Many women dream of an elegant, traditional, white wedding. Many of those "many" start planning at the age of 12 and begin by slapping together a wedding binder filled with lace, China patterns, pictures of wedding dresses, menus, fonts, invitation paper and who knows what else!Realistically, how many of those women actually get to have that fantasy wedding?
For most Average Janes, a fantasy wedding just isn't feasible. A large number of variables come into play when planning a wedding and help to determine what type of wedding will be had, or, if any wedding will be had at all.
The biggest crusher of wedding dreams is the big "B".
The BUDGET.
We won't get into premarital reproduction which forces you to put half of your wedding budget into the planning of a nursery...oh, you get the idea!
Shite happens! So you may have to cut corners!
All in all, planning a wedding is a lot of work, a lot of time and a lot of money.
Let's say you realize that you don't get to have the picture-perfect wedding and yes, you' re going to have to cut corners.
Here's the thing for you.
Let's talk invitations.
Is your budget small? Are you over budget? Are you a procrastinator that is running out of time? OR, perhaps you're just an outside-of-the-box hipster that just doesn't want to follow all the wedding etiquette and shenanigans that go with it.
The invitation is a major component of planning a wedding. Without it, you'd have no guests. These little envelopes stuffed to the gills with paper can get pretty pricey. Having worked as a graphic designer and printer, I've seen women spend anywhere from $500.00 to $1000.00 on invitations alone.
What if you could add that invitation budget to your dress budget? HECK YEAH.
Here's an invitation option that will keep it's grubby hands off of your budget COMPLETELY.
Why not create an electronic invitation via a website and email the URL to your friends and family?
Uncouth? Nontraditional? A pimple on the face that is wedding planning?
To some it is an affront on all that is proper. EEK!
It is certainly unconventional. But, who cares? It's so effective, and for the Average Jane on a budget, it does the deed! Welcome to the age of tech!
Weebly.com and Wix.com both offer free web building "wizards" and have many templates to choose from. They also host your FREE site for FREE. The templates are customizable to your needs and tastes so you can fancy it up to your liking or just go with a simple preset template.
What if you're not techy? If that's the case, I definitely recommend Weebly. Drag and drop is your friend.
For those that have more of a head for tech and a basic knowledge of graphic design, go for Wix. The Wix builder acts very much like Adobe Illustrator. Did I mention it's flash?
You do not have to pay someone to do this for you. This is something you can do on your own and yes, it's FREE. It's all FREE.
So, what do you save?
1. You save money on: a person to design the invitation with it's many components, printing, and postage.
2. You "Go Green" with this method. No paper involved.
3. You also save yourself a lot of time (for those that are cutting it close!), because you could do this in an afternoon as opposed to going through a process of 1-3 weeks for designing, proofing and printing a paper invitation. And who has time to stuff all those envelopes?
You can also set up an email address (dedicated to your wedding) so that all RSVPs go to one address and don't lost and confused in your personal email box. Email addresses are free from just about any email provider. This also makes things convenient for guests and keeps them from having to spend postage on the RSVP and really gives them no excuse not to get the RSVP in the mail, because let's be honest, they're sitting at the computer most of the day with email at their fingertips. You know they are.
C'mon! We're not in the South! We're busy and on a budget! Pooh to proper, I say! Let's just get it done and tie this knot because I have to get back to the baby (who is also going to be the best man at our wedding! GASP!)!!
So, you think I'm nuts?
Check out this pretty little sample site I slapped together for fictional couple Craig and Sara. I think you'll love it!
Craig and Sara's Wedding E-vite Site
Keep in mind you can get as fancy or as straight forward as you want. I just set up a quick example to give you the gist of the idea.
We Average Janes have to look out for one another. I hope this makes life easier some bride-to-be Jane out there!
Sincerely Yours,
Miss Informative
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