You never get a second chance to make a first impression. And many engaged couples take that to heart.

A wedding invitation should reflect how you want your wedding to be perceived, said Amber Renee of Bluorchid by Naked Eye Image.

Bluorchid by Naked Eye Image (ENLARGE)

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Couples can create unique invitations, whether they choose a custom set for $10,000 or print-it-yourself invitations that can cost as little as $40 for 50 invitations and reply cards.

Design options are unlimited. Once upon a time, cream vellum paper with black engraving was the standard. Now anything goes.

For instance, Renée designed 6-by-12-inch invitations on flocked paper with a velvet finish in eggplant, fuchsia and pink ink for a professional athlete's wedding. The invitation was adorned with a satin ribbon and a rhinestone buckle. The fiancée of another professional athlete chose a save-the-date announcement made of beveled glass and mailed it in a specially designed padded envelope.

Renée has just introduced a retail line with customizable designs.

"Purple tones, ranging from lavender and lilac to deep plum and eggplant, mixed with metallics in the same family of colors, are popular today," she said.

Many brides choose light-colored paper with an ink that complements their color schemes. Others may personalize invitations by choosing square styles, embossed and embellished papers, or traditional invitations that are layered or adorned with ribbons.

At Paces Papers, an Atlanta stationer specializing in custom invitations, brides are choosing heavy, handmade papers in ivory, white or warm white, with brown, navy or charcoal inks.

"Some invitations have rounded corners. Some are square. Brown has been a really popular ink color for a few years. Gray is coming in very big," said store owner Jackie Howard.

At Atlanta-based Anna Griffin Inc., traditional invitation designs are most requested.

"Overall, our customers tend to stick to the classics, such as using accents of soft pastel colors like sage greens, pale pinks and robin's-egg blues [with] shades of ivory," said company founder Anna Griffin. The company is one of the country's largest wholesale producers of invitations.

She said opulent colors like red and gold are popular for winter weddings.

In addition to ink color and paper stock, printing methods can have a significant impact on the cost and look of invitations.

Traditional engraving produces raised lettering. Trendy letterpress printing creates an impression on the paper and often costs more than engraving. Less expensive thermography looks like engraving, but doesn't work well on heavy paper or with light-colored ink.

It's not just the invitation that is important. There's a whole array of printed materials that need to be taken into account.

"It's the small details that will make an event extraordinary," Griffin said.

"All of the paper items, such as save-the-date announcements, thank-you notes, place cards and programs should be coordinated. A coordinated suite of papers with the same color scheme or motif gets the event off to the right start," she added.

Buying an entire set of wedding paper creates a consistent look and often is cheaper than buying them piecemeal, said Bluorchid's Renée.

If you're on a tight budget and can't buy the whole set, always include a save-the-date announcement in your suite of bridal papers, Howard said.

"Save-the-date cards are an absolute must and should go out six to eight months before the event, and say that a formal invitation will follow. It should include suggestions for hotels and information about other events, such as the rehearsal dinner or Sunday brunch. Otherwise, the guests won't make their plane reservations correctly," Howard said.

INVITATION TIPS

How do you choose the perfect invitation from the huge array that's available? Here are some tips from the experts:

• Start with a budget and figure out what components you need, such as save-the-date cards, reply cards, place cards or programs, and decide on the mood you want to create, Renèe said.

• Have a general idea of the kind of invitation you want before you start shopping, Griffin advises. Browse through magazines and Internet sites and collect photos of the styles you like.

• Spend three or four hours, two different times, looking through every book in the store to learn about your own taste. Look at multiple lines to see what stands out, Howard said.

• If you fall in love with a design you can't afford, work with your vendor to create a similar design using a less expensive paper or a cheaper printing method.