Part 1- Engaged?
Invitations
what should you choose?

Are you looking for wedding invitations? I love when couples have got engaged and contact us.
We get asked so many questions and a popular comment is:
“what do we do Nikki, I have never done this before!”
How do I word my invitations?
What colours can I have?
When do i need to send them out?
It’s great to chat about a couples style for their big day and what they have planned!

My answer is always “it’s your day, what do you want to do??”
I don’t think there are rules to be followed, legally yes, but otherwise, it’s what your dream and budget allows!

So how do you choose an invitation??

“Have you found a venue yet”

That’s usually my first question when couples come into the studio for a consultation or at a wedding fair. Usually gets a blank look!
If you are getting married in a vintage, classic Art Deco venue you probably won’t want bunting on an invite.
If you are getting married in a Tipi, you won’t probably want a classic, elegant foil design. But you might!

 
We try to offer as many different design invites to suit most styles of wedding and venue.
Maybe we don’t have what you were looking for, but if your design idea sits with our style and you like what we do, then it’s worth asking!

We have invitations that are suited to beach or tipi or barn weddings.
Our Bunting was one of our top sellers in colours to match couples’ wedding day. Now it’s making a come back with either hessian or on our new gatefold format with wood!

 Also, we have more classic designs that suit vintage 1920s or classic venues.

What about colours?

People ask us “We like that wedding invitation design, but you don’t have it in our colour,
what should we do, I really like Coral/ Ultra Violet??”
That’s an easy one as we try to match your colour as closely as possible if we can, you can have your colour! Just ask or send a swatch to us!

 
What shape wedding invitation should I have?

Couples often ask the question “I have a lot of information, how does it all fit in??”

We offer each of our designs in 3 or 4 different shape invitations (except Passports!)
With different amounts of info in.

4 shapes of invitation

If you just want a simple, elegant way to say ” Be here at 2pm” then we always have a flat square or rectangle.
Lots of different design ideas and each available in your colours.
These are the easiest for MrTP to make by hand, so are the most affordable. Result!

Then we offer a keepsake, even more stylish way to say “Be here at 2pm”. These are our A6, mostly Gate-fold designs. As we design everything ourselves, we created them to open like a double door, but off- centre with a decorative tab over the opening. These make a great place for a monogram your names and the date of your event.

Then we have two formats that do similar jobs but appeal to different couples. We have our own design of pocket-fold that we created and print in-house and MrTP cuts, creases, folds and makes by hand.

Proper hand-made invitations, but nothing home made about what we do!

 MrTP ties the designs I have created to close it with ribbon or twine.
Both formats have 4 inserts inside which are identical.

You get the cards in an ascending order, largest is the invite and 3 more to fill with whatever information you need your guests to know.
The most popular combo is – Invitation/ Guest Information (a mix!)/ RSVP postcard/ Gifts. But we have had many titles over time, cos it’s for your wedding, so your headers and personalised text.

When do we need to send our invitations out?

If you were a wedding guest, how much time would you like to have to plan your hotel/ outfit/ flights/ time-off? This helps you to work out timings, also is your big day over school holidays or a time when guests might have to take time off work? The more time you give guests to plan, then the easier it will be for them to join your celebration.

If you don’t want save-the-dates (great if it’s a Bank Holiday or Cup Final) then

you can send them any time from 1 year- 3months in advance.
Most couples give 4-6 months planning time, but like everything for your wedding, it’s up to you!

When to avoid sending…

Avoid sending them in December, too much competition in the Postie’s bag and can go astray, so send them in November or keep them to lift people during those post-Christmas blues in January. Also if you want to send them in the early New Year, it’s often great to order them in the early Winter time. Why? Because it’s surprising how many couples get engaged over Christmas, then once Christmas Day is out of the way,  couples hit the internet to see what they can have for their wedding, so stationers are usually at their busiest from Boxing Day onwards!!

Give your stationer time to create your artwork. Before we make them, we need time to get them approved and checked by you. Your family and friends might want to glance over the wording before we send a sample and a quote. Sole Traders often have a longer lead time as they have so much to do alone. There are two of us, me designing and MrTP making.

our wedding photo 22.12.2001

We can create orders created quite quickly. You need to give us at least a month before the date you want to send them, to give us time to make them. We have had an order after a wedding fair on a Sunday. Then completed the whole process by Friday, but it’s not ideal and depends on the complexity of the order, what time of year it is and how many orders MrTP already has booked in!

What do we do now?

We have been creating wedding invitations for lots of couples, for over 12 years now. We have been left some FAB reviews. MrTP and I have designed and created EVERY design in our range. So everything is exclusive to us and we print and make everything. It means we have more control over times and delivery dates.
Take a peek at our gallery, if you like something, email us and ask and let’s see if we can work together to create your fabulous, keepsake wedding invitations that every guest will comment on and keep!

Happy Planning 🙂

the view from my design desk