
The fine print: it’s the priciest of the three at full price, and Minted’s discounts change often (a 15% wedding code and a 20% member offer were both on the site Oct. 26).
Which wedding invitation sites have the best paper?
If your guests will notice the card before they read it, these are the two to sample.
Papier: the best paper for the price
Papier Cornflower Wedding Invitation
Papier prints on textured Mohawk card, 324 gsm as standard, with a 650 gsm premium stock for $1.10 more per invitation. Cornflower, designed by Amy Powney, wraps illustrated blue cornflowers and grasses around your names, comes in four shapes (rectangle, scallop, arch and cornice) and costs $230 for 100 ($2.30 each), the lowest full price for printed invitations here after The Knot. Ordered on Oct. 26, Papier promised delivery by Oct. 29. It can print recipient and return addresses on your envelopes, too.
The fine print: only your first personalized sample is free (with code ENDLESSLOVE). After that, samples are $1.50 each plus shipping. The premium stock applies to the main invitation only, so your RSVP cards stay on standard card.
Paper Culture: the best recycled paper
Paper Culture Foil Ever After Wedding Invitation
Every Paper Culture invitation is printed on 100% post-consumer recycled paper (145 lb. as standard), the envelopes are recycled too, and the company plants a tree with every order. Foil Ever After, by Lyanne Garcia, frames your photo with foil stamping on a 5-by-7 card, $274 for 100 ($2.74 each). Choose address printing and the recipient and return addresses print free. Its designers will also change fonts, layout and colors for free before you buy, which is handy when a template is almost right.
The fine print: the foil itself can’t be customized, and double-thick paper adds $0.69 per card (triple thick, $1.09). The 50% sale on Oct. 26 ended that night, so expect full price unless another one starts.
Where can you get cheap wedding invitations online?
All three of these shops discount often enough that their real prices land well under the table above. If you’re not on deadline, wait for a sale and then order.
Zazzle: the cheapest way to skip the extra cards
Zazzle All in One Sage Green French Floral Wedding Invitation
An all-in-one invitation prints the details (reception, hotel block, RSVP by website or QR code) on the back, so you skip separate enclosure cards and the postage weight that comes with them. This one, by Cards by Flora, has a sage green floral frame and a monogram on the front. It’s $2.71 per card at full price, and it was $1.63 during the 40% sale on Oct. 26. Choose addressed envelopes and Zazzle prints your guest list on them for free. Standard shipping takes four to seven business days after production.
The fine print: there’s no sample kit. You order a single invitation to check the paper. Zazzle is a marketplace of independent designers, so read a design’s reviews before you fall for it.
Basic Invite: the most color control
Basic Invite Modern Arch Wedding Invitation
Basic Invite lets you recolor every part of a design from more than 180 colors and metallic foils, so the invitation can match your exact bridesmaid shade. Modern Arch sets calligraphy names inside a thin gold arch, $287 for 100 ($2.87 each) at full price, or $2.44 each with the 15% code running on Oct. 26. The envelopes are free and peel-and-seal (nobody licks 100 envelopes), and its Love It Guarantee promises a free reprint or a full refund if you don’t love the order.
The fine print: standard delivery was 10 days out on Oct. 26, and paying for Priority or Rush only shaves off a day or two.
Shutterfly: the one that will mail them for you
Shutterfly Whispering Love Wedding Invitation
Shutterfly’s Mail For Me service will stamp, address and mail your invitations for you, which no other shop in this guide offers. Address printing is free with its envelopes, and its address collector texts or emails guests a link to fill in their own. Whispering Love, by Hello Little One, pairs a big engagement photo with script lettering, $288 for 100 at full price. You shouldn’t pay that: all cards were 50% off through Oct. 27, which brought it to $158. A free sample kit lets you feel the paper first.
The fine print: full price here is the worst way to buy, so time your order to a sale. Rounded corners and paper upgrades cost extra per card.
Are digital wedding invitations OK?
Yes, and they’re the fastest way to collect RSVPs and meal choices. You can mix the two: paper for grandparents and anyone who’ll put it on the fridge, a link for everyone else. For the parties before the wedding, our engagement party invitations guide runs from free to foil.
Greenvelope: the best digital wedding invitations
Greenvelope Drawn Lily Digital Wedding Invitation
Greenvelope sends a designed invitation by email, text or link that opens with an animated envelope, then does the tedious part: RSVPs, meal choices, custom questions, open tracking and scheduled reminders to anyone who hasn’t replied. Guests don’t need an account. You pay once by guest count, with no subscription: $99 for up to 100 people, $139 for up to 140, $179 for up to 180. Drawn Lily, by Atelier Pearson, is a bold one, with hand-drawn lilies on burnt orange around a black-and-white photo and a matching save-the-date and thank-you note.
The fine print: Greenvelope counts people, not households, so a family of four counts as four. Price your full guest count, not your invitation count. The free trial covers just 10 recipients.
How far ahead should you order wedding invitations?
Emily Post’s wedding planning timeline says to order invitations six to nine months before the wedding, send save-the-dates three to six months out (or earlier) and mail invitations six to eight weeks before the date. That’s more slack than printing needs, and you’ll use it on samples, addresses and proofreading. If you just got engaged, invitations can wait; our list of what to do after getting engaged covers what can’t.
- Six to nine months out: order samples from your top two or three shops (Zola’s can take up to 13 business days to arrive), pick one and start your draft once the venue and guest count are set.
- Before you approve the proof: collect addresses and check every name, date and venue address against the source. Zola, Shutterfly and Basic Invite can send guests a link to fill in their own addresses, and our guide to how to address wedding invitations sorts out names and titles. Order one per household, plus a few extras for keepsakes and your photographer’s detail shots.
- Two to three months out: assemble one complete invitation and weigh it at the post office before you buy stamps.
- Six to eight weeks out: mail them.
Printing is the fast part. The Knot ships within four business days of approval, and Zola quoted delivery five days out. A fully custom design from a local stationer is the slow route: about eight to 12 weeks from research through assembly, according to The Knot.
Wedding invitation mistakes to avoid
Falling for a square envelope before checking postage
A First-Class Forever stamp costs $0.82, and USPS charges more for square or vertical envelopes. Rigid or lumpy envelopes (a thick suite, a clasp, a chunky embellishment) count as nonmachinable and cost $0.49 more each, per USPS’s letter rules. Love wax seals? USPS says not to mail them exposed; put the sealed envelope inside an outer one.
Approving a proof you read once
Read it out loud, slowly, with your partner: both full names, the day of the week, the date, the venue’s street address. The Knot’s free reprint covers a changed date or venue, not a typo you signed off on, and most shops print exactly what you approve.
Putting the registry on the invitation
Registry links belong on your wedding website, not the card. Our comparison of the best wedding registry sites covers which ones are worth sharing there.
Paying full price at a shop that runs sales
Paper Culture, Shutterfly and Zazzle all ran sales of 40% to 50% the week we checked, and Basic Invite had a 15% code. If your deadline allows, wait a week.
Wedding invitation FAQ
How much do wedding invitations cost?
Couples spent an average of $220 on invitations and $510 on a full stationery suite, according to The Knot’s 2026 Real Weddings Study. At full price, 100 printed invitations from the shops above ran $199 to $309 before RSVP cards, and digital invitations from Greenvelope cost $99 to $179 for 100 to 180 guests.
Which wedding invitation sites send free samples?
Minted lets you request up to 10 free samples, Zola sends five customized samples with free shipping (not letterpress), The Knot offers three, and Shutterfly has a free sample kit. At Papier, your first personalized sample is free and the rest are $1.50 each plus shipping.
How many wedding invitations should you order?
One per household, not one per guest, plus a handful of extras for keepsakes, your photographer and the address you’ll inevitably get wrong. A couple living together gets one invitation.
Can you send wedding invitations by email?
Yes. A service like Greenvelope tracks RSVPs and meal choices for you and sends reminders. Mail paper to the guests who don’t live in their inbox, and use the same wording on both so nobody gets a different date.
One last tip: when the box arrives, mail one invitation to yourself before you send the rest. You’ll see exactly what the post office does to it, and whether that foil and those corners survive the trip.
Keep reading
Wedding Budget Breakdown: What Everything Costs in 2026
Honeymoon Fund Registry: How Cash Funds Work and What They Cost
The 20 Best Wedding Planner Books and Binders (2026)
22 Engagement Party Invitations, From Free to Foil (2026)
24 Christmas Proposal Ideas (Plus How to Keep It a Surprise)
