Our thoughts for how to save or splurge when considering your wedding invitations....
When it comes to wedding invitations, your invitation sets the scene for the style of your day. Giving careful thought to the design, style and colours is important, as the anticipation for your day starts when guests receive their invitations, as this gives the first glimpse about your day.
When we design a wedding invitation, we’ll incorporate some of the colours from your overall wedding colour palette, and then use aspects of the design throughout all the Wedding Stationery. From welcome boards, order of service sheets, rose petal cones, to seating plans, menus, place-name cards. You can see an example of this with the design of a wedding invitation, we've then used aspects of the design throughout all the wedding stationery in the images below. And this is why it’s important to give careful consideration to the design and style of your invitation, to ensure a consistent design is used throughout all the stationery, to create a beautiful cohesive feel for your wedding.
SAVE WITH A WEDDING WEBSITE & DIGITAL INVITATIONS
To save on Wedding Invitations, there is an option of designing a beautiful invitation through online platforms and sending digital invitations. A benefit to this, is you create a wedding website, which is free, and these have options such as including your proposal story, photo galleries, sending invites and tracking your rsvps, and providing important details for your guests.
Some of the wedding websites the invitations are free, others have a minimum charge, depending on the style you choose. This is a really good option for not only saving on your spend, but having a dedicated personal wedding website, where you can share and update information about your day.
These are direct links to three different sites where you can create a free wedding website, invitations and each has a variety of additional options:
BEAUTIFUL PRINTED INVITATIONS
Traditionally receiving a beautiful invitation in the mail, is a really special way to invite guests to such an important occasion. And think about how exciting it is to receive an invitation in your mailbox. So if you prefer organising a printed invitation, there are numerous ways to save or splurge on printing. It can be easy to get carried away with how much choice is available, so really think through your style and colour palette for your day, and do your research before committing to printing your invitations.
Pre-designed invitations
These are sites we recommend as they have a massive range of pre-designed invitations, you can have customised to include your wedding details, printed and shipped.
Search: ‘Wedding Invitations’ or ‘Wedding Invitations download’
Another option through Etsy is you can purchase a pre-designed template, download and edit the details, and have them printed locally.
Below is an example of invitations we've designed in a standard DLE size, with a gold ink finish that looks like expensive foiled gold, but actually isn't. This is a way to save instead of splurging. Contrasting envelopes in deep blue, in gold hand calligraphy, create a beautiful finish. You can see how the design has been taken into the personalised rose petal cones.
WEDDING STATIONERY DESIGNERS
There are a wide range of options and price ranges, for the design of your invitation. From pre-designed stationery from online companies like Etsy and Vistaprint, to local graphic designers and printers. There are specialty wedding invitation designers, who create beautiful designs, with high end finishes, and one we love if you’re really wanting to really splurge is based in Auckland, and create stunning finishes, and will design and ship nationwide.
For pre-designed styles, take a look at this speciality Christchurch based company
Below is another example of a design we created, showing how we used it throughout all the Wedding Stationery.
PAPER SIZES & PRINTING
If you’re purchasing an invitation to print yourself, before you finalise the design, and especially if you’re purchasing the design online, check the final size of the invitation. You may need the size of the invitation adjusted to fit the standard paper size in New Zealand.
Checking this before you order a design can save costly mistakes, as different countries work with different paper sizes. Also ensure you can source envelopes to fit the invitation size.
Standard Invitation sizes we recommend are:
- A5: 148.50 x 210mm This size fits a C5 envelope.
- A6: 105 x 148.50mm This size fits a C6 envelope
- DLE: 99 x 210mm This size fits a DLE envelope
For printing, we recommend either visit your local printer, or contact the following New Zealand printer, as they have branches nationwide. The benefit to working with a printer, is you can visit the branch to speak with them, have a look at a proof to check the colour and ensure everything is correct, and they will personally help you.
Alternatively there are online companies you can upload your files, which are often cheaper, but there is no way to check the final results, so this can be a risk.
There are other custom sizes, such as square invitations, folded styles, or fancy finishes with foils, embossing, and specialty papers. Keep in mind these are going to be more expensive, but make a really impressive first impression. See below the invitation set we created in a modern black and white marble print, with translucent sleeves, a love poem, sealed with a personalised wax stamp and a tiny feather.
THE FINISHING TOUCHES
You can add gorgeous finishing touches from coloured envelopes, to personalised wax seals, ribbons, special attachments, and have your envelopes addressed in elegant calligraphy.
ADDRESSING YOUR INVITATIONS
We also recommend to make it clear who is invited (and who isn’t) which can save any confusion, to address every invitation/envelope with the specific name/s of who is invited. If a guest isn’t in a serious relationship, it’s perfectly acceptable to invite them solo. If a guest rsvp’s with more people and numbers than invited, children or a plus-one, you’ll need to get in touch and explain why they cannot attend.
WHEN TO SEND INVITES & RSVP DATE
As a general guide, invitations are sent 6-8 weeks prior to your wedding date. However for guests who will be travelling to your location, or if you’re planning a destination wedding, it’s really beneficial to give as much notice as possible, in order to make travel plans. An alternative to sending your invitations early, can be sending a save the date. You may also choose to send information about accommodation and other wedding details.
The RSVP date would usually be 3-4 weeks prior to your wedding date, as you’ll need time to finalise the seating plan and provide final numbers to your venue, caterer and suppliers.
I hope this helps give you some ideas about ways you can save or splurge on your wedding invitations, and resources to help you look into what you'll choose. The invitations shown throughout this blog are all our designs, so if you have any questions or would like to chat with us about designing and printing your invitations, and any Wedding Stationery, or get in touch as I’d love to hear from you.
Lisa Ferguson
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