While I do believe in DIYing cerain things for your wedding, I fully believe that your wedding invitations should not be one of them.  Your Save the Dates and Wedding Invitations are the first glimpse into your wedding your guests get to see before your big day and you want to impress them!  The other day, we talked about your wedding stationery and how it should account for 7-11% of your wedding budget, so you really want to get it right!

You wedding stationery should be considered an investment in the biggest day of your life, and my advice is to leave it to the professionals. Here’s my top three reasons I believe you should hire a professional stationery designer for your wedding invitations and why it’s worth the investment.

1 | THEY HAVE THE NECESSARY EXPERIENCE & DESIGN SKILLS

If you really want your paper goods to be one of a kind and make an impressions with your guests, you’ll want to work with someone who has the experience and skills to bring your vision to life.  There’s so many factors that go into making your stationery, like fonts, graphics, custom calligraphy, creating a color palette, not to mention knowing the proper etiquette and owning the design software.  Your stationer will also need a working relationship with a quality specialty print shop.  A skilled stationer will have the knowledge and expertise to do all of this for you.

Your designer will consider all of this, and more, for you:

• the right fonts and graphics
• using the right deisgn software
• creating a custom color palette
• staying on budget
• working with a printer
• staying on top of your timeline
• making sure you order the right amount of invitations
• knowing the right wording and etiquette for your invitations
• and so many more behind the scene tasks

2 | THEY WILL GUARANTEE THE QUALITY OF YOUR INVITATIONS

The quality of your invitations trumps everything else on this list.  It doesn’t matter how they’re printed or how pretty they look:  If the paper is flimsy, your invitations are going to feel icky and cheap.  A good stationery designer has the skill and experience to guide you in the right direction when it comes to paper type, and they’re able to guarantee that your invitations are created using the best paper type for the print technique and color palette.  A stationer can also make recommendations based on each of these factors according to your budget since they work so closely and communicate printers on a regular basis.

Your designer will consider all of this, and more, for you to guarantee the quality of your invitations:

• the right paper type
• a great color palette that will print beautifully
• the best printing method & techniques for your paper selection
• making sure everything is cohesive! (save the dates, invitation suite, envelopes, programs, menus, place cards, signage, etc.)

3 | THEY WILL SAVE YOU TIME AND MONEY

As a bride, you have a ton of things on your plate and an ever-growing to-do list, and attempting to DIY your stationery is no small task.  It can quickly turn into a time consuming and extremely difficult (not to mention often expensive) task.  Wouldn’t it be nice to have someone handle it for you, and within your budget?