Introduction

By now you’ve probably got a venue, organised catering, chosen flowers and booked a venue dresser .. but what would the point of all that be without any guests to enjoy it with you!

The Save the Dates or Invitations really need to get sent out but your wedding budget has already gone a little bit skewiff. 

In this guide, we’ll share practical tips to help you get beautiful wedding stationery for less, from choosing the right print options to avoiding unnecessary extras. With a little planning, we can help you to create stationery that looks fantastic, reflects your wedding theme, and stays within your budget.

Set your Wedding Stationery Budget Early

Before you start browsing for ideas and designs it’s a good idea to have an idea what you would like to spend.  Therefore, the earlier you set your wedding stationery budget the less likely you are to overspend.

Decide what Wedding Stationery you Need

Just because we create lots of different wedding stationery items it doesn’t mean that you need to order everything.

Here’s a list of some of our most popular stationery items to help you work out what you need.  We’ve indicated the items we feel are essential for a seated wedding breakfast.  From this list work out what items of stationery you need for your big day, what items you’d like for your big day and what you really, really don’t want anywhere near your big day!

If you would like to discuss other stationery items that aren’t on the list, or on our website, please get in touch.

Optional Items

Save the Dates

RSVP Cards

Information Cards

Vow Booklets

Printed Readings

Favours / Lottery Wallets

Menus

Large Format Signs

Guest Book

Thank You Cards

Choose a Standard Size

By choosing from our standard range of sizes we can easily work within our existing templates and in-house printer capabilities.  This saves us setup and design time which, in-turn, saves you money too.  

Standard Square Sizes:

Large: 145 x 145mm / Medium: 125 x 125mm / Small: 

Standard Oblong Sizes:

A5: 148 x 210mm / DL: 210 x 110mm / 5×7″: 127 x 178mm / A6: 105 x 148mm

Table Plans & Signs Sizes:

A1: 600 x 840mm / A2: 420 x 600

We generally don’t have to outsource designs that are printed A3 or smaller, unless specliast printing is required.

Only Order What You Need

At I Do designs all of our items are individually priced which makes it really easy for you to order exactly how many items you need.

We don’t sell our wedding stationery in ‘packs’ so there’s no restrictions.  If you need 31 you can order 31 – you don’t need to order 40.  By ordering exact quantities you are able to budget more accurately.  You are also not forced into buying more than you need and wasting money.

Avoid Specialist Printing

Specialist print finishes such as foiling, embossing, letterpress and white ink can look stunning, but they also come at a higher cost.

If you’re trying to keep your wedding stationery within budget, opting for standard digital printing is often the most cost-effective choice.

At I Do Designs, we don’t produce these specialist finishes in-house, so they would need to be outsourced. While we’re happy to arrange this for you, outsourcing adds to the overall cost.  We’d highly recommend considering whether these premium finishes are essential for your stationery if you’re looking to save money.

Avoid Costly Mistakes – Work with an Experienced Wedding Stationer

Creating your own wedding stationery might seem like the cheapest option, but once you’ve factored in design software, quality card, printing, envelopes, adhesives and your own time, the savings aren’t always as significant as you might expect.

Working with an experienced wedding stationer means you’ll receive expert advice, professionally printed stationery and the reassurance that everything will be produced correctly and on time. It can also help you avoid costly mistakes, such as ordering the wrong quantities, choosing unsuitable materials or having to reprint items due to errors.

At I Do Designs, our prices are designed to offer excellent value. They include the design work, premium cardstock, professional printing, trimming, assembly and envelopes.

For example, our simple flat wedding invitations, printed on 300gsm cardstock and supplied with 130gsm envelopes, are £1.50 each. An order of 30 invitations would cost £45, plus postage and packaging. If you’d like to add an extra layer of cardstock, it’s 50p per invitation, while ribbon is 25p per invitation – allowing you to personalise your invitations without dramatically increasing the overall cost.

Request a FREE Wedding Stationery Budget Calculator

We really hope you have found this article to be useful.  Calculating your wedding budget can be quite overwhleming but we really want to make the stationery element as enjoyable and as easy as possible.

Please get in touch if you’d like us to send you a personalised quotation.  Alternatively, please fill in and submit the form below and we’ll send you our ‘Wedding Stationery Budget Calculator’ free of charge (microsoft excel required).

External Sources and Reports

Hitched say that couples should budget £100-£300 for their invitations and then £150-£400 for their ‘on the day’ stationey.  Therefore, this works out to a total wedding stationery budget between £250-£700.

According to Bridebook’s Wedding Report, UK couples spend an average of £378 on professionally designed and printed stationery, but that figure spans everything from a £20 Etsy template to a £1,500 bespoke illustrated suite.