I've been a bride before and I definitely know the expenses that goes into a wedding. Whether brides like it or not, they have to spend some money on wedding invitations. Wedding invitations are essential no matter how "simple" the wedding is. Even with the popularity of social media, you would rarely see posts of the wedding invitation being tagged to a hundred people in a friends list.
Nowadays, brides would often "window shop" online for their wedding invitations. Of course, they want something special and nice that is within their budget range. But first, I'd like to emphasize that there are different shoppers out there and the word "expensive" depends on the wallet of the shopper. What's expensive for one bride, might be a pocket change for another bride. It's really funny to see ads with headings "cheap wedding invitations" that can be easily googled. You know, I've googled the same phrase and all sorts of images came out. I avoid labeling my products with "cheap" because it is associated with poor quality or low value. So, no wonder you won't find my products if you google that way. Now we are talking about price and value, which are two different things. I'll put that into context as I go on.
I also get peeved with the notion that invitations made in the Philippines are cheap. Well, I'm not speaking for the whole invitation makers industry, but for myself. I have heard that there are invitation makes who offer cutthroat prices and I've personally seen some of these low-priced products from different suppliers. Honestly, in my opinion, they all look the same - shiny, tacky, ribbon too short, lacking character, and poor quality printing. I may be based in the Philippines but certainly the cost of materials and labor in my studio aren't cheap.
My eyebrows would rise towards my hairline every time I hear at the reasoning "I don't want to spend on expensive invitations because they end up in the trash bin anyway". Well, you don't expect people to keep a crappy looking stuff, not even the bride cares about them. And don't expect people to get excited about your wedding if opening the invitation isn't exciting enough.
Let me introduce to you different types of invitations. As for me, there are two: COMMERCIAL-READY-MADE & CUSTOMIZED. Commercial ready-made invitations are the ones sold in stationery stores. These are the ones you pick out on the shelves. These are mass produced by the thousands in a factory. Hundreds of brides may have bought the same. Most of these don't have inserts. And you can only do so little to personalize these since there are not to many designs to choose from. The cost is fairly affordable but if you are considering to print your own invitations, you have to shell out a wad of cash to buy a desktop printer. You also have to buy paper. And because of lack of experience, you end up unsatisfied because you can't match the right paper to your printer.
Customized invitations are created especially for you. They are handmade an one-of-a-kind. Brides would often ask to copy an original design, but the result is never identical. They are created by an artist as a reflection of you and your event.
The average Inkpressive client will pay around 3$ to 7$ per invitation suite. That price depends on many factors such as style, embellishments, printing method, number of cards, types of paper, etcetera. Every invitation is designed personally by me, printed individually and assembled by hand. My staff spends a lot of time and effort assembling original 3D and Pop Up designs among simple designs. I spend many hours editing, creating and photographing samples, working with commissioned artists, answering messages, counting and packing orders, and the list go on... For "super customized" projects (the ones that came out of someone's dream), I invested on special machines, die-cutting tools and stuff to turn that dream into reality. So basically, you are paying for my talent and skills, my personal attention, my equipment and my skilled workers. I'm not a fly-by-night invitation maker. I have a studio and I have a business permit. I pay the monthly rent, taxes, gas expenses, and basic necessities like food and water fro my workers. I believe that this is the value that you are paying for.
Brides would often ask me if they should consider DIY over customized. Well, I would throw back these questions, "are you well equipped to do it yourself?"; "do you have the time?".......
Spending 3$ to 7$ at most for a customized wedding invitation suite is surely not cheap, but it is affordable enough considering all the factors mentioned above. With Inkpressive it is possible to have a simple yet elegant wedding invitations without spending your entire savings. If you think 3D and special cut invitations would cost you more, then go with the traditional flat cards. We have many ways to make it more appealing not only to brides but to their friends as well.
I won't consider myself biased because I made my own wedding invitations in 1998 (I wasn't in the business yet!). It made me happy. I was obsessive-compulsive about it. But now, after thinking about the process I went through, I would probably had my invites done by better hands.
