Wedding Stationery start up advice

[Zoe.Vincent]

Hello,

I'm looking to start a wedding stationery business, I am already a serious card maker and have designed for well know magazines having my cards published in many issues. Last year I made my own wedding stationery and had nothing but compliments, this year I have been asked to make the stationery for my friends wedding (which I was shocked by because in the nicest was possible she is a huuuuuge snob!)

I have no doubt in my mind that I can produce outstanding quality products, I also have excellent tools and suppliers from working with the magazines. My main issue is really how to bring in the clients. I have very little start up money. I can make up samples ok with materials I have to hand already, and am very lucky to have married an Internet programmer so I will be having an excellent website in the not too distant future in return for putting up with him and being his adoring wife (there has to be some perks to marrying a computer programmer!)

What would be the most successful way to market the business. I have looked at wedding fares thinking that people would enjoy seeing samples in person and talking about how I can personalise ect, but they can be around £800 a go which I just don't have.

Sorry for the long post, I very much appreciate any help/advice!

 

[makeyourbusinessbetter]

Hi Zoe

Sounds like you have good foundations for a successful business; experience, expertise, reputation.

Your marketing could include one or more of the following;

1. website - to showcase your products
2. blog - to bring your business to the attention of others
3. direct marketing to engagement announcements in the newspapers
4. your web address printed discreetly on back of your wedding stationery
5. include your business card and/or brochure with invitations when they are posted out

You are right, a stand at a wedding fayre is expensive. You could go along and hand your business card to people you chat to. A bit cheeky perhaps but there won't be many stationery businesses who can afford to pay £800 so you shouldn't be competing with many exhibitors.

With your experience, your website could offer handmade cards and business stationery aswell as the wedding stationery. Zoe Vincent Design? It would give you three income streams rather than just one and would provide you with income throughout the year rather than be restricted to the wedding season.

All the best

Gordon

 

[templateagreements]

Don't forget about search engine optimisation. Google's guidelines for SEO focus a lot more nowadays on the creation and sharing of 'good quality content'. I would consider having a content-rich part of your site where you write about wedding stationary (i.e trends, ideas, new finds etc), making the content interesting and unique so that you can share it on Pinterest/Facebook/Twitter and so that it ranks well in search engine results. None of this will cost anything, although it will take time to drive traffic to your business in this way. Google has published their own guidelines on this topic - worth a read.

 

[Socio South West]

There are many wedding websites that will either allow you space for free, or charge reasonable sums: Just make sure that their claimed hits are correct, and there are a good selection of other suppliers on there. No doubt your husband will ensure you have something like Statcounter on your site so you can track where your traffic comes from.

Another good (and very cheap) way is to work with other wedding suppliers - photographers, cars, caterers, chocolate fountains, toastmasters etc etc and exchange weblinks and jointly fund advertising outlets with them - you aren't competing with them but you are all servicing the same customer base: Work together to build each others businesses.
If there's enough of you, there's nothing to stop you organising your own wedding fair and charging others silly money to defray expenses.

 

[wight38]

I am in the wedding industry too. £800 is a lot of money - are there none cheaper? They are usually around £150 - £250 on the South Coast.

Some good advice given.

My advice is to get on Facebook, get a page up and running - do a special offer or even a giveaway and get people interested. Although adhering to FB rules you need to do this via a third party app. Professional photos of your products will sell them. So make sure your friends photographer gets some good shots of your work so you can use it on your page as the start of your portfolio.

There are also wedding groups/pages on facebook you can join and advertise in too.

About 70% of my business is generated through my facebook page. It's non stop and I post every day without fail so the more you can put in, the more you will get out. will also need to stand out from the many many others making stationery, it is such a competitive market and some brides don't appreciate the time it takes to make things and expect it cheap.

Anyway, that is just what I have picked up in the last couple of years. If you want to message me with any other questions, feel free

 

[umamidesignforfood]

Social Media really is indispensable these days - however I'd also recommend networking, as if you can get in with a local dress shop/cake shop/florist/planner they can recommend you and vice versa (you may even be able to offer packages etc)

 

[julliawilson]

Hello,

I'm looking to start a wedding stationery business, I am already a serious card maker and have designed for well know magazines having my cards published in many issues. Last year I made my own wedding stationery and had nothing but compliments, this year I have been asked to make the stationery for my friends wedding (which I was shocked by because in the nicest was possible she is a huuuuuge snob!)

I have no doubt in my mind that I can produce outstanding quality products, I also have excellent tools and suppliers from working with the magazines. My main issue is really how to bring in the clients. I have very little start up money. I can make up samples ok with materials I have to hand already, and am very lucky to have married an Internet programmer so I will be having an excellent website in the not too distant future in return for putting up with him and being his adoring wife (there has to be some perks to marrying a computer programmer!)

What would be the most successful way to market the business. I have looked at wedding fares thinking that people would enjoy seeing samples in person and talking about how I can personalise ect, but they can be around £800 a go which I just don't have.

Sorry for the long post, I very much appreciate any help/advice!

Wedding day is an important day for every one's life.Great job you are doing.Any good business owner, the first thing you should do is consult your accountant.Any special licensing that may be required in your state and help you avoid any unnecessary fines or fees.