hiya bucks in Bourne End, Flackwell Heath, Marlow, Wycombe, Wooburn April 2016 | Page 46

My Bridal Blog Chapter eleven: Lucy Jane Gonzalez [email protected] Wedding Stationery: Designs & Details I never really considered invitations to cost much – how wrong I was! Invitations and stationery can often be one of the biggest costs involved in planning a wedding, not forgetting the postage. While there are ways to save a considerable amount of money, such as email invites, we are doing everything in the traditional way. Step one is Save the Date cards. We found some lovely ones from a tiny gift shop when we weren’t even looking. They were white and silver and decorated with hearts, and at £1 for 10 cards we couldn’t say no! We hand wrote these and the whole experience was fairly quick and easy. A Google search will instantly bring up thousands of different websites offering thousands of different styles and designs of invitations that can be personalised to suit you. There’s something about handmade invitations though that really appealed to us and so we made an appointment with a local company to view their collection. It was like a treasure trove – ribbons, pearls, jewels and every colour imaginable. It was actually a really special experience designing our invitations together. In the same meeting we also chose our ‘on the day’ stationery – table plan, table numbers, menu cards, and name place cards – all tying in to the same theme. Of course, and as with everything wedding-related, there are ways to keep things really simple and cut costs. As mentioned, some couples opt for email invites or a website where guests can RSVP, but if you like printed invitations, some companies supply kits that allow you to ‘do it yourself’ with card and calligraphy pens. If you’re really creative a trip to a craft shop will provide you with all the materials you need. Head to websites like www.hitched.co.uk and www.guidesforbrides.co.uk for lots of articles and tips for putting together invitations. This really helped us in terms of remembering to include all the important guest information and remembering to factor in the cost of postage! Our invitations are one of the things I’m most pleased with and I can’t wait to stick one in the front of our wedding album to show our children in years to come. I’m sure they’ll think it’s terribly old fashioned… 46 To advertise in Hiya Bucks text or call 07947 349134