Wedvite — cost of wedding invitationsCreate yours
Cost guide

How much do wedding
invitations really cost?

In short: paper wedding invitations cost roughly £2–£5 per guest in the UK once you add design, printing, envelopes and postage — about £250–£450 for 80 guests, and more with matching save-the-dates, RSVP cards and thank-you cards. A digital wedding invitation is a single flat price of around $89 for unlimited guests, with no printing and no postage. Below is the honest maths, item by item.

Where the money actually goes

Wedding invitation prices vary enormously, but the total is built from the same parts every time. With paper, four of them scale with your guest count — you pay again for every single person you invite:

  • Design / artwork — a one-off cost — from a low-price template to a few hundred pounds for bespoke or calligraphy.
  • Printing — charged per card and by finish; foil, letterpress and thick stock cost far more than flat digital printing.
  • Envelopes & extras — envelopes, liners, belly bands, wax seals and ribbon all add up per invitation.
  • Postage — the quiet killer — a stamp on every invitation out, and often a second stamp on every RSVP card back.

The full paper “stationery suite” also usually means save-the-dates before and thank-you cards after — each one designed, printed and posted all over again.

Worked example: 80 guests

Here’s a realistic mid-range breakdown for an 80-guest wedding, paper against digital, item by item. Figures are typical UK estimates — treat them as illustrative ranges, not a live quote.

ItemPaper (80 guests)Digital
Design / artworktemplate to semi-custom£40included
Printing invitations80 cards, mid-range stock£120—
Envelopes80, plain£15—
Postage out80 × ~85p 2nd class£68£0
Save-the-dates80, printed + posted£90included
RSVP cards + return stamps80 × ~85p£68included
Thank-you cards80, printed + posted£90—
Typical total≈ £490$89 flat

Trim the suite to just invitations and you might spend £250–£300 on paper; add foil, letterpress or a calligrapher and it climbs past £700. The digital column doesn’t move — it’s one flat price whether you invite 40 guests or 400.

The postage nobody budgets for

Here’s the number that surprises most couples. At roughly 85p for a 2nd-class stamp, posting 80 invitations costs about £68— and if you enclose RSVP cards with return postage, that’s another £68. So stamps alone come to around £136before a single card is designed or printed. That’s more than the entire price of a digital wedding invitation, which posts nothing at all. (Larger or square invitations often need a “large letter” rate above £1.50 each, pushing postage higher still.)

Why digital is a flat price

A digital invitation removes the two costs that scale — printing and postage — so the price stops depending on your guest count. You pay once for the design and setup, and then it’s the same link for everyone: 20 guests or 2,000, the total is identical. The save-the-date and the RSVP are built into the same link rather than being separate printed-and-posted items, and there are no thank-you-card stamps to buy afterwards. The more people you invite, the wider the gap between the two columns above.

Is paper ever worth it?

Honestly, sometimes. A beautifully printed, letterpressed invitation is a lovely keepsake, and a few older relatives genuinely prefer receiving something in the post. A sensible middle path many couples take: send a digital invitation to everyone for speed, live RSVPs and zero postage, then print a small number — one framed copy for yourselves, a handful for guests who’d treasure the paper. You get the keepsake without paying to print and post the whole list.

Skip the postage

One flat price. Every guest included.

A designed-for-you digital wedding invitation — save-the-date, live RSVP and unlimited guests on one shareable link, for $89.

See the designs Start with a save the date
Questions

Wedding invitation cost FAQ.

What is the average cost of wedding invitations in the UK?

For paper, most UK couples spend roughly £2–£5 per guest once design, printing, envelopes and postage are added up — about £250–£450 for 80 guests, and more if you also send matching save-the-dates, RSVP cards and thank-you cards. Fully bespoke or letterpress suites run higher. A digital wedding invitation is a single flat price of around $89 for unlimited guests, with no per-guest printing or postage.

What is the cheapest way to do wedding invitations?

The cheapest route is a digital invitation, because the two biggest costs of paper — printing every card and posting it — disappear entirely. One flat price covers your whole guest list, whether that's 40 people or 400. If you want some paper, a common money-saver is to send digital save-the-dates and RSVPs (the parts that need speed and postage) and print only a small number of keepsake invitations.

Are digital wedding invitations cheaper than paper?

Almost always, and by a wide margin. Paper is priced per guest — design, card stock, printing, envelopes and a stamp each way for the RSVP. The postage alone on 80 invitations plus reply cards can cost more than a whole digital invitation. Digital is one flat price for unlimited guests, so the more people you invite, the bigger the saving.

Do you still need paper invitations if you send digital?

No — a digital invitation is complete on its own: it carries your wording, venue, map, timings and a built-in RSVP. Many couples send digital to everyone and simply print one or two framed copies as a keepsake, or a small handful for older relatives who prefer post. There's no need to buy a full paper set alongside it.