So you’ve done all of your planning for your big day, and all you have left to choose are your wedding invitations. You’re excited, but the only problem is… you’ve spent most of your budget, you don’t have much left, and all the invitation designer you’ve visited are quoting you $8-10 per set! If you’re finding yourself stuck in this position, read on for a few tips you can use to bring your cost down:

1. Paper Choices – There are lots of beautiful papers out there, and if you’ve got a paper fetish like we do, it’s difficult to choose just one or two! But if you inform your invitation designer of your budget, she’ll steer you in the right direction of papers that are in your price range. Stick to the non-metallics. If you want something that has a little something extra, a matte (non-metallic) paper with a bit of texture to it often does the trick.

2. Size – if you just can’t find a matte paper that suits your style, the other option is to put together a set that’s a little smaller than the standard 5″ x 7″ size! Some brides like how concise and neat a 4 x 5 invitation looks, and you can get more pieces out of a sheet which requires less paper cost!

3. Printing Method – Letterpress invitations are absolutely stunning, and everyone would love to be able to use this printing method for their invitations, but … you guessed it… it’s out of your budget. Letterpress invitations are individually hand-printed, and each piece is unique, so your invitation is basically a work of art. But a good invitation designer can come up with something equally unique and beautiful by incorporating unique and beautiful design elements into the physical pieces. Maybe a pattern printed on your cards? Maybe adding a few rhinestones would give it a little sparkle? For budget-conscious brides, digital printing is the way to go.

4. Amount of Paper – Eco-friendly doesn’t necessarily always have to be expensive. Ditch your response card in favour of an online RSVP, and you’ve also ditched the expense of the extra 2 pieces (card & envelope to match). Or, if you must have a response card of some sort, what about a postcard? No extra cost of an extra envelope, and you’ve just saved yourself around $0.50 per set!

Ladies, shop around! You don’t need to sign with the first invitation designer you meet, especially if they don’t fall within your budget. You do realize that you get what you pay for in some regard, but that doesn’t mean you’re stuck with the DIY kits from your local craft store (which often amount to more stress that it’s worth)! A good invitation designer will be able to understand your budget and be able to offer an attractive and unique solution to fit in your ideal price range.

Remember those times when it was common to write out wedding invitations one by one on a pretty stationary with all the trimmings. It was traditional to write wedding invitations out and mail those months before the wedding day came about. However, with the dawning of the internet era, and with the ease and quickness of sending messages electronically, it was only a matter of time before incorporating the ease of sending invites, even something as traditional as wedding invites, would become something that brides-to-be would start doing.

Now, we are not saying that wedding invitations have been taken over by evites and e-cards, however, we are saying that this is a sign of the times and the era of digital wedding invitations not only have arrived, but are here to stay. Digital Wedding Invitations are simply jazzed up emails that are mailed out in massive quantities to all the wedding guests you are planning to invite to your special day. One of the requirements however is for the bride to be or groom to be, whoever is organizing the guest list to have everyone’s email that they are planning to invite. Obviously this is an obstacle to overcome. How does the bride to be or groom to be alleviate this concern?

One idea is to use a social networking tool such as Facebook or MySpace where the newlyweds can post their wedding online. Another way is to contact them obtain there emails and send out a fancy electronic invite better known as an Evite or Ecard. Now while a lot of the older generation do not have nor use emails traditional methods still need to be practiced when sending out wedding invitations on their special wedding day! A third idea is to have a website customized for the upcoming event and have it uploaded to the world wide web well in advance and have the URL advertised online.

Some of the downfalls to this approach as mentioned above could be people not having access to the internet or not being connected on a regular basis to be able to access either the wedding website created especially for your wedding day or they can not connect to the social network such as Facebook or MySpace. Another pitfall could be the older generation either being computer illiterate or being intimidated by the whole notion of the computer.

So in conclusion, digital wedding invitations will become the fabric of wedding for years to come! Although they will not replace the traditional wedding invitation digital wedding invitations are more cost effective, more time efficient and more environmentally friendly all while getting the message across to all the wedding guests in the same manner as a traditional wedding invitation would. Therefore go crazy with your digital wedding invitation be as creative with your digital invite as you would with your traditional print invitation. But still keep in mind that it is still a wedding and traditional methods must be applied.

Author: Nancy Katz

Article Source: MiNeeds.com, where consumers get competitive bids from Wedding Service providers. Read reviews, compare offers & save. It’s free!

Article Link: http://www.mineeds.com/Teaneck/ZaZaCreative-LLC/Articles/Tips-on-Using-Your-Digital-Camera-while-Shopping

Tags: Wedding Ceremony and Rituals, Wedding Consultants, Wedding Coordinator, Wedding Dress, Wedding Flowers / Florist, Wedding Invitations, Wedding Photographer, Wedding Planner

Congratulations on your upcoming wedding!

Here are a few photo tips that will help make the process of researching and organizing all the masses of wedding info you are collecting a fun and morganized process.

1. You have a digital camera, right?? Well… take it with you all the time so you can take shots of wedding dresses, china, flowers, reception halls, outdoor gardens and more. Always be sure to ask the “vendor’s” permission to shoot-it’s only polite. Say that you are taking images for your wedding database. This way, when you want to compare dresses, remember a china patter or the color of the flowers you loved, you’ll have the image on your computer and in the appropriate folder (more to come on that!).

2. Make sure you know how to turn the flash off on your camera. Very often the existing or ambient light will be adequate for your shot and will look more natural than a flashy image with your on camera flash.

3. The higher the ISO on your camera (may go from 100-1600), the more light sensitive your camera will be. So, if you can adjust the ISO and not use your flash, you’ll be good. If not, just shoot the best images you can.

4. When you get home, immediately download your images into folders on your computer that are specifically titled: Ex. Florists, Flower Arrangements, Gowns with Sleeves, Sleeveless Gowns, Dishes, Dining Room Furniture, Honeymoon, etc. Lumping all your images into one wedding folder will not help your organization.

5. Make 4×6 or 5×7 prints that you can place in your paper folders. This will be helpful when you want to put 3-5 images, for example, of flowers on your desk/table to look, compare and decide.

More ideas and tips to come!

Nancy

ZaZaCreative, LLC

www.zazacreative.com

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Tips On Using Your Digital Camera While Shopping…