Are you Custom or are you Catalog?

If you find yourself asking "What exactly are the differences between Custom Invitations and Catalog Invitations", you better read this blog!

A Catalog Invitation comes from just that....a catalog. When shopping Catalog Invitations you get to lug around heavy over-sized books containing mass produced invitations. When you find an invitation that you like - you better like it pretty much how it is, because most of the time you can't change a thing about it - other than the ink color and envelope liner. Now, I don't know about you, but I have received quite a few invitations in my time. Can I recall which invitation belonged to which wedding? Nope. Not even the tacky ones. Why? Because more or less - they all looked the same. In the last few years some catalog lines have added more 'unique' styles and a few semi-custom options but overall the selections are still pretty limited. Oh, and now you can shop Catalog Invitations on-line. This luxury eliminates the heavy over-sized books but the above mentioned limitations on design are ever present.

A Custom Invitation comes from your imagination. If your imagination isn't so great, we can loan you ours free of charge. When you meet with us to discuss Custom Design, we're gonna ask you a few questions about your event. It's not that we are nosey or anything - its that we are using your answers, your personalities, and the details that you speak of , to start formulating a design. We have plenty of samples on display in our Studio and those might help you narrow down a specific style that you adore. And you know what? We can take that style and we can make it truly unique to your event by allowing you to work with over 200 different colors and textures. Sound a bit complicated to you? Don't worry - it's not! We've gotten pretty good at this and we will steer you in the right direction. Oh, and you'll be quite pleased when your guests leave little comments on the reply cards about how awesome your invitations are. Just think - if they are jazzed up about the invitations, imagine how excited they will be to see the rest of your day unfold.

I guess the bottom line is this: We've got the best of both worlds. If you are on the fence about going Catalog or going Custom, schedule a free one hour consultation with us. You can view our catalog lines and you can see our custom work- side by side. We will work with you and your budget to determine the right fit for you. We are not pushy salespeople, I promise. We just want you to find the perfect invitation for your event.

Check your Mailboxes

Our latest batch of promos went out on Wednesday. We hit over 200 brides with wedding dates between mid-July and August. We typically receive an overwhelming response since they are what one bride said- "the most beautiful piece of marketing mail I have ever received". We've been sending these out for the last year and a half or so.

In case you are wondering how we get your information, I will tell you. When you attend a Bridal Show, your information is shared with the vendors at that show. We do a few bridal shows a year so we obtain brides from all different walks of life. If you do not want your information to be shared with the vendors, then you need to indicate that when you register for the show. If you do not wish to receive further correspondence from us, then you need to let us know. It costs money to market - and believe me, we don't want to waste that money on you if you don't wish to be marketed to!

On Thursday, I had an upset bride-to-be leave me the nastiest voice mail I have ever received. In the 57 second message, she screamed and she cussed and it was all because she got one of our promos in the mail. It's quite hard for me to imagine that a piece of such beautiful mail inspired such rage - but it did. Her number came over on caller-id, so I did call her back. I just wanted to let her know that we don't buy her information (as she claimed ) and that really , we are the two nicest girls in the world and it was going to bother me the rest of the night that we upset her so badly.

I guess the point is this: If you got one of our promotional pieces and you are upset - I am sorry! I can't help but think there might be other brides out there who feel the same way this one did but that don't have the guts to speak out. Stacy and I can't stand the thought of bothering anybody. We are just two girls who are trying to find a balance with successful marketing. We don't buy your information, we don't sell your information, we just want to try to get the word out about the great services that we offer because every bride needs invitations in some form or another!

To Better Serve You...

If you've ever met us and heard about how our business was started, then you probably know that we never in a million years expected it to get this big. We have been incredibly blessed as we have met many interesting people and made several great friends. We never set out to enter the wedding industry but now that we are in it, we can't get enough of it. Still, we feel a little 'under-educated' compared to some of the wedding vendors that have been in the industry for years.

We have decided to become certified wedding planners. The University of Akron is offering an 11 week course in conjunction with the Wedding Planning Institute in Chicago. We are super excited to be able to learn more about weddings in general.

Do we plan to go into the planning side of the business? That remains to be seen. We don't expect to - but we never expected to be doing what we are doing now either! For now, we are going into this just hoping that we can be a better source of knowledge for our brides and hoping that we absorb as much about weddings as possible. Wish us luck. Me especially - I am not the college type!

Stephanie