Choosing Your Wedding Invitations

Often your wedding stationery is the last thing that you look for before your big day. However don't leave it too long as you need to ensure there is enough time for your wedding invitations to be printed, delivered to your guests and for the RSVP to be received.

Most large department stores carry a range of wedding stationery, often by the big suppliers such as Collisons, CCA Occassions, Letterpress of Cirencester and Belarto. They will usually have wedding stationery albums on display. These books show the many styles of stationery they supply, ordering information and a price list. You may find these useful as you can see your chosen wedding invite in the flesh. However, these department stores are not always the best value for money. Instead try looking at online retailers as most of these offer a discount off the RRP. The majority of the wedding invitations you see in department stores will be available online, however, some retailers offer exclusive designs. However what you may not know is that some of this exclusive wedding stationery is not all that exclusive. Often these designs are printed by one of the major suppliers and has been adapted from a previous design. The original wedding invitation design is probably still available to purchase and at a lower price.

If you would prefer a handmade look to your wedding invitations you may want to try a smaller wedding stationer. Looking in the Yellow pages and visiting local wedding fayres is a good place to start. Handmade invites can add a more personal touch to your wedding but you may need to add extra time for your stationery to be made. Most handmade stationers will also provide a bespoke service, however, there may be an extra charge for this.

Some Graphic Designers will also design bespoke wedding stationery for you. This is more pricey than handmade stationery and therefore is not for everyone. But if you are looking for bespoke stationery professionally designed then this is the best way to go. These designers will often use printing techniques that are not available to most handmade stationers.

Most wedding invitation stationers, large and small, will have a website. Some smaller websites will not have the facility to buy online but will usually have some sort of picture gallery. Take a look at these, even if you do not find what you want it will give you some inspiration. Some retailers provide free wedding invitation samples and brochures, request as many of these as you can before making your final order.

You may also want to contact local printing companies. Many of these are also Collisons, CCA Occasions and Belarto agents. They will usually have wedding stationery albums for you to look through and may provide a discount. Some companies may even bring the albums out to your own home.