Why don’t wedding stationers include their pricing?
If you've spent any amount of time looking for wedding stationery, you've probably noticed something slightly frustrating: why does no one just tell you how much it costs?
You visit a stationery website, fall in love with an invitation suite, click through three different pages looking for a price... and somehow end up at an inquiry form.
I promise, we're not trying to keep it a secret.
The slightly annoying answer is that wedding stationery can vary so much in price that putting a single number beside a suite can actually be more misleading than helpful.
To understand why, it helps to know how the price is calculated.
It starts with quantity
You might have 50 households for your wedding. But maybe someone else has 60 or 70 or…you get the gist. What I’m trying to say is that pricing changes based on the number of invitations you need.
But printing 100 invitations also doesn't necessarily cost twice as much as printing 50.
Many printing methods have fixed setup costs. With letterpress, for example, a custom plate needs to be made and the press set up whether we're printing 50 invitations or 150. So while quantity affects the total, the price per invitation changes with it too.
Printing method makes a huge difference
Digital printing, letterpress, foil and embossing are completely different production processes, and their costs reflect that.
A digitally printed invitation is relatively straightforward. Letterpress requires custom plates, press setup, and individually printing each colour. Add a second colour, and that's another plate and another pass through the press.
This is why two suites that look fairly similar in a photograph can have completely different price points.
How many pieces you need
What do I mean when I say pieces?
When you hear "wedding invitations," it's easy to picture... well, an invitation.
But a full invitation suite might include:
Main invitation
Details card
RSVP card
Welcome party or rehearsal dinner card
Envelope
Envelope liner
Belly band or pocket sleeve
Wax seal
Ribbon
Phew.
And sometimes that’s not all of it.
You might also need different quantities of each. Perhaps you need 80 invitations, but only 25 ceremony cards.
Naturally, the more pieces we're creating, the more the overall investment changes.
So how much do wedding invitations actually cost?
I know, I know, this is what you came here for. But I had to explain what goes into it before getting into it, you know?
This may not be what you want to hear, but…
Most wedding stationers don’t give a fixed price, because there are simply way too many variables.
Think of ordering wedding invitations like getting your house remodelled. As much as you and I would love to go onto an Interior Designer’s website and simply click “Add to Cart,” we can’t.
We’d need to explain what we want, the Designer would need to figure out what’s possible, and eventually, they’d probably need to ask: “Okay, how deep are those pockets?”
Ordering invitations is kind of the same. Not that I would EVER ask you how deep your pockets are.
The best way to go about it is to have a budget. It’s that simple.
Sit down with your partner and talk about how much you’re comfortable spending on your invitations. Then, start browsing stationers whose work you love.
Most will have mentioned somewhere on their website how much their clients generally invest, or what their minimum investment is. (Me included, it’s on my FAQs page)
That gives you a much better idea of whether you’re in the right place before you ever have to fill out an inquiry form.
TL;DR: Wedding invitation pricing varies a lot (how many you need, printing, etc.), but if you’re willing to invest somewhere between $1000–$5,000 CAD on your wedding stationery, I’m your gal.
And I’d love to be best friends with you.
