Thursday, August 27, 2009

For the love of the pocketfold



Having run a wedding stationery business for the last several years, there is something I've noticed about pocketfold invitations.

Many couples love them. And, many couples are also surprised at how much they cost after inquiring about them.

Why do they cost so much more than other invitations?

Consider your basic invitation. A flat 5x7 inch card, with an additional rsvp card. This combination can be done in less than $1 if you go with a fairly simple design. A "simple design" might be white card stock, a small graphic (like hearts, or a fleur-de-lis), and your wording/text.

In contrast, a pocketfold invitation...
1) You add the pocketfold itself, which immediately hikes up the price a quite a bit.
2) You don't just have the invitation and the rsvp cards anymore- typically, 2 more cards are added, as shown below.
3) The invitation also now requires assembly- attaching the main card to the pocketfold.

So now you have an invitation with 2 additional cards, folding, a pocket, and layered assembly.

That isn't all.

4) Often, people love the look of an additional layer behind the main invitation card. This can be any sort of patterned or textured paper, or just a solid color.
5) People also then will often go with some sort of sticker to hold the pocketfold closed. The sticker itself varies in size, shape, type (white matte, white gloss, or see-through), and printed design.



Is that all? Not really! By the time you go through all the possible options in the color and texture of pocketfold, color and texture of the envelopes, color and texture of the inserts, and, all the possible variation of the actual printed design... you are looking at highly personalized and unique wedding invitations. You can end up with many beautiful but costly combinations.

When people ask for quotes, it often does take a few questions to figure out their likely combination. Of course, quantity also factors in- these invitations, like any other, cost less per piece at higher quantities than at lower quantities.

If you are considering pocketfold invitations, know that they will typically cost 2.5-4 times as much as a simple 2 card invitation set.

Sometimes, my customers try to do some of the work themselves to reduce cost. This might be buying just the design print files from me. They might buy only the cards/inserts, and making their own pocketfolds. Instead, they might buy the pocketfold and make their own inserts. They might even buy the whole set from me, but attach the main invitation card to the pocketfold themselves.

A good way to reduce the cold of your pocketfold, if you are ordering the whole set, is just to go with a simple text design, and white card stock for the cards. You end up with a classic look, the uniqueness of the pocketfold, and less printing costs.

Monday, August 24, 2009

Silver Bordered Menues

A customer was recently referred to me, who already had her program design in mind. She wanted a tea-length card with some sort of silver border.

It's always nice to work with customers who know just what they want. To the left is her design.

Metallic borders are invariably eye catching. I also don't really advertise any products with metallic inks or borders on the website.

Achieving a metallic print does actually require a specialized process. In the future, I will probably offer some products with metallic borders, but will not offer personalized wording and/or graphics in metallics.

Friday, August 21, 2009

Rose themed invitations- with a tear off rsvp card

This invitation is not your typical 5x7 inch flat card.



A customer of mine had this idea after looking at an earlier post regarding a couple of trifold invitations I had worked on.

This is a tri-folding card that measures 5x5 inches when folded. The right panel is about 3.5x5 inches, the perfect size for an rsvp card. With a perforated fold, your guests can tear this off and mail you your rsvp card in the accompanying rsvp envelopes. White 5.25x5.25 inch envelopes accompany the invitations.



Notes: This example is made of white card stock, and includes white envelopes. Shown sealed with a 1 inch circular sticker.

Don't forget though, that square envelopes cost a little more to mail out with the USPS post office than rectangular envelopes do. The rsvp card is not square, but the folded invitation is.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

New designs

The best part of offering custom design work and personalization- continually discovering new design layouts, be they fun, elegant, colorful, or classic.

New designs are added every now and again; Check out these featured new designs in 4 magnet sections:

Small save the date magnet:

"Silhouette" (MH65)

Large save the date magnet:

"Concert" (StD80)

4x3.5 inch save the date magnets:

"Dawn" (MR32)

4.1x2.6 inch save the date magnets:

"Autumn" (MS37)

There are only about 2 weeks left to get free sample magnets to check out my most popular sizes. To do so, visit this page.

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Small Additions

In addition to the "share this website on facebook", additional links to share the website on myspace and twitter are now available on the front page of www.savethedateoriginals.com

In the works: functionality to send an email to yourself or a friend straight from the STDO website while you are looking at a design/webpage. This will eliminate the need to go to another website, and login to your email account, before sending your message.

Feel free to suggest more features that you would like to see added.

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Last Summer Sale

The last summer sale is posted here.

This sale is: $10 off heart shaped magnets.

These fun heart shaped magnets could be used for thank you and/or favor magnets. These magnets could be used for wedding and other event save the dates. They could be used for businesses as advertisements.

As with all products, most custom design work is included in this pricing. You decide on colors, wording, fonts, photographs, and themes. Proofs of designs are emailed prior to your placing an order. If you would like to get me started on a custom design for you, contact me.