Editor’s Note: This product has been removed from our side-by-side comparison because it is no longer available. You can still read our original review below, but Top Ten Reviews is no longer updating this product’s information.
AstonishingCards is a photo cards service that offers a handful of features to help you create cards for holidays, birthdays, announcements and other important milestones in your and your family's lives. AstonishingCards has a fairly wide selection of photo cards to choose from; however, the designs aren't all that astonishing. The design templates available are fairly plain and seem outdated, but there are still many options that make this service appealing to use.
If the thought of creating your own photo cards online seems overwhelming and intimidating, AstonishingCards may be an ideal service for you. It offers many of the basic features you will find with several similar services. For example, envelopes are included with each order, and there is no minimum order requirement.
One standout feature AstonishingCards offers is its delivery service. They will address your envelopes and mail your cards for you, so all you have to worry about is creating and ordering the cards. Also, you can import and store your recipients' addresses in your AstonishingCards address book. You can import these addresses easily using an Excel spreadsheet, CSV file or Microsoft Outlook.
If you want to mail your cards yourself, be aware that you cannot pre-order your envelopes in advanced to help speed up the mailing process. This custom photo card service doesn't offer paper proofs or personalized design assistance for your cards.
In terms of customization, this site is adequate. The selection of fonts is slim. We also would like to see more envelope choices. However, the personalized maps feature is fantastic. This tool allows you to add a personalized map for each recipient, along with driving instructions. And this site makes it easy to add maps to your photo cards invites, which greatly impressed us.
The card designs are not comparable to those on the other photo cards sites in our lineup. Most of them are no more than a colorful border within which you can house your photo. The card options are pretty simplistic and unattractive when you compare them to other photo cards sites' selections. The photo card options for AstonishingCards are the type of cards many people could create themselves without too much effort.
The picture cards selection is a bit slim in some categories too. We found a handful of holiday picture cards and birth announcements, and you can also create photo postcards, which are fun. If you are looking to create photo cards for specific occasions, you will have to look through most categories to sort out photo cards from regular greeting cards.
AstonishingCards does offer excellent customer support. They provide both telephone and email support, which allows you to speak directly to a customer service representative who can walk you through the design process. They are also excellent resources to help remove a little intimidation and frustration from your creating that perfect card. However, live chat support is not an option.
AstonishingCards has an excellent mix of features for people who are not very comfortable creating photo cards online, perhaps because it is their first time. The customer service available is great, but most photo card designs fall flat in comparison to our top-rated services' cards. However, if you don't want a card that is too fancy, you may find what you need with AstonishingCards.
