wedding invitations

[danny30]

Hi, I am looking to start a wedding invitation business and was hoping that someone could give me some advice on how to get started and what printer to get.
I was also wondering if anyone knows where I could learn how to make invitations, I can't find anywhere. I am willing to pay.

Thanks in advance for any replies.

 

[AngelaE]

The market is saturated with this type of business - speaking form someone who is getting married next year! We are getting a friend to do it who dabbles in doing cards and invitations etc. She doesnt make any kind of profit with it. However, you may prove me wrong! Good luck.

 

[fisicx]

That was a bit of a silly post Danny. You make invitations the same way you make any other artistic object, by using your skills. It's not something you learn from a book.

 

[danny30]

Not really a silly question, the designs is only one and probably the easiest part but there are many other things.
I could start it up myself without help but the invitation quality will probably not be as good, it never hurts to get some help before doing something and I could also do with some advice of what equiptment I would need.

 

[Remote Resources]

I agree with Angela. Everyone is making wedding invitations. I mean, don't let us put you off if you really want to do it, but when we got married, we made beautiful, handmade wedding invitations. We got so many people asking where we bought them so we looked into producing them as a small sideline.

I promise you there was no money it - they're ten a penny on Ebay and due to the cost of materials, people must be almost giving them away. I think they probably make a bit of money on COGS but nowhere near good enough reimbursement for the time investment.

 

[fisicx]

You will need a stinking great industrial printer. High quality card stock, glue, things to stick on the cards, coloured paper, a decent graphics programme. And ordering and payment system. A dedicated room to work in. And lots of money to Market your services.

Unless you have been creative for a while and like making things then this is not a business to be in. It's hard work for little profit.

 

[AdamBeils]

maybe u can do a research to see how the competition is doing so u have an idea of what u need for the future

 

[fresh_networking]

I have to agree the market out there is huge, but good luck to you!

My daughter made hers, and has started making photocards, but as others have said, the money to be made with them is poor.

Let us know how you go

 

[gemd89]

I bought 100 A5 size wedding invitations on ebay personalised with envelopes for £20 including postage and packaging last week.

Gemma

 

[Poppy Design]

Hi Danny

Don't be put off! A successful wedding stationery business can be done - you just need to find your target market ie low end, middle end or high end and find out if you can offer a product to meet a particular market.

People are always going to get married - true they can use digitial invites but let's face it... if a couple are spending £30k+ for the day of their life that happens only once (well hopefully!), they are most likely going to want bespoke printed stationery .. after all the stationery sets the whole theme/feel for the weddding.

I run my own wedding stationery service as an add on to my design business for a couple of years - I used the US range envelopments.com - this range is the best there is out there. However the US shipping fees etc are very expensive so you need to be doing a lot of orders to make it work - I wasn't because I have a full time web/ecommerce/graphic design business that is really busy and covers me full time.

Wedding exhibitions were the best way for me to find business for the stationery. You also have the corporate event/events company to target too.

PM if you have any more questions on this - I sold my wedding stationery site last year.

 

[AngelaE]

if a couple are spending £30k+ for the day of their life that happens only once (well hopefully!), they are most likely going to want bespoke printed stationery .. after all the stationery sets the whole theme/feel for the weddding.

Off on a tangent, this makes me laugh as it reminds me of a shop I went to try on wedding dresses last month. The woman in there was really upselling her dresses. I couldnt chose between two dresses which were £300 apart. She said "there's no point in getting the cheaper dress just for the sake of a couple of hundred quid difference. It's your big day and that only happens once, just sacrifice one or two of your guests wedding meal!" Put me off her shop!

No way am I spending £30K plus for a wedding. I'm not even hitting the £10K mark! I appreciate that some do though. There is a big wedding industry out there and it is worth tapping into it somehow, but many many others have already done so...

 

[Remote Resources]

I do think the trend is towards more frugal weddings at the moment - few have £30k to throw at a party these days. People will bargain hunt for the non-essentials, trawling ebay for favours, invitations etc.

There will still be a market for luxurious weddings but I believe it's very niche at the moment, hence so many bridal wear companies going down the pan. I lived in an affluent area before this year and saw one wedding dress shop open, last a few months eek, passed it onto someone else and now that has shut down too!

Think more young couples would rather put £20k towards a house deposit and spend no more than £10k on a wedding.

I got married in 2010 and although we had enough for a big wedding, we felt we had much better things to spend the money on so we spent the bulk on hiring a castle and a very posh meal for a select group of close family and friends and free champagne and wine for everyone, being frugal with dresses, suits, making our own invites and all the superflous stuff that is exepnsive and uneccessary. It was the best day of my life and all of our guests were spoilt rotten rather than having an expensive recycling bin that month.