Stationary

wdubin122

My wedding planner suggested I use someone who will custom make all of my stationary including invites, programs, menus and place cards.  For 60 invites, 40 escort cards, 75 menus and programs ahe is charging me $800.  Is this very expensive?  I will be getting allot of samples before the finished product is done.

wdubin122

And do I really need menu's?

kristinanddan

To me, yes it is expensive, but it's all relative. Of course, we didn't have custom invites. We paid around 400 for 100 invites, and I made our programs and escort cards.
I think menus are only needed (and even then, not really needed), if you're having tableside ordering.

jmc1017

We got the kits from Michael's and printed them ourselves.  That included invite, rsvp cards and envelopes.  Regular price it was $40, but we printed coupons and got them for cheaper.  We printed our own programs as well on white card stock.  A package of 100 sheets was like $4.  Everyone thought they were professionally done and we saved so much money.   It's a lot of DIY, but we saved so much money.  

Really, it all  depends on what you want.  When we were looking into custom printing, it was going to run about that for us as well, so I suppose the short answer would probably be no.  Seems about average for what you're looking for.

probablykate

The person I'm looking at using charges the following:

Wedding invitations range between $4.00 - $12.00+/each
Place cards: $0.75 – $2.00/each
Table numbers: $1.50 - $4.00/each
Wedding programs: $2.00 – $8.00/each

If we assume average prices somewhere in the middle that works out to:

Invites $8 x 60 = $480
Place/escort cards $1.40 x 40 = $56
Programs/menus $5 x 75 = $375
Total $911

So compared with that $800 seems pretty reasonable if it's for nice, custom made invites etc.  Of course, that's averaging this person's prices, so it could be significantly more or less.

I know it is pretty standard to have programs but I really don't see the need for them unless you are having an extremely complicated ceremony that needs explanation.  I'm not planning on having them. 

kristinanddan

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_new-york-hudson-valley_stationary?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:113Discussion:0f31f79d-7e27-44e5-a15f-e8720a812e61Post:54d0f4d4-266c-42d0-a372-c3155a8482ee">Re: Stationary</a>:
[QUOTE]The person I'm looking at using charges the following: Wedding invitations range between $4.00 - $12.00+/each Place cards: $0.75 – $2.00/each Table numbers: $1.50 - $4.00/each Wedding programs: $2.00 – $8.00/each If we assume average prices somewhere in the middle that works out to: Invites $8 x 60 = $480 Place/escort cards $1.40 x 40 = $56 Programs/menus $5 x 75 = $375 Total $911 So compared with that $800 seems pretty reasonable if it's for nice, custom made invites etc.  Of course, that's averaging this person's prices, so it could be significantly more or less. I know it is pretty standard to have programs but I really don't see the need for them unless you are having an extremely complicated ceremony that needs explanation.  I'm not planning on having them. 
Posted by probablykate[/QUOTE]
Holy cr@p $2 per program is insane and $8 is just mind-boggling to me. It's a piece of paper or two, and they go in the garbage.

wdubin122

Thanks so much everyone for your input.  I least now I don't feel like I'm being ripped off.  I might just get the invites and programs from her and get the other stuff somewhere else.

probablykate

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_new-york-hudson-valley_stationary?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:113Discussion:0f31f79d-7e27-44e5-a15f-e8720a812e61Post:189a5a5c-6522-4700-b324-cea1fad1f49c">Re: Stationary</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: Stationary : Holy cr@p $2 per program is insane and $8 is just mind-boggling to me. It's a piece of paper or two, and they go in the garbage.
Posted by kristinanddan[/QUOTE]

Ha... I didn't even think about that because I'm not planning on doing programs.  I imagine the expensive programs would be quite elaborate.  I mean if custom invites start at $4, it stands to reason that a program that costs $8 would be a lot of fancy pages. 

kristinanddan

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_new-york-hudson-valley_stationary?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:113Discussion:0f31f79d-7e27-44e5-a15f-e8720a812e61Post:5ad3465a-e9d0-4695-956a-0157d140ec43">Re: Stationary</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: Stationary : Ha... I didn't even think about that because I'm not planning on doing programs.  I imagine the expensive programs would be quite elaborate.  I mean if custom invites start at $4, it stands to reason that a program that costs $8 would be a lot of fancy pages. 
Posted by probablykate[/QUOTE]
Gold leaf perhaps? <img src="http://cdn.cl9.vanillaforums.com/downloaded/ver1.0/content/scripts/tinymce/plugins/emotions/images/smiley-cool.gif" border="0" alt="Cool" title="Cool" />

Shari16

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_new-york-hudson-valley_stationary?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local Wedding BoardsForum:113Discussion:0f31f79d-7e27-44e5-a15f-e8720a812e61Post:189a5a5c-6522-4700-b324-cea1fad1f49c">Re: Stationary</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: Stationary : Holy cr@p $2 per program is insane and $8 is just mind-boggling to me. It's a piece of paper or two, and they go in the garbage.
Posted by kristinanddan[/QUOTE]

I couldn't agree more! I spent less than $300 on invites, envelopes and RSVP cards and they are beautiful. We're making our own programs, table numbers and escort cards. Otherwise, it's just too much money!

TerriandJoe

For custom work, that actually sounds reasonable!

We spent around thats for all paper stuff and ordered invites online and used plain white paper and cardstock for programs using colored ink. Menus were out of a brides invitation kit and printed at inkspun. (He also addresses my invites). Escort cards were also DIY. So, I think you are getting a great deal for custom work!