"suite" invitations!

Whee!  So today I finished designing the rest of our invitation suite!  Or what I call, the attachments!  The pieces of smaller paper things that come with the invitation also known as the RSVP, information, and direction cards.  :)  I am quite happy with them, and Tim said, "Wow so very fancy! I like I like!!" and some other nice things.  I wish I could share them with you right now but that would ruin the surprise for some people of seeing them in person when they receive the invitation!  I will share them as soon as I can.  The next hump is figuring out where and how to print them, and how to assemble them.  {sigh} 

Where to print them
That is still a mystery to me.  I orginally intended to get them printed in Hong Kong, but then a family friend said unless you're there to oversee the product (and so you can complain if something goes wrong), it's not really worth going over there.  And I was slightly concerned something might get lost in translation if I just sent along a prototype with my dad.  However, we might be going to HK in January soo... I guess we'll see.  But other other options states side would be Cornell Printing and Kinkos.  A friend of mine from church back in Ithaca (who is getting married today) said they got theirs done with Cornell Printing, and since Tim is still a student there, I'm sure we could make something work.  Kinkos woud be the option I could do myself here, and I was told to ask for a proof since their color might be off (or even placement!)

How to print them

I think the ribbon is quite fab and adds a bit of polish (or fancypantsness) to the invitation.  But it will require there be two pieces to the invitation.  (Source)

Our invitation suite has a green border and for the invitation, I'm not sure whether we want to have that border printed, or if it'll be a separate piece of colored cardstock adhered to the front portion with the text in white.  (Alvina will proooobably make the executive decision to go with the printed since she'll be the one adhering those cardstocks and that just seems a whole lot easier!)  :]  But that will mean having to say goodbye to fancypants ribbons and other cool embellishments.

How to assemble them
Unless you are going to get or have gotten married, you probably don't realize how many invitation suite options exists in this world.  Let me tell you.  Too many.  It's really a fashion statement how your invitation suite looks like and there are just too many fabulous | cute | pretty | beautiful | darlingest | etc options out there.  See here:

Tri-fold pocket

I really like this one since it's simple and it keeps everything together.  However, if I buy them pre-made, which would be the sensible thing to do, they would not come cheap at X amount of $ times like 150.  If I made them, which would be the economical thing to do, it would be a lot of work and I might go crazy.  Maybe.  Also, that'll be added weight and will probably result in unnecessary extra postage.  Say no to extra postage!  (Source)

Belly band

This one seems easy enough!  We may go with this one (or say screw it and just toss everything into an envelope, slap a stamp on, and bid them safe travels).  I think it'd be fun to design a little thing for the belly bands and that should hold things together well enough.  I need need need to remember most people won't save our invitations, some will not even notice the belly band, and some maybe even grumble at having to disband the thing before they can get to the invitation!  (Source)

A variation on the belly band -- one of lace!  I wouldn't do this for ours since it doesn't fit our theme at all but I thought it was cute/sexy since it kinda looks like a garter!  (Esp if it's placed in such a way that the lace peaks out when you open the envelope).  (Source)

The all in one

Mrs. Ducky's invitation suite!  I think I see the pocket fold AND a belly band.  All in one!  I would do this if I... thought people who actually save and value our invitations.  But I've seen my mom throw away too many of them over the years to think otherwise, so I don't think we will invest so much in the invitations.  Maybe we can make a handful of deluxe invitation suites for people we know will keep them!   (Source)

What are your thoughts?  --> Keep it sweet and simple - people are gonna throw it away anyway?  --> Or have what makes us (me) happy and something I'll be proud to look back on - cherish the thought that people might wait two whole weeks after your wedding to throw away our invitation?  What other nifty assembly/suite ideas have you seen?