After searching high and low for the perfect invite (and within the perfect price range), I gave up and decided to DIY my invites.  I read about so many brides doing this and gaining so much satisfaction from it, I told my DH that we can take on this project!

I decided on Perfetto coffee bean pocketfolds from cards & pockets and baby blue linen square envelopes from envelopemall.com.  I also purchased baby blue panel cards from cards & pockets to mount the invite on.

My DH designed the invite in Adobe Illustrator.  I wanted to add some depth and texture to the invite, so I stamped and embossed cherry blossoms on the branches and glued crystal embelishments.  We also created inserts for RSVP, the map, and the accomodations.  We then tied ribbon around the invite to close it and stuck our monogram on the front cover.

We choose to address our invites as shown in Martha Stewart.  However, we got several of our invites mailed to us b/c the post office thought we were the receiver.

Also, the size of our invites (6x6) were considered "large"; one post office quoted us $0.79, while another quoted us $1/piece.  We didn't want our invites returned, so to be on the safe side, we opted for the $1 postage.