When most folks think of what stationery they'll need for their big event, the first thing that comes to mind is invitations. So when a previous client contacted me that she was interested in creating some additional thank you cards to send out after her 50th birthday party, I was so impressed she was not only thinking that far ahead, but would consider having a custom note card made as opposed to buying a generic pack at a local pharmacy or what not.
After a quick phone consultation, we both determined she'd most likely get more use out of personal stationery note cards. That way she can use them for both personal and business correspondence as well as thank you notes.
The design I created for her mirrored a lot of similar elements from her birthday invitations (which were the Fall Inspired ones here). She wanted something fun and not too serious. My favorite part about this design is how the design carries from the back to the front of the note card.
Do you have personal stationery? If so what do you use them for?
I've been meaning to post photos from my very own wedding for the past year. When it's your own wedding it's so hard to try to edit down the photos, you just want to include them all! I've finally edited down my photos to what I thought were a reasonable amount so here it finally is!
I was married at Oheka Castle in Huntington, Long Island on the most beautiful, picture perfect day on October 4th 2008. Oheka Castle is the 2nd largest (originally) private home in the U.S., ranked behind the Biltmore Estate in North Carolina. It's a classic, Gold Coast home whose owner was the inspiration in F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby". For my husband and I, we love NYC area architecture and history and we wanted to choose a venue that reflected what we love about NYC art deco style. Being a 1920's mansion, we felt Oheka was the perfect place to hold our big event.
In the event you've seen the WE Channel special "Unforgettable Wedding Venues", Oheka was ranked number one, and my wedding is the one featured on the show. It was a pleasure to be a bride planning a wedding and be featured on the WE Channel without having to be a Bridezilla (haha). You can see me and my husband being interviewed at the end of the video clip below.
The wedding was a wonderful, yet laborious process. I did not have a wedding planner, so my mother (a VERY talented interior designer) and myself handled planning my wedding for 300 guests ourselves. Every single detailed I dreamed of and imagined for my wedding we created by hand. For example, I sketched out a centerpiece idea I had where I wanted to create a tall centerpiece where the top resembled a crystal chandelier, and a 1920's inspired palm arrangement was nestled inside the chandelier. My mother located these great garden planters which we then spray painted gold and hand beaded the top to create exactly what my sketch looked like. Each centerpiece took us around 6-8 hours each to make, so we were both happy once we had them all completed!
I also personally designed my own wedding cake. I created yet another sketch to provide our pastry chef who executed my vision beautifully! The cake features the same design elements as the invitations I had designed for the wedding, which has now become a signature design for my invitation design company Invite Couture.
We also wanted our wedding to be one our guests never forgot, so we were sure to include lots of unique activities to keep the evening exciting. Our guest book featured a photo booth where our guests to take photos, insert them in our guest book and write us a message. During dinner, we kept the guests entertained with a cirque dusoleil inspired hand balancing performance. We also ended the evening with White Castle's (NOTHING is better after an evening of drinking!), cigars and karaoke. Overall it was an amazing day and one our guests are still talking about even a year later!
What was my favorite moment of the day? It was standing on the alter/stage with my husband, holding hands and reciting our vows to each other. The weather was beautiful, the setting even more gorgeous and there I was standing with the man I love in front of all our friends and family, professing our love to each other.
What was your favorite moment of your wedding? Or if you haven't gotten married just yet, what was is your favorite part of the planning process?
In the final part of my four part series, I'll discuss how your invitation design factors into the cost of your overall invitations.
In general there are two different ways you can purchase invitations.
First would be to purchase from a studio, designer or stationery shop a pre-made design of which you have your own information inserted into it. For example, if you go to a local wedding shop they might have catalogs of invitation samples in which you can choose a design you like. This will always be less expensive because most of the work (i.e. the main components of the design, which is the most time consuming) is already completed. All that's left is inserting your info and producing the invitations for you. These invitation designs are usually purchased in a pre-fixe manner. For example, each invitation costs $3/ea so 100 invitations would run you $300.00
Custom invitation design would be your second option and will always come at a higher cost. Using this option, the design is completely customized to your own needs and standards. So with this in mind, many hours go into creating this design for you from scratch, hence the higher cost. Depending on how the designer works, they may offer pre-fixe pricing or may charge a separate design fee aside from the cost of production. All designers work differently so check with designers you like for a pricing information or a price quote.
Hopefully this four part series was helpful to learning what cost factors impact the price you are quoted on your event invitations and stationery. Don't forget no matter what your stationery budget may be, there are always creative ways to create exactly what you are looking for by simply prioritizing which of these four elements are most important to you and working from there.
I'm the owner of Invite Couture, a custom design event stationery studio based in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. I love running, cooking, entertaining, music (I'm an ex-punk rock electric cellist, seriously) and hanging out with my husband and my fat cat Mercedes.
