an open letter to wedding planners and the event industry

You work hard to craft amazing events.  Very hard.

You guide your client to just the right caterer to handle their vega-pesca-localvore tastes.  You pull out your Pantone swatch book to find just the right gel color to compliment the bridesmaid’s dresses while muting the orange glow of the MOB’s horrible spray tan.  You deftly deliver every item on the band’s rider; even sourcing a case of Vanilla Orange Orbitz and 15 boxes of Nag Champa (a last minute addition – the mood’s gotta be right, you know).  You find 1,000 yards of the champagne organza your client just had to have after seeing it on Style Me Pretty.

You’re a rockstar and maven of every last detail.

Please, oh please, give just as much of your attention to your event’s stationery.

It amazes me how many of you will pull all the stops to make an event absolutely amazing, but don’t work with your client to find an invitation that truly announces the amazing experience their guests will have.  Encourage your clients to pick their theme and colors before they pick an invitation.  Whether you’re working with a bespoke stationery company like a fine press or from a box, taking the time to truly match your save the dates, invitations, and announcements to your event will only serve to enhance your guests’ experience and improve your referral rates.

Think about it.  Stationers are in charge of the absolute first and last impressions of your event: the invitation and the thank you card.  Are you really going to allow that to be an afterthought or, worse yet, leave it completely up to your client?  Get involved!  Even if your client can’t afford custom letterpress invitations and thank-yous, you can march your tail down to your local stationery store (even my tiny little town has one – a really nice one, too!) or even Target and suggest to your client a few options that compliment the work you so tirelessly do!

Of course, if they can afford it, find them a stationer that fits their style.  This is important.  In my region, there are a handful of stationers all doing very different things.  Some stationers have “lines” of stationery that often reduce the cost by essentially dropping your information and color choices into a pre-existing template.  Others, like ourselves, create custom designs tailored to the event exclusively.  Of course, this comes at a premium.

Whatever you chose, don’t neglect your stationery; it’s an easy place to add some wow to your event.