I made mine. Got the paper at Staples Office Supply.
Retailers are now realizing that brides to be want to save major money, and are printing their own invites. The quality and varieties of the papers are awesome!
Some people get really artistic using velum overlays ect, I just used what they call a formal invite paper. It had a nice embossed design running up the side. Then I glued small bows to the top of them.
I bought smaller cards that matched to make my reception cards and response cards. And I printed them all using purple ink.
The invites I bought did come with software, but i didn't like being limited to their font. I liked my font better. But it's a real basic program if that's what you are looking for.
Final cost was probably less than $100 for 150 invites, reception cards and response cards.
I used my Microsoft Picture It! Program to print everything.
I printed our programs too, and got those papers on E-Bay.
I also printed my own save the date cards, and printed out my own return address labels to use on them.
All total, I used 3 ink cartridges. I could have gotten by using less ink, but when I did my save the date cards i printed a photo on the front of all of them, which used lots of my ink.
Good luck. Once I got started, I had a good time doing it myself. It can be quite nerve wracking, so practice, practice practice on plain paper before wasting your invites!
Penny

We designed our own but then took them to a printer and had them printed. We chose to do this instead of printing them ourselves to save money. Our invitations were the seal-n-send kind---I don't think I would have used anyothers. We got 350 invitations for $20. They looked better than the one's you send off for.

Goodluck Springbride04

If you have a paper wholesaler in your area, you can find a wide variety of papers at very reasonable prices. If you choose to do as Springbride did and have a printer print the invitations, choose a printer that specializes in working for small businesses, not a quick print place. A printer can do thermography, a raised print, that looks just like professional invitations. Most will use the paper of your choice, which makes the cost very reasonable.

I made ours... I hand cut, folded and glued envelopment cards (card with a flap on the inside) and then used the laser printer at work to print the invitations (on paper I got from Staples) as well as inserts (directions, R.S.V.P. cards, etc...) then hand cut and glued everything together. It was a lot of work, but I love them! :)

I learned that if you use a laser printer with the blank invitations, you need to let the printer go through its "cleaning cycle" (that moment where it stops printing and makes a whirring noise...) afetr each sheet or you will get rainbow colored toner streaks anywhere there is a raised pattern!!

-DuckyHead :)

We made ours for our wedding 7+ years ago. I used forest green crad w/ a grain, and cream card on top, so the green made a border. The print was done on high quality using a printer. I hand wrote the names using calligraphy.
Everyone loved them, it cost us about $30.