Photo credit: Eternal Reflections Photography
It’s no secret that we absolutely love day-of stationery. There are so many little bits that can be taken into account—seating charts, place cards, menus, signage, table numbers, runners, dance floor decals, etc—but many couples will wait till it’s almost too late to order! This can cause printing rushes (and extra fees!!) that couples were not expecting.
Remember that these orders can take just as long, if not longer, to produce as your invitation sets. This makes it imperative that you provide your stationer with enough time to design, proof and produce these items for you.
So then, you may ask, when SHOULD we start designing items for the day?
Well, we like to tell our couples that they can start working on their day of stationery designs at the same time that they design the invitation sets. This does, however, require them to know what they want at that early stage.
For most couples, however, doing everything at once is not ideal. We recommend that all couples have a final list of desired items to present their stationer a minimum of 6 weeks prior to the wedding. (If there are pieces that you know will require a bit more time to create, contact your stationer about those individual timelines as early as you can.)
This minimum of 6 weeks allows your stationer to put together the quote and start the design process. That way, when you hit your RSVP deadline (4 weeks prior to the wedding), you have all the names for seating charts and place cards, entrée choices for menus, and can then provide that master list to your stationer to 1) populate the created designs with the names/entrée choices, etc. 2) proof them and 3) send them to production.
The best tip that we could give:
even if you aren’t sure about what you will end up needing, talk to your stationer at your invitation consultation about items that you MAY be looking for. They will be able to guide you to their minimum deadlines for certain pieces. The rule of thumb with print is to always give print orders as much time in advance as you can!
As a shameless plug, we do offer certain day-of stationery items like seating chart frames and table numbers for rent. Interested in what we have? Head over to our rental page for more info!
