Sunday, June 14, 2015

WEDDING NOTES™ - Invitations for the Frugal Bride

You are planning a beautiful wedding on a budget that you definitely plan to stick to.  You are looking for areas where you can save money but have heard expensive stories about all the things you'll need to print.  As with all areas of your wedding there are varying prices depending on how much you want to spend.

Here are some workable and valuable tips to consider before you place your printing order.  You can spend big or you can spend modestly.  It depends on your budget and your tastes.  Certainly it is true that the invitation sets the tone for the wedding to follow.  It can indicate degree of formality to expect.

However, there are ways to save money without sacrificing quality.  Here are a few tips that our consultants have gathered.

·         Know that pricing for invitations is usually a la carte.  You'll pay a base price for invitations and envelopes and virtually everything else costs extra.

  • ·         Whatever paper style you select, plan to buy for the number of households, not the number of guests.  Most of your guests are likely to be couples so you'll need one invitation per address.  Make that your base order and then order extras in multiples of 25 or 50.

  • ·         When you place your order, round up to the next lot size.  Usually invitations are sold in lots of 25, 50 or 100 and larger lots are generally less expensive than smaller groups.  So if you need 130 invitations, order 150.

  • ·         Plan to order extra envelopes to cover any mistakes in addressing.  They are not "thrown in".  Your order will include the exact number of envelopes as invitations, so order an extra pack of 25.

  • ·         If money is tight, skip foil lined envelopes.  They look nice but unless you MUST have them, omit.

  • ·         Really look hard and the number of inserts you are ordering.  Unless yours is a very formal wedding (which requires the full complement of inserts),you can get by without some of them.
    * Skip the reception card - especially if your ceremony and reception are in the same place.  A nice corner copy will do just fine.
    * You may wish to give guests alternative RSVP options.  Rather than print up separate cards, return envelopes (with postage affixed) print a simple card that suggests a RSVP to your wedding website.  If that doesn't feel right to you, use a postcard for RSVP.  They don't require an envelope and postage is less.