I first printed off using the printers at uni, having to pay just for the paper which was 0.60p per sheet of matte paper. The print outs came out perfectly, but I wanted to print out at Staples to see what their quality was like and if it was better.
Printing for uni
I rang Staples first to see what price range their paper was before I went into the shop, as I wasn't sure whether or not they printed out on matte paper.
Unfortunately they don't print out on envelopes so I would have to figure out a way to get a design onto an envelope elsewhere.
Matte paper (90 gsm & 100 gsm) - A4
Colour - 56p
B&W - 15p
There is an additional charge of £3 to open up the files so I'll be paying at least £3.71 for just two pieces of paper. Now I find this to be ridiculously expensive, so I wondered whether or not it'll be easier if I printed off more than two pieces and do, say, 10.
If I do ten colour prints on A4 then it'll be £5.60 + £3 = 8.60. This is still expensive but doesn't sound as expensive as it would do for just printing out two sheets of A4 paper.
100gsm would be too thin for my designs, so instead I looked at 160gsm which came to 60p per sheet. So 7x0.60 = £4.20 to print out two invitations (one double sided and another with separate sides), the Save the Date, the RSVP, and the Place Card. Then it was an additional £3 so £4.20 + £3 = £7.20
Printing for the couple
Invitation - with the card
What I would like to do with the invitation is to print the sides out separately, and then place a piece of black card in the middle. If the couple wants to have 100 invitations then that would be 200 pieces of paper to print out (the front and back), and then 100 pieces of black card.
Printing
200 x 0.60 = £120
£120 + £3= £123
Card
1 pack = 20 sheets 170gsm = £4.79
OR hobbycraft value card = 10 sheets 210gsm = £1.49
As the card will just be inserted between the invitation, I shall go along with using the hobbycraft value card. If we need 100 sheets then that means we need 10 packs so 10 x £1.49 = £14.90
Printing & Card
£123 + £14.90 = £137.90
Therefore the price for the invitations would be at least £137.90, however they would need cutting down which will further increase the cost.
Invitation - without the card
If I wanted to print out just the invitation without the card slotted in the middle then it would still require 200 print outs as Staples would count both sides as being two pieces of paper, but then I would need to pay for 100 sheets of black card. This would be a lot cheaper for the couple as they would then not need to have the card cut down and slotted in between the invitations which would further delay the manufacturing process.
200 x 0.60 = £120
£120 + £3 = £123
Without the card the invitation themselves would cost £123, which is much cheaper than having the card in the middle! However I would then need to figure out how much it'll cost for them to be cut down.
Save the Date
The Save the Date would be sent out before the invitations, so we would need 100 of those if the couple is only inviting 100 people.
100 x 0.60 = £60
We wouldn't need to add on the £3, assuming that everything would be printed at the same time
RSVP
We would also need 100 of these to be sent out
100 x 0.60 = £60
Place Cards
Now calculating the cost of the place cards would be quite difficult because we would first need to know how many people are attending and if they are bring plus-ones, so I shall leave this out for now.
Overall
The cost of printing all of the stationary (apart from the Place Cards) that I have designed so far for the couple would be:
Without card: £123 + £60 + £60 = £243
With card: £137.90 + £60 + £60 = £257.90
So there isn't that big a difference in cost between the two after all! However I would then need to calculate the costs of cutting them down and then assembling the invitation.
Other Materials
With all of the print outs done I can now focus on how to present my stationary set. I gathered images for inspiration so that I could see how other people have done it.
Coral Pheasant
All images from her facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/coralpheasant
Coral Pheasant normally displays her work with envelopes, designing the stickers for them so that they would come as a whole package. She would then wrap the stationary up with either ribbon, lace or string to match the overall aesthetic theme of the wedding.
I really like the idea of wrapping them up with ribbon because not only would it keep everything together, but it would also make them look tidy. Providing the envelopes would just complete the design as it would show that I'm thinking of how the guest would receive the invitations.
Oh So Beautiful Paper
All images from: http://ohsobeautifulpaper.com/real-wedding-invitations/
http://ohsobeautifulpaper.com/2013/04/beth-erics-come-away-with-us-destination-wedding-invitations/ http://ohsobeautifulpaper.com/2013/04/catherine-nicks-rustic-burlap-and-wood-wedding-invitations/ http://ohsobeautifulpaper.com/2013/04/reis-jaymees-modern-california-wedding-invitations/
http://ohsobeautifulpaper.com/2012/12/dana-matts-rustic-floral-wood-veneer-wedding-invitaions/ http://ohsobeautifulpaper.com/2013/03/natalie-pauls-southern-magnolia-wedding-invitations/ http://ohsobeautifulpaper.com/2013/02/diy-tutorial-vintage-fern-wedding-invitations/ http://ohsobeautifulpaper.com/2012/08/leigha-kenjis-rustic-modern-wedding-invitations/ http://ohsobeautifulpaper.com/2012/08/lindsey-bradleys-elegant-pink-and-gold-foil-wedding-invitations/ http://ohsobeautifulpaper.com/2012/07/brooks-erins-romantic-sonoma-valley-wedding-invitations/ http://ohsobeautifulpaper.com/2012/05/rena-michaels-semi-formal-handkerchief-wedding-invitations/ http://ohsobeautifulpaper.com/2012/04/pink-ombre-watercolor-and-letterpress-wedding-invitations/ http://ohsobeautifulpaper.com/2012/04/aaron-harpers-fingerprint-heart-wedding-invitations/ http://ohsobeautifulpaper.com/2012/04/diy-stamped-equestrian-invitations-with-monogrammed-leather-tags/
The designs showcased on Oh So Beautiful Paper are also presented with envelopes and some sort of string/ribbon, which shows me that this is possibly a current trend. Either that or use some sort of paper to wrap around the set.
Conclusion:
I shall follow these trends and obtain some ribbon and envelopes to match the theme of my project. I think it would be best if I went along the route of getting some white matte envelopes, and possibly silver or white ribbon.
I went to Hobbycraft to get the rest of my materials as they have a wide range of ribbon, and I wanted to see if they would have some white/cream matte envelopes that are sold singularly.
All in all, each meter of ribbon was 0.59p, and I wanted to get 2 meters just to be on the safe side so that went up to £1.18 which isn't too bad.
Then I wanted to get another style of ribbon - Satin ribbon - that they sold on a reel, and this one was £1.05 for 8 meters (which is a very good price!)
The envelopes were 0.69p each for A5 paper size, and then 0.49p for A6. I decided to get A6 as well because of the fact I wanted to include a little envelope for the recipient to send out to the couple along with their reply.
So in total for 2 ribbon styles and 2 envelopes:
£1.05 + £1.18 + 0.69p + 0.49 = £3.41
Cost of all of the materials & printing at Staples (for uni)
Materials cost: £3.41
Printing (at Staples): £7.20
£3.41 + £7.20 = £10.61
This project thus cost me £10.61 in terms of printing and buying materials, and that's excluding the cost of paper that I used to print out at uni so it could round up to £15.
If I wanted to do everything for the couple including all of those materials, then it would be extremely expensive due to the cost of the envelopes. The ribbon wouldn't matter as such as that'll only be use as decoration for this project to hold all of my stationary pieces together, but it'll be around £118 for 100 guests including both sizes of envelope (unless they require a pack of envelopes which might be a lot cheaper).
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| Image of all of my materials and printed designs |
Overall conclusion:
I hadn't realised just how much the printing would cost simply because of the fact I would have to add on an extra £3 just for them to access the files. If that £3 wasn't included then it would've saved me a lot of money, or if I just printed out the designs I definitely wanted instead of experimenting with both the printers at uni and Staples.
This has shown me just how expensive a wedding would be, and the stationary is only a small part of it!
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