My fiance and I are having a short engagement and, with our busy lifestyle, found the wedding invitation aspect of planning had fallen behind schedule. Accordingly, we planned to put something simple together to decrease the turnaround time. But my father (a stickler for detail) had other ideas for the wedding invitation of his only daughter. He wanted a custom invitation that, when I was initially researching stationers, seemed to require a minimum of a month long turnaround. This was of concern to my fiance and I. Trying to balance my dad's ideas with our timeline was weighing on us heavily. Ultimately, if my dad wanted something so specific, I requested his help in making it happen.
Enter Deborah. When my father introduced me to Deborah, I was talking to a few stationers about the desired design. The highest quote came in at $6,000 (!!!) and the lead times were lengthy. These were really deal breakers for my fiance and I.
Deborah, on the other hand, had an incredibly reasonable quote that was really in the range of what we wanted to pay, even before my father started mentioning all of these customization he envisioned. She also had a shorter lead time than the other stationers. These reasons made her the obvious choice for the job. But that was only the start of why we felt lucky to have found Deborah.
Once we had her on the job, we met with her in a matter of days to describe the concrete ideas we had for the wedding invitation itself (she had already sourced the specific paper we were requesting by this point--made by a manufacturer far away and with potentially limited quantities). We also discussed the verbiage for the details insert, but we had a sketchy idea of design/layout and asked she employ her design skills to make us a mock up to review.
After our meeting, she took ideas from many disparate things we had shown her to complete the final design of the whole invitation suite: my parents' wedding invitation, the font/style from our save-the-date, and images of invitations I had pinned. We exchanged emails back and forth requesting various changes and making selections about the design. Meanwhile this all-important paper was being shipped from afar.
Deborah had estimated our wedding invitations would be done in two weeks of our meeting, but we were astounded when she delivered a custom made invitation suite within one week. I am not sure we could have ordered a stock invitation from a place like Minted and had it quite so fast.
The suite included the handmade paper, a beautiful vellum insert, the twist of a eucalyptus-colored envelope, and gorgeous fonts. The clincher? She stuffed and mailed all ~200 invitations for us! We were completely blown away by that. Deborah went absolutely above and beyond for us. Stuffing 200 invitations takes time and this was a complimentary service. With how busy we are, it can not be understated how supportive this was for us.
We just simply could not have been more pleased to send out our invitations so timely (our concern), with beautiful custom handmade deckle edge stationary (my dad's concern), and within budget (appreciated by all concerned).
If you are thinking about hiring Deborah, don't hesitate. She will make what can feel like an overwhelming process completely painless and, really, a delight. Thank you, Deborah! read more