Don't use Vistaprint for your wedding stationery

I will be honest… whenever I hear someone is going to use Vistaprint for their wedding invitations or save the dates I cringe.  Don’t get me wrong, Vistaprint is a good company and creates some good products.  I have ordered business items from them. But wedding items are not some of the things they do well.  There are a few reasons for that.

Before I go all Debbie Downer let’s acknowledge the good qualities of Vistaprint. 
1) Their customer service is impeccable.  If there is a problem with your order they will reprint or offer you a refund, no questions asked. 
2) Generally their quality is good on business printing products other than business cards.  I have used them when I ordered a banner and I was satisfied.
3) They run sales all the time, so you can get their already cheap items even cheaper.  But doesn’t that make you wonder how they can offer things so cheap?

Now for the reasons why you shouldn’t use Vistaprint for your wedding items.  It is not just about “they are my competition and you should use me.” (I do think that but there is more to it… Lol).

1. Cardstock quality: In a word… Terrible.  As a standard they use 80lb card stock for invitations.  You can pay more to “upgrade” the card stock to 100lb card stock but “upgrade” is a stretch.  Wedding invitation industry standard is 110lb, minimum.  The 80lb card stock is just very thin and cheap feeling.  Even the "double thick" is subpar as far as double thick goes.
   
2. Print quality: Questionable.  Like I said, I have ordered products and been satisfied.  When I started my business I joined Vistaprint as a reseller to print some of my business items.  I started ordering items quite regularly and I quickly learned that every time I opened a box from them 50% of the time the printing was fine.  The other 50% of the time it was horrible and obvious it had never been looked at by a person before the items were put in the box to be mailed.  I could always call and get a reprint but sometimes time did not allow for that.  It was always an inconvenience to call and have it reprinted.  I have since let my reseller account expire and use other avenues when needed.  Paying more for value and consistency is worth it.
3. Limited templates: They have about 250 5x7 invitations (standard wedding invitation size).  You can get 6x9 but that is an awkward size for wedding invitations.  That is it.  No square. No pockets. No mats.  Very limited on fonts.  You are also limited on wordings and you must stick with the basic wording set up they have on the design.
4. Envelope quality: Like the card stock… Terrible.  The envelopes are very thin and you can read everything right through them.  They do not protect the invitations at all and can rip very easily during the mailing process.  And white is the only color offered.

Your invitations are the first impression your guests get of your wedding.  You want it to be a good one.  You get what you pay for.  “Cheap” is not a good word to describe anything.  “Cheap” is a bad word. There is no good use of the word.  It is also not a word you want associated with your wedding.  Spending more elsewhere (whether that be from me or from another invitation specialist) is going to make a HUGE difference in the overall quality of your wedding stationery.

Keywords: wedding, wedding invitations, save the dates, wedding budget, invitation design, card stock, cheap wedding invitations