Wedding Forum - Which ones should I do?...

Hi guys i'm after a bit of advice, my invitations are something I am not willing to spend a lot on and I have not budgeted much for them so buying them is probably out of the question. I have two cheaper options, I could make them, my friend has offered to help and we did some samples and I really liked them, however I'm having a rather large wedding and what with all the invites, oos, table names etc it could take a while and to be honest I don't know if I have the patience!
The other option is that my friends hubby is a graphic designer and he said he would design cards for us and we could just glue an insert in, He did our engagement party invites and put a lovely photo of us onto a background of the harbour at Sorrento (where we got engaged) and it was really effective, I also have a friend who works at a printers who said she could print them free of charge as long as I provided the card. I was thinking some sort of design with a pic of both of us as children then one of us together.
My question is would you go for a more traditional one or the photo card idea? Honest opinions welcome, thanks x

that's a good point thanks. This is why I refuse to pay a fortune for them - I do want them to be nice but how much do people actually notice them, or remember them after a while? I can't remember my friends and I was her bridesmaid! but maybe that's just me! I'm not saying they don't matter because I want to do things right but I'm not paying some of the ridiculous prices some places charge x

i think the photo card ones will look good. what a brilliant idea :-) x

Thanks guys I think I like that idea too. I saw one which had what looked like an old film reel, you know like the negatives you used to get with a spool? and at the each different end were the bride and groom sitting on santa's knee as children, then a photo of each one at school and then one in the middle of them together now. It was really simple but I thought it was really effective. To be honest it's the only wedding invitation I've ever remembered!

I am for the photo, it's a bit different !

i think go for the photo card option, it adds your own personal touch to the wedding invitation, and its also a nice little keepsake for your loved ones to look back on, i managed to get a really good bargain for my invitations on ebay a few months ago, i typed in wedding invitations and searched in the wholesale and job lots and it came up, it was someone who was just starting up as a business and i payed just under £40 for 50 invitations, 50 thankyou cards, 8 table numbers and 50 place cards, they look beautiful and professional, and i saved over £200!!! i'm looking at getting my order of service covers from there as well, but have a good shop around before you make your descision. hope you manage to get everything sorted and have a wonderful day. xxxx