Showing posts with label budget. Show all posts
Showing posts with label budget. Show all posts

Wednesday, 12 March 2014

Making Handmade Pocket Invitations For Half The Price Of Professionals Part 3

Hello Everyone,

I'm so sorry for only just doing part 3, I've had this awful flu that's been going around and slept for about 24 hours solid, but I still can't shift it. But to make the cherry on top my computer decided to hate me, but making my profile corrupt, I didn't even know that could happen! If I could afford a new laptop I would never have a Dell Inspiration again, I've had Dell out to fix 7 times in 4 years, the mother board has died 3 times and it just generally doesn't like life! But i'm getting off topic, so lets look into the assembly of these invites!


I previously mentioned the construction of the pocket envelope (I hope I did), if not it's pretty simple with the use of double sided tape. I also mentioned how I worded the invite section but remember its your invite write it how you like!

To go with our invite we chose to do 4 side information points with, Accommodation, Directions, RSVP and General Information.


We're quite lucky with our venue Crewe Hall, as it literally down the road from the train station which means it is surrounded by hotels. Of course our top hotel was the wedding venue in which our guest get 10%, but we also included a selection of well known branded hotels, such a Holiday Inn, Premier Inn and we included the web address and phone number, but I did not include the price as this is constantly changing. I think accommodation is pretty much your choice most people do put it out there, as it stops every single guest contacting you for hotel information so it just saves you a lot of phone calls, emails and text messages.

For the Directions a simple map which you can steal from Google maps is needed, but most places with give you simple instructions, we have included the post code for Sat Nav users, but we also included instructions, we tested a few times and got double checked by my dad, just remember not everyone uses Sat Nav and not everyone will use the internet to search some family members will pull out a map!

Our RSVP, has a very typical yes or no, but word it nice I know its easy to be flippant about people not coming to your wedding, so we worded it the best we could think of and for the returning address we put my parents down. Because it is an invite addressed from them, the RSVP's should be sent back to them, but we have put down an email address, for those who do not want to send through the post. But don't be surprise if you get an RSVP through Facebook and text.

We have included Dietary/Allergy requirements on the RSVP and it has in some way worked, but were shocked that some family members who we know are Vegetarian haven't declared it. In an ideal world I would serve them meat and say well you didn't specify but that's not productive and slightly Bridezilla like! I am also shocked people I know who are diabetic haven't said so use your logic with it some people don't say they assume you'll know. We've also had problems with people not RSVPing because they think we wanted it on the 30th May because we stated that was to be the latest date. The joys of wedding planning.

You will notice that our RSVP is in 2 halfs, why you ask well its the same with our Directions because my printer also hates me and wouldn't print perfect back to back, so I made it simple and printed individual and stuck together.

General Information, well this is more a personal choice than a necessity. We have chosen to registrar with 2 different places for gifts simply because we did not want half a million picture frames, or 2 toasters so we wanted to have more control and choice on what we had. So we are typically registered with John Lewis (but you can go with Debenhams, House of Fraser, Selfridges, any larger department store). But we also went with Wedgewood, so a nice mix all the this information needed to be visible and accessible so the starter for our card. We also included my dad's mobile number, simply because if you need to get in touch with someone, because your guests are lost, running late anything you can think of i'm definitely not answering my phone and i'd be surprised, no it would be a miracle if mike answered his phone. Plus who knows my home town better than my dad right?



Once these have all been cut, they should fit nicely into the pocket and I think look nice and professional.  Now that the inside of the card is finished its just the outside design, which can be as simple and as complicated as you like.


 We opted for a ribbon design, with a sliver mesh background then a teal (peacock according to Ebay) on top, once again double sided sellotape is your best friend!


To close the invite we used round velcro dots, really easy to use as they are self adhesive. I found it easier to apply the dot on the ribbon first and then place the matching dot on top of the current one to make it stick perfect.


Like so!

To decorate the front, I cropped a small piece of the flock wall paper to create a stylish opener, you'll have to tell me what you think!


We thought it look very effect and just gave it that nice finishing touch!


So here it is after 3 blogs, the finished invitation, for half the cost and just as professional looking! I hope you agree, all our friends and family couldn't tell the difference.

Let me know how it works out for you guys.

Bye
XXXX 

Monday, 12 August 2013

Is A Wedding Planner A Must?

My inspiration for my FIRST blog comes from a conversation Mike and Myself had after watching BBC 2 Rhod Gilbert Work Experience. I know your thinking what does Rhod Gilbert the comedian and weddings have in common? A man who publicly declared hates weddings, well whether he likes them or not in this episode he was a Wedding Planner, and as funny as it was, it made us ask do you need one? We are getting married in 14 months time and due to the expense we began planning and paying the beginning of this year.  

Courtesy of BBC
I became my own Wedding Planner! Who could plan our wedding better than me? Right? The best part I have done it for free, with simple tips as in, attend a free Bridal Fayre you get a free Bridal Magazine (usually £3.99) which had budget information in it and there is loads of websites that offer this for free, especially www.confetti.co.uk! Add the power of the internet, a phone and Excel Spreadsheet you can handle your own budget and keep an eye on it, even alter it if you need to! For the majority of the wedding we looked at online before visiting. For example nearly all receptions have online brochures in pdf files to look at. Also depending where you book you get a Wedding Planner for the day! So do you need to pay for 2?

But something Rhod said really got me thinking; "Blokes don't dream of their weddings from five years old. Blokes don't give a t***." My Fiancee is quite involved in our wedding but the bigger picture is me and my mum, especially with the little details.

 Now i'm not declaring war on Wedding Planners, but are they a wedding staple for everyone? But for us our budget is everything! With the average wedding costing £15,000 were lucky we have £12,000, but a Wedding Planner is extra cost! Can you afford the extra cost? Are you organised enough with plenty of time to do it yourself?

Smaller companies generally charge between 11-15% with bigger companies hitting 20%. Putting it in context, if we did have one we would loose £1,800 (15%) or £2,400 (20%) out of our budget. The company Rhod used 'Oh So Perfect Weddings' charge from £1,200, but offer a variety of services at different cost.

I guess if I was someone like Angelina Jolie, a Wedding Planner would be a must, but wedding companies would be offering her their services for advertisements and royalties.and I guess budget wouldn't be a topic" But I am a mere girl from Stoke who is finding reasonable costs!

As for Rhod: "I definitely 100% do not think I had a knack for Wedding Planning, so I don't know about the future if Give A S*** Weddings." But my question is how much did he and the BBC get for free?

But what do you think? To have a Wedding Planner or not?