Making your own wedding invitations - What to consider

In these difficult economic times many of us are trying to make what money we have go as far as possible.  Couples still want to get married but they face one of the few industries not hit big by the recession, so for many couples there may well be budget issues.  The upside of an economic downturn is the return to a make and mend philosophy that a vast number of people are embracing, and unlike building your own wedding venue, making your own invitations and stationery is a viable option in many cases.  There are however a few things to consider before you start.

The first thing is budget.  It's sound advice when planning a wedding to sit down right at the beginning and work out what your budget is, what your priorities are and where you see the money being spent.  Once you have done this take a look at the figure you have written down for wedding invitations and stationery and the importance you have given it.  You may wonder where I am going with this, but bear with me; it'll come together.

The next most important thing to consider is time; your time and how much of it you have available.  Write a new list, this time of things that will need to be done organise all the elements of your wedding.  Try and gauge who you think will be doing what.  Then look at all the things you have listed as doing yourself and write down where that time is coming from.

With me so far?  Ok, now it's about combining the budget factor with the time factor.  If you have written down a fairly low figure for the wedding stationery budget, or it has relatively low importance to you it may be that you will be best served by sourcing your invitations from a reputable online or high street printer or wedding stationer.  This is especially so if you are not going to have a lot of time spare to devote to making invitations.  I say this because if your intention is not to spend all that much anyway, then making your own stationery could end up a false economy as well as adding extra pressure into an already busy schedule.  If on the other hand you had written down a fairly large figure in your budget and you have a decent amount of time available then there may be a good cost saving in making your own stationery.

Of course, there are other things to consider too.  You need to source materials such as card, paper, ribbon etc. and there are going to be a few basic tools that you need to have:  A computer or access to one, a printer or access to one, ink for the printer, a paper trimmer, adhesives, are probably the bare minimum.  If you already have these, great!  If you don't have these then remember to factor those costs in.  Of course if you want to do additional finishes such as metallic foiling or embossing, stamping etc. there will be additional tools and consumables required as well as an extra time component.



Ultimately, don't just say 'I'm going to do them myself' in an off the cuff way because you assume it will be the best way to save money.  Think it through.  If you are short on money, or time, or both then it might actually work out to be more cost effective to buy from a reputable printer or a wedding stationer.  If you have the hours (and it will be hours...quite a few of them!) to spare and the cost of making them actually saves you money over the cost of buying them, then making your own invitations and stationery is a sound idea.

An important note:  I didn't mention skill level anywhere here, which some might say would be an important consideration.  I, however, think that there is nothing than can not be learned given sufficient time and practice so skill is not necessary to begin with but you should factor in a little more time for the learning curve (and probably some extra materials for the practicing) when working out your costs.

Bespoke wedding invitations - The design process

So, you have decided that you would like your wedding invitations to be designed uniquely for you....now what?  Where do you start?  How does it work?

First, choose your stationery designer.  Easier said than done, I know, but it's worth doing a bit of research and taking a little time to find the right designer for you. It's important that you like the examples of their work but it's also very important that you can have a good working relationship with them.  Communication is going to be the key and your designer should have excellent communication skills if the process is going to go smoothly.  Most wedding stationers can work by email, phone or in person by appointment.  If you prefer the in person approach then it's advisable to choose a designer who is local to you and a great way to do this is to attend some local wedding fairs or to search Google Places listings for wedding stationers local to you.

Once you have selected your wedding stationer the design process begins in earnest.  You may have given the designer a brief idea of what you are after when you first contacted them and got some estimates.  Now it's time to expand on those ideas.  For some of course, this part is easy because they know exactly what they want, but from my experience most clients only have a general idea at the beginning.  Because of this the design process can move forward in one of three ways; designer lead, client lead, or a collaborative approach.

In a designer lead approach, the wedding stationer presents ideas to the client, gauges likes and dislikes from their responses, and then presents further ideas until a design becomes consolidated and agreed.  In this approach, the client is not required to generate any creative ideas themselves, rather they just respond in a positive or negative way to the creative ideas presented to them.  This is a great option for clients who would not consider themselves a natural creative but know what they like when they see it.

For clients that already have a very clear idea of where they are going with the design of their stationery, the client lead approach is the way forward.  Here it's the client that presents the ideas and the wedding stationer that puts those ideas together and presents them for approval. It's worth noting at this stage that every wedding stationer will have their own way of doing this.  I present my clients with images (via email) of how their invitations will look (very realistic ones, I might add), rather than making physical samples.  I do this because I can make variations, change colours, fonts, embellishments etc. fairly quickly and easily and get more images sent than I could making physical samples.  I also do not need to pass on additional cost to my clients to cover the design process or the expense of making multiple samples.  Not all wedding stationers will work this way, and whether the approach is designer lead or client lead it's worth finding out in advance whether you will be charged additional costs for the design process and for any samples made.  If there is a design fee charged make sure you understand exactly how much that covers...is it just one design?  Does it include any tweaks to the design?  Are multiple designs covered? Is there a time frame, i.e. does the fee cover a certain, limited, number of hours of design work?

A collaborative approach is a melding of the designer and client lead approaches.  Here both the designer and the client bring creative ideas to the table and the designer puts it all together.  A collaborative approach is great for those clients who have a really good feel for what they want, and probably have a selection of examples that they like already collected together, who just need a designer to help add a little extra to make their invitations unique to them and their wedding, and to produce their invitations.

Whichever approach suits you, if you have chosen the right designer for you it won't take long for the design to be finalised.  At this point the wedding stationer will require any information from you to complete the text elements of your invitations; details of your wedding venue, date, time etc.  You should also be given options as the format of the wording of your invitations.  The wedding stationer then combines this information with the approved design and creates what is called a 'Proof'.

Most good wedding stationers will do their utmost to check grammar and spelling for you, however it is very, very important to note that when the proofs are sent to you it is absolutely your responsibility to check the text and to make sure there are no errors.  It is written into the terms and conditions of every wedding stationer that the cost of producing more invitations because there was an error not picked up by the client at the proof stage, is borne by the client.  So, check and double check.  Get someone else to check it as well...it never ceases to amaze me how one person can pick up on something that someone else has missed even though they have been looking at it for ages!

Once you have approved your designs and text the process enters it's final stage; production.  This is where your invitations will be physically manufactured.  This may involve print runs, and cut runs, and embossing or hot foiling...it may be predominantly done by machine or it may nearly all be done by hand (depending entirely on the type and design of the invitations) but essentially as the client, you need not worry about this part at all.  A good wedding stationer will keep you up to date with progress reports and completion estimates, so the only thing for you to do now is look forward to receiving your beautiful, unique invitations....and then of course, send them to your guests!  (I would advise taking advantage of any guest name printing or envelope addressing services your stationer might offer, especially if you have a large number to send out!)

 

Bespoke wedding invitations - who makes them?

There are two ways to have your wedding invitations produced.  The first is to select your invitations from a pre-designed range...and believe me there is plenty of choice out there!  Just Google 'Wedding Invitations' and you'll be overwhelmed in minutes by the choices!  If, however, you would prefer to have your wedding invitations designed specifically to your requirements then you are after what are termed 'Bespoke' invitations.

Now, there are a number of possibilities
here, and also factors you need to consider.  For those wanting to save themselves money, and create the ultimate in personal invitations. you can of course make them yourself, from scratch.  You'll need a few tools, the right materials and a creative bent, but the real factor you need to consider before going down this road is..time!  Making invitations is time-consuming and unless you have plenty of it and help with all the other aspects of organising your wedding, you may get half way through and wish you had gone about it differently!

A close alternative for the very personal approach of making them yourself is to entrust the job to a friend or relative, if you have one willing and able.  There are a wealth of very creative people out there, crafting away, who would be absolutely delighted to either be asked, or to have their offer accepted.  My only word of warning here is to try and avoid the 'Polite' factor.  This is where you are too 'polite' to tell your designer, amateur or professional, what you really want and think about the designs they offer up to you.  The more specific you can be, the better the result.  There is little point in going to the trouble of bespoke invitations and still not ending up with something you love.  The 'Polite' factor tends to raise it's head more with friends and relatives so be sure you choose to ask someone with whom you are comfortable speaking frankly.

If you don't have anyone to help you make the invitations, or you simply don't want to take this option, then you may want to considering buying your invitations from a professional Wedding Stationer, like me.  A lot of those results that you got when you googled wedding invitations will take you to websites for just such professionals.  My advice is to browse through a fairly large number of websites and narrow your list down to three or so possible Stationers whose designs look attractive to you.  Then simply contact each supplier, give them a brief on what you think you might like and your approximate numbers and ask for some estimates.  Ask too for a copy of their terms and conditions at the same time and make sure you read this thoroughly.   An alternative way to find a Stationer is to go along to  local wedding fairs, there is usually at least one represented at each fair, but if you want to make sure just contact the Fair Organiser in advance.

A point worth mentioning is that you may wish to employ a Stationer who lives local to you.  Although we can all these days work at a distance from one another due to the wonders of technology, sometimes it's important to be able to sit down in person, especially if you are choosing colours, ribbons, embellishments etc.  This is a purely personal choice of course, most of my clients are perfectly happy to work with me entirely via email and the telephone...others prefer to come and visit me.  Any good professional Wedding Stationer should be able to meet with you in person, although it is usual for this to be by appointment.

Whether it be the D.I.Y approach, a trusted friend or relative, or you choose a professional, don't forget to ENJOY the process of having your invitations created uniquely for you.