"People are just going to throw it away"

I have been longing to write this post for sometime now but have been too busy to get to it. As we begin a new wedding season, there isn't a better time than now to post this.

So, I've been on a mission (lol). I cringe every time I hear brides say, “the invitation is just paper, people will just throw it away”. My first response to that has always been “people will only throw out trash”. Those that know me personally know that I’m not much of a salesperson; I suck at it!. But I find myself sometimes turning into one when I hear such comments, trying to explain the idea/purpose of invitations. I feel like I have a duty to change the mindset of what your wedding/event invitations are each time I hear those statements.

Your invitations set the tone for your wedding/special event! It gives your guests a foresight into what to expect at your wedding. The invitation is the first thing your guests receive about your wedding (in most cases - if you did not send out save the date cards) and it is one of the things that remain with them long after your wedding is over. Sending invitations to your guests make them feel special, honored and gets them excited about your big day. If you give people a piece of paper or some shabbily made invitations, guests do not expect anything different from the last wedding they attended.

• Why do you pay for beautiful flowers / decorations that neither you nor your guests get to take home after the event? Because of the ambience the flowers / décor create.
  
• Why pay so much for a dress you probably wear only once!? Because all eyes are on you at the wedding and you want to feel the most fabulous.

Well, your invitations are no exception. Attention should be paid to every detail of the event. So what if all your guests don’t keep them. They don’t keep the linens at the reception, nor the flowers at the church. As long as it accomplishes that which it was intended for. Which is – set the tone for your special event, provide guests with information, get guests excited about your event.

You don’t have to get the fanciest invitation or break the bank just to send out invitations. You should choose quality invitations that reflect your personal style and personality. If you're going for a simple classic style, there are a number of quality catalog invitations out there that you can select from. If you’re unable to find something in the catalogs, you can elect to have a custom invitation made for you by working with an invitation designer (like yours truly lol).

Sometimes, I find that most brides see the very fancy invitations and immediately fall in love with them. However, once they hear the price, they assume “I can’t afford beautiful invitations”. Well, the key is to set a reasonable budget (yes, reasonable). You can only set a reasonable budget if you know what quality invitations cost. For example, ff you have a $500.00 budget for 200 invitations, then it might be unreasonable to expect to get custom Pocketfold invitations with 3 enclosures for that price. If you are creative, you could DIY your pocket invitations for that price. However, you might be able to get beautiful flat card invitations with enclosure(s) for that price. Or an invitation suite from a Catalog Album. There are quite a number of different Catalog albums out there.

All couples are different and have different budgets. What is considered "expensive" to one bride fits perfectly into another's budget. So, let your stationer know what your budget is and you would be steered in the right direction on what fits within your budget without compromising on quality.

So what have we learnt?

• Set a reasonable budget


• Be open minded about the different invitation styles


• Sending elegant, gorgoeus invitations to your guests does not mean breaking the bank


• Always remember your invitations are meant to set the tone for your big day, so don't send invitations your guests wouldn't care to keep or wouldn't feel bad throwing in the trash.

Not one to leave you without a picture, enjoy the silk folder below.


Hope you have a fabulous week!!!

April Invitation(s) of the month

So it seems, April was the busiest month for weddings so far this year (outside of the typically busy months - May, June etc). October is another unusually busy month this year because of day 10/10/10, phew!!!

So, instead of the usual 1 invitation, I have chosen 3 invitations to showcase (Woohoo!!!)

~Carolina & Evan~

I met Carolina & Evan at the end of 2009 and we began working on the invitations thereafter. We initially talked about doing a multiple layered Flat Card. Carolina new she definitely wanted the Dupioni Silk ribbon instead of the usual satin ribbon and she wanted to incorporate a pearl accent as well. The pearl, I wasn't too sure of initially because I didn't want to "overdo" the embellishing but it worked out great. After the initial consultation, Carolina came to the Bridal Extravaganza and told me she wanted to change from the flat card to a pocketfold (lol). So, we went with that. Carolina & Evan's invitation has a lot of textured and pattern elements, you'll notice some of the cardstock we used were also textured, the dupioni silk ribbon has texture to it and the print was done in thermography. She loved her paisley pattern which we incorporated on the front tab of the pocket fold as well as the invitation envelope. Carolina & Evan will be married next week at Paraiso Maravilla in Houston, Texas and I'm truly excited for them; they're such a lovely couple!

Wedding Invitations

Detail

Front Tab

Enclosures

Next is Yolanda & Arnold.

I was introduced to the couple through their wedding planner -Renee Miller with Distinctive Events Inc. They started the invitation process a bit later than usual - end of January but we pulled through and everything came out beautifully. The invitations were pocket fold style accented with a Satin Ribbon. Their monogram was carried through the other wedding stationery.

Pocketfold Invitations

Inside of the invitation

The programs were done in 2 colors - Sage and Orange.

Programs

Escort Cards

Escort Cards

~Obi & DJ~

When Obi contacted me about invitations for her wedding, she knew she wanted something different from the usual but had not seen "it" yet. So, I had her come in and she immediately fell in love the "Kyla & Justin's" invitations. So, we began the process. It was truly a pleasure working with her and her wedding was one of the few client weddings I've attended!. It was nice seeing all the stationery elements come together and get great feedback from other guests at the wedding on how pretty the wedding stationery was.

Wedding Invitations

Enclosures

Fan Programs

Escort Cards

The theme of the table cards was "Love is...". The bride came up with several words eg. "Love is Forgiveness"

Table Cards

Well, that's all for now... got to get back to work. Enjoy the week!