Which came first, the invitation or the monogram?

After attending my cousin’s wedding in Chicago this past weekend, I’ve been re-inspired (is that a word?) to jump on the planning train!  The first thing I did after recovering from the 9 hour drive home was to look up monograms online to find the perfect one for Drew & I.

Unfortunately, monogram sites are not as eager to let you preview your new monogram as invitation sites are.  I couldn’t even find any that would let me try my initials in a monogram style without paying first.  I found ranges from $5 – $50 for a custom monogram, so I’m not sure how you know what the right price is to spend for 2 letters on a page.  How can that cost $50???  I decided to hell with that, I’d just make my own.  Like most of my projects, I gave up after finding that it was quite boring to to go through every single font and see which ones I like best.  Next – delegate!  I’ve asked Drew to work on it since he uses Photoshop all the time, but we’ll see how that goes (:

Then there is the issue of the invitation.  Invitations have their own colors, styles, etc.  Do I pick the invitation and then ask them to print things like napkins & stickers?  Or do I go to the invitation place/site with my monogram already designed and try to retro fit it on to an invitation?

I’d like to show you a few styles I like, but the websites are too smart and have the right click/save image disabled (so people can’t steal them).  Surprisingly, I’ve found myself liking the the contemporary styles the best. My only problem with them is that they feel a little cold.  I like the idea of something basic (not too flowery, flow-ey, swirly) and clean, but warm too.  Will keep you all posted once I get somewhere on this!