Ordering Wedding Invitations online can be a very nickel and dime experience. With all the details and options involved with wedding invitations the costs can add up quickly. In order to save a little money along the way you must decide what options are important to you. Some of these options when ordering your wedding invitations may not be necessary.
For instance, lined inner envelopes are nice but they will come at an additional expense to you. Not everyone looks at lined inner envelopes as a must have feature with their invitations and will opt against ordering them. You will still get inner envelopes with your invitations only they will not be lined and thus shaving off the additional expense.
The following will show you some basic options when ordering invitations. How you proceed with these options depends on your personal preferences and your budget.
The Invitation This is an unavoidable expense. If you order invitations you have to order an invitation
(ha ha). Not trying to be funny here. They only way to save money on the actual invitation itself is to shop around. Different invitations and designs come with different prices. It is a matter of finding one you like that fits your budget.
Response Cards This is almost an unavoidable expense. You will almost always have to order response cards. If you are on a tight budget there are ways to avoid this expense. The popular Send and Seals are one way. Another way is to have people respond via e-mail. In this case you would ask people to respond through an e-mail address that you would provide for them on the invitation. NOTE: If you do order response cards the return address is usually printed on the respond envelope at no additional expense. This saves you a lot of time and is a nice benefit of ordering separate response cards with envelopes.
The Reception Card Ordering Reception Cards comes at an additional expense. The reception card is inserted into the invitation and tells people the when and where of the reception. Obviously this information is important to your guests but a separate card providing that information is not always necessary. In order to save the expense of ordering separate reception cards many couples will include that information at the bottom of their invitation. If you choose to do this you will void the expense of the reception card. With this option it is critical to separate the reception information on the invitation by bumping it to the left side of the invitation. This is called left corner copy. There me be a small one time fee for setting up a corner copy but the fee is very minimal.
Lined Inner Envelopes When you order invitations they generally come with two different sized envelopes. This often confuses people. The smaller envelope is the inner envelope. The bigger of the two is the outer. The outer envelope is where you will print the name and address of whom the invitation is being sent. The inner envelope surrounds and protects the invitation from scuffs and marks caused by normal mail handling. The idea here is that when your guests receive their invitation they can discard their outer envelope leaving them with a pristine invitation and envelope. One option for the inner envelope is to have it lined with a color that matches the printing or color of the invitation. This really makes the invitation look nice but again it is not a necessary expense. Many couples will choose to not go with the lined inner envelope option. This will not only save money but you will still get the inner envelopes. The only difference is they will not be lined.
Return Address Putting your return address on the back of the outer envelope is a nice option but will cost a little extra. Many couple are using pre-made return address labels to stick to the back (or front) of all the outgoing invitations. This saves them the expense of having to have the return address printed on the envelopes by the invitation company. The problem is that some people will view the labels as tacky. Also, by the time you have labels printed and spent the time to stick them to each envelope it becomes clear that the small amount spent to have the invitation company print the address on the envelope for you is well worth it. Another benefit to having the invitation company print the address for you is that it can be in the same font or type style used on your invitation. The bottom line is that having the invitation company print this for you will save you time and is a highly recommended.
Proofs Other posted articles on this site will go into more detail about proofs. For now it is important to point out that you can have the invitation companies send you proofs of everything before the printing takes place. In our opinion, getting proofs should be mandatory with every order and not an option. It will cost you a little extra to have a proof e-mailed to you but the money you could save in the end is well worth the price. Having a proof of the wording of your invitation, response card, address, reception card etc will run you anywhere from $4.00 to $12.00. These proofs give you an option to make changes and verify that the information you have provided the invitation company is correct. Reviewing the proofs will give you an opportunity to make any corrections before ordering invitations that potentially could contain misprints.
Ink Color You have a choice of many different colors in regards to the color of print you want for your invitation. In most cases, using colors other than black will come at a small price increase. The increase is so small though that it probably wont come into play as to whether or not to use a color other than black.
Shipping One expense often overlooked is that of shipping your invitations to you. Whether coming UPS, US Postal Service, Fed Ex, etc. The shipping will be an extra expense. To save a little money order you invitations plenty in advance and just go with regular ground shipping. Depending on the weight and size of the box, ground shipping will average a price range of $7.00 to $20.00. If order your invites last minute you and are force to have two-day or overnight shipping the price can go from $30.00 to $100.00+ for just shipping alone. The lesson here is to order your invitations far enough in advance and you will save on rush shipping.
Ever wonder where wedding couples get their personalized napkins or the cute table favors.
Nine times out of ten it is through invitation companies and dealers. Next time you are online going through pages of options or in a store going through one of those gargantuan invitation books take a look towards the back of the book or search the online store. Chances are you will see tons of accessories that are available to you.
Everything from non-personalized or personalized matchbooks, unity candles, scrolls, gum wrappers, napkins, and so much more are available from most invitation dealers.
The great part about this is that you dont have to rack your brain trying to think of what and where you will get these little necessities. Groomsman gifts, champagne flutes, coasters, and guest keepsakes are part of what most invitations stores sell. So do yourself a favor and make your shopping easier by ordering all of these accessories from the invitation companies. You will cut down on your shopping time and keep all of your ordering in one convenient place.
NOTE: Because most stores dont make their livings exclusively from invitations you should be able to find discounts on invitations and accessories if you shop around.
There are two ways to order invitations. You can either order them online or you can order them onsite from a local invitation dealer. The benefit to ordering onsite from a local dealer is that you can physically feel and see what the actual invitation is before you order it. When online, all you have to go on is a picture. This brings up a few things to consider when ordering samples and proofs.
If ordering from a local dealer ordering a sample invitation is not necessary. This is because the samples you see in the books are exactly what you will get (only difference being that your details will be printed on the invite). When ordering samples you are basically saying that you want them to send you the actual invite so you can see and feel it without placing your official order in large quantities. Having the sample invitation in the store that you can see and touch eliminates this from being an issue. While looking through the books all you would need is a proof once you have decided on an invitation and design.
When ordering invitations online things change just a bit. Online invitation shopping is by far the most convenient way to go but you loose the benefit of actually being able to physically touch and see the invitations as they truly are. Although in most cases the pictures on the invitations websites will do the invitation justice it still might behoove you to order a sample especially if you are at all nervous. Ordering actual samples is a little more expensive than just getting a proof but it can be an inexpensive way to set you at ease in the end.
Regardless of whether or not you are ordering from a local dealer or from an online invitation store it is critical to have a proof emailed to you. Again, this will cost a few extra bucks but will save you from making a costly mistake. Getting proofs should be mandatory as opposed to an option. Just know that without requesting a proof when you submit information to an invitation dealer they will print exactly what you have written and send them to you. You have to hope and prey that you and the invitation company gets it right the first time. Invitation companies will assume that what you have written is accurate and at times will take certain liberties when formatting your invitations. This is why it is critical to order proof before placing your final order. Proofs are your safety net. Proofs buy you time to double check your work and the work of the invitation company. It buys you a few extra days to reconsider your words, make changes, adjust the format, and decide on the exact quantity before placing the official order.
One of the most frustrating occurrences when it comes to wedding invitations is when the Bride and Groom run short of invites when sending them out. Almost every bride and groom will tell you that somehow during the planning that the guest list seems to mysteriously grow. The list of people to invite always seems to get bigger the closer you get to the wedding date. This is a very common phenomenon and getting caught short of invitations can leave you scrambling at the last minute.
It is never a bad idea to over order invitations from the original amount that you anticipate ordering. With that being said it is critical to make this decision to over order now. Why? Because its cheaper.
Almost all invitation companies have a minimum order of invites. In most cases the minimum order is twenty-five invitations. The following (fig. A) will give you a typical price structure for quantities and price.
Quantity 25 Invites 50 75 100 125 150 Addl 25
Price 122.10 137.70 153.30 168.90 206.90 244.90 38.00
Notice that after 150 invitations ordered that the price becomes $38.00 per additional 25. Now let us say for example that you initially want to order 150 invitations. Your price would be $244.90. But now you are thinking that you should order an extra twenty five just in case the guest list goes up or you make a mistake addressing a few of the invitations. So you decide to order 175 invitations just to be safe. The price now becomes 282.90. The price went up but at least you know you have extra invitations if you need them and it only cost you $38.00 extra dollars.
No let us take the other scenario. You want to keep things in your budget and not spend any extra money you dont have to. So you order 150 invites at $244.90 and hope that it will cover you. You assume that if you need extra invites that you can always reorder 25 more from the dealer at the price of only $38.00 for the additional 25. Unfortunately this is not how it works. Once your initial order is placed any reorders start back at the original minimum price. In this case a reorder of 25 invitations would cost you $122.10.
Because of this fact it is highly recommended that if you are anticipating a last minute surge in the guest list or possible mistakes during the addressing stage that you order an extra 25 invites with your initial order. This will lock in the additional 25 prices of $38.00.
Good luck with your ordering and please contact us at info@weddinginvitationsdepot.com. if you have any questions.
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