The Paper Arts site talks about everything related to paper including stationery, scrapbooking, and DIY paper projects.

With June nearly on the horizon, wedding season has already started up. If you’re getting married this summer and you haven’t yet sent out your invites, you’re behind! But …

If you’re about to get married soon and the date is creeping up on you quickly, you might think twice about making your own homemade wedding invitations. The amount of time and skill needed to plan, cut, and print your own wedding invites is beyond even the most ambitious of brides. Plus, not everyone is an artist or graphic designer.

Sure, you could ask a friend or acquaintence to help out with the design or preparation of the invites (and this might be a good idea anyway for those larger weddings requiring 200+ invitations). So, most people opt for just ordering a professionally printed wedding invitation package to cut out all of the hassle. The problem is that getting stuff professionally printed can cost a couple of arms and legs. And there’s the additional risk of leaving a third party all that responsibility.

Well, if you should choose to go the DIY route for your invites, you might want to consider getting a “wedding invitation kit” instead of desigining them entirely from scratch. This compromise might be the way to go. Having blank invites keeps the cost down by allowing you to print them yourself.

Hm… so you’re looking for some unique invitations for your latest and greatest shindig get-together. Well, how about this: a company actually named Shindig! I found this company once again through random paper-related web surfing.

Located in Hoboken, New Jersey, this invitiation and stationery outfit takes a very nice approach to coming up with different invitations. You don’t spend hours looking through their books; each invitation is custom fit exclusively for every client. The process is not unlike your typical rounds of graphic design. After meeting up with you (through email, phone or in person) and discussing your invitiation needs, they’ll come up with two mockup design proofs. From these, they’ll narrow it down to just one and then tweak as needed.

Here’s some more information, from their website:

At Shindig we believe in more than ivory card stock and ebony type. We believe that your invitations should be as unique as your event. And, we will work with you to create one-of-a-kind, truly unique invitations that will make you (and your guests) truly party inspired!

Here’s an example of one of their customized invitations, a pretty pink party card with a dye-cut window to the inside along with a nicely tied ribbon. Lest you think that this is their typical design, you should take a look at the site to see the wide variety of invites that they’ve done before.

One of the other wedding invites that I haven’t shown here (because it seems to have been shown in so many other places) actually utilized recyled brown paper along with pinkish paper and green ribbon and was produced for an environmentally aware couple.

For those looking for an alternative to boring standard wedding invitations but who don’t have the time or inclination to try and make them by hand, Renaissance Writings may be just the ticket needed.

This North Carolina company has been making handmade wedding invitations since 1994, though I only found out about them last week. They make uses of handmade paper that often has dried flowers and other plants embedded in the sheets to produce unique invitations that are often “enveloped” with an outside custom paper pocket. Their designs range from classy and traditional to a more bold, modern or whimsical feel.

Pictured at right is just one of the many different design invitations that they specialize in. This beautiful invite makes use of a chamois colored pocket fold and handmade papers featuring embedded Orange Petals. It says that the outer envelope is 7 inches square and the invite also includes a RSVP card and envelope.

What is even cooler is the possibility of creating your own invitations by mixing and matching a huge variety of envelopments, pocket folds, portable pockets and folded cards in different shapes and colors. I believe that they have variable pricing for these custom orders, so you should check the site if you’re interested in them.