Invitations (Part 3)

[kisses1417]

Hi, what about wedding programs or misalettes? How much budget nyo sa ganun?

For the invitation, nashock ako na ganun pala kamahal. 80 pesos nga namamahalan ako then when i wanted a colored envelope, additional pav pati addressing at embossing and stamping. Nakakaloka. So maybe nasa 150 per invite siguro ako. Yung mga nakita ko sample, may 200-450 per invite. Ganun na pala ang price ngayon? I initially wanted a watercolored invitation pero il go the classic and cream colored invitation siguro, formal style para medyo mas mura pero di mukang mura 😊😊😊😳😳😳

[Megantaur]

This is what i have written on our invites since we are also based overseas.

Your presence is of utmost importance
But should you wish to give us a present
We would appreciate something which we may be able to bring back to Australia.

Majority of the guests (especially Principal Sponsors) gave us monetary gifts. Some guests had their Philippine money converted to AUD (effort), we also received other currencies such as USD and SGD, received gift cards in AUD and travel vouchers. I think I owe it all to the invitation wordings we composed coz we only received like 6 gifts. Lahat nadala namin dito except sa Chicharon. Yes, we received chicharon. Kaso super bawal dito magdala ng anything pork kaya kinain nalang namin habang andun kami hahaha!

That's what I have been looking for to write down on my Invitation. I can't just bring a huge fridge and kitchen appliances to the States, it's a hassle! Thank you sis!

[charmed30]

need ba ng middle initial dun sa wedding invites? Mas ok ba na meron?

[sparklingjewel]

^kisses1417 Invitations don't have to cost more than 200 pesos. Isipin mo nalang na no matter how nice, most people will just throw it out after your wedding (unless theyre you're parents hehe may sentimental value). I've received some fancy invites before na boxed pa and all, tinapon lang din naman. There are plenty of suppliers out there who have sets below P100. Nagforego ako letterpress when i realized how much it will cost. I made a choice to limit my spending on these and allocate the budget on the bigger wedding items. But i still ended up with a nice, watercolor invite with matching envelope liner and addressing (no embossing, no stamping though) for just P95 per set. Big thing sakin yung addressing kasi i hate the stickered look but at the same time im not willing to pay P15 per envelope for a calligrapher. Yung watercolor naman, it doesnt need to be freshly painted/ customized, andaming available graphics na niyan that normal suppliers can use sa layout. Pili ka lang ng gusto mo. Figure out how much you're willing to spend and stick to it para hindi ka mag overbudget.

[kisses1417]

@sparklingjewel: super thanks sis. Me too, yan din sinabi ko kay fiance kanina, i will pay add ons to envelope addressing kasi i dont like the stickered name, nawawala yung pagkaganda ng invitation. 10 pesos additional nga lang or kung gusto ko pa ng calligrapher 15-20 per enevelope pero wag na. Ayoko na mastress. Sa mga choices namin ni fiance, nag end up kami sa white and grey lang na color. Or baka ipachange ko sa dusty blue para mag match sa motiff namin. My wedding is this December, should i start now? Actually nasstress nako kasi ang dami nagsasabi bakit daw diko pa pinapagawa. When mo wedding mo sis? Are you done with your invitation?

[sparklingjewel]

@kisses1417: I'm a Dec bride too sis. We're getting our finished invites na this weekend. Oct-Nov kami magdistribute (I really planned for a lot of time for this since medyo mabagal kumilos the fiance on wedding stuff, and most of the guests are his!). Our RSVP deadline is 1 month before the date, so end Nov. So that medyo set na yung # of heads and hopefully, konti nalang yung last minute tweaks. My caterer says dapat final count is with them 2 weeks before eh.

To give you an idea--- nagpakaOC ako sa invite design since hirap nga magselect nung watercolor stuff sa borders-- it took me 5-6 weeks to finish the design. My invite supplier, every 2-3 days nagpapadala ng bagong revision, tuloy tuloy yun for 5-6 weeks til we finished. Tapos 2 weeks printing leadtime nila. So 2 months at most na siguro Kung simpler design or existing na sa portfolio nila, kaya na siguro 1-2 weeks designing + 2 weeks printing. You have time pa! If you start now, you'll get them end Oct or early Nov, just in time. Distribute mo na agad para end Nov din RSVP deadline mo. Hope this helps.

[rightback]

^sis medyo napressure na ko slight with the time it took sa invite design since it will be DIY. Yung 2 weeks that's the actual printing already or did it include yung test print?

same here, medyo na stress ako with prices for invites which some guests would throw away lang naman. i really wanted letter press especially for our names but i feel its too much. I really don't want to spend 100+ for invites. i didn't like the names pasted on envelopes also. we bought a printer a few months back so we can print it ourselves but my sister happily volunteered to the calligraphy on the envelopes but we'll be the ones lang to pay for the ink.

[kisses1417]

Thanks @sparklingjewel: thanks, yeah i was given end of Nov to finalize the headcount so dapat 1st week to third week nakakapag distribute na kami ng invitation. Thats what I will do this holiday. How many invites did you get for your guests?

[sparklingjewel]

@rightback Omg you're right, i missed stating the mock-up phase (+1 week)! Thanks sis. We went to the printer for actual mockup and it took a week since i was only able to go on the weekend. So:
- 5-6 weeks design phase, finalizing content
- 1 week mock-up
- 2 weeks actual printing

Dont worry exag yung 5 weeks design phase ko, haha. I have a feeling it takes just 1-2 weeks for other people! Minsan kasi it takes me time to think about the latest revision before i give my input on what or how i want it changed. Kaya yan in 1 month

@kisses1417 I needed about 130 but we ordered 150 sets to be safe. We plan to invite more kasi if anyone in the priority list cant go. We counted the guestlist how many we will need (kasi yung mga families 1 lang naman) then added more than 10% buffer.

[rightback]

@sparklingjewel i'm about the worry na kasi h2b is doing the design which he has been constantly delaying (2 months na ata delayed) and i'm quite particular din with a lot of things so might take us 2-3 weeks to finalize the design, plus 1 week for test print and i guess 2 weeks for production, 2 weeks for envelope addressing. that's another month and a half pa pala. i'm worried lang if i'm giving enough time for rsvp. i estimated about 100 invites but my parents will be distributing "courtesy invites" sa mga potential na magtatampo. looks like 2 weeks nga talaga yung production for approx 120 invites. oh well...

[sparklingjewel]

@rightback Are you doing the printing also? Yung mock-up namin was already perfect the first time, so actually it can take only a day. It's just that i wasnt able to go to my supplier agad and had to wait for the weekend to go.  Give at least a month from the time you distribute the invites for the RSVP deadline. Then I was told the standard RSVP deadline is a month before your wedding date, so i guess consider that as your hard target.

[rightback]

thanks for the tip sparklingjewel. we're just doing the design and kenneth uy for printing. looks like hard deadline for the design is this weekend na lol.

[sparklingjewel]

@rightback: Have you asked them about their printing leadtime? Baka naman its only a few days or a week? Mine stated 2 weeks minimum but i assume that isn't necessarily the case for all suppliers. Also, diba it's much easier to finalize the design if you're DIY-ing since you get to revise it exactly how you want it? I think what takes long is communicating to the suppler exactly how we wanted things, literally we were talking like, "can you use a smaller flower here", "can you lessen the dead space here", "make the text bigger" ganun eh. If i had photoshop skills i would have done the design myself haha. Buti nalang my invite supplier was super smooth katrabaho, gets nila kaagad all the revisions or else this would be my biggest wedding headache.

[rightback]

@sparklingjewel last time they said a week for printing 100 invites. I'm stretching it lang to 2 weeks to give enough allowance. I think the time would depend on your invite design if may embossed, foil print, letter press etc. Technically yes DIY for the design should be faster but super tinamad talaga si h2b and delayed it for 2 months. good thing he made significant progress last night so we have a good chance of sending it to the printer by next week. we're doing mock prints on our own printer for the meantime for adjustments and save time of sending it back and forth. Same here sis if I had better photoshop skills I would do it myself. Super basic lang yung kaya ko. good thing it was enough for the save the date.

[sparklingjewel]

@rigthback Good luck to you sis! Just got our invitations and free Thank You cards yesterday... we started sorting nadin and wrote the # of seats para ready to distribute na. Two months of distribution starts..now!

[stylus]

happy preps mga sis! for our invitation, everythings diy lang eh. i did the layout and design. ako na rin nagprint. at isa isa gumawa ng ribbon and monogram para sa packaging. sariling sikap pero masaya

[yannuh]

Sa invitation ba pwede ang ilagay namin na names yung nicknames namin ni fiance. Wala kasi tumatawag sa amin na friends (and even relatives) sa real names namin. Or applicable lang ba yun sa mga celebrities like Chiz and Heart?

Sis pwedeng pwede:) sa invites namin nickname ko at ni hubby ang nilagay namin:)

[twinxz]

@sparklingjewel
Do you have a copy of Annasthetic Design's packages, rates and inclusions? Do they offer discounts during bridal fairs lang? TIA!

[sparklingjewel]

^Hi sis they dont post their rates, it depends kasi on your requirements, kung ilang pages need mo and if you have special reqts like me, yung envelope liner and monogram seal. Best if you inquire so they can give you a quotation, office nila is in Provident in Marikina. I didn't get a discount when i booked them, but the envelope addressing, monogram seal and thank you cards were given to me as freebies na. Super bait nila lalo na the owner, she's the one who'll be coordinating with you directly for revisions.

[twinxz]

^thanks sis! Sige will wait na lang for their reply. Already sent her a PM in FB. Hopefully, makakuha din ako ng freebies like you. Ang dami!