Do you supply stationery for corporate events?
Decide which invitation you would like to see a sample of and make a note of the design name.
Choose the colour you would like to see the design in from the colour chart page.
Go to the sample packs page and choose from the four bespoke sample pack options.
Once you have chosen your personalised sample pack follow the link and proceed to fill in all of your wedding details and design requirements on the form provided.
Every sample is carefully hand crafted and personalised therefore time consuming so we do have to charge a small fee for samples. We do not charge for the bespoke service.
We do not send samples without being personalised (we are the only stationers to do so) with your wedding information.
Do not worry if you do not have all the correct information for the wording as this can be finalised later on.
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No, we do not have a minimum ordering requirement.
We do have a small template set up fee of £25 for invitation orders under 20 units.
How soon do I order stationery?
Every bespoke wedding stationer is different but we ask brides to come to us at least 10 months before the wedding (the sooner the better) as we do become fully booked at certain times of the year especially for orders requiring a dispatch date in December, January, February, March and April. we are a small business and places become limited quite quickly.
We generally ask clients to work out the ordering schedule for their stationery as shown below (this is just a guide);
This is applied to couples who will not be sending out save the date cards, if you do send save the date cards you can afford to send your invitations out at a later date.
The Wedding - August 2012
RSVP - May/June 2012 - this date is generally 6-8 weeks before the wedding.
Date to send your invitations - January/ February 2012
Your initial contact with els-design to request samples - August 2011 - October 2011.
After this October we are likely to be booked for January/February - please do ask as we may have some availability.
A guide to show you when your invitations should be sent
Weddings April - August = Invitations sent January-February = Book with us late Summer/Autumn
Weddings September - December = Invitations sent March - May = Book with us in Winter/Spring
Weddings January - March = Send Invitations September - October - Book with us in Spring
Summer & Christmas weddings require you to allow more notice for your guests due to these being holiday seasons and your guests may start booking their holidays. If you send save the date cards out (between October-December) you can afford to send the invitations out as late as April.
The sample process can take up to 3 weeks, 1-2 weeks to receive your
sample and one week for you to confirm your order at which point we will book you in to our diary and allocate you a dispatch date.
The reason we ask for initial contact about 10 months before is due to availability, most clients would like to send their stationery out between January and April therefore these are the most popular months and always become booked quickly.
Please do contact us if you would like to discuss availability.
This is just a guide so do not worry if you have left it later than this as we may still have places available.
These are called Express Service orders but there are only a few places allocated each month an a small fee is applied.
January is an extremely busy time for us and by the end of January we will be almost full for dispatch until April with only a few Express places left. From March we start to take bookings for weddings that are being held the following Year, so please come to us as soon as possible to prevent disappointment.
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What stationery should I order for my wedding and how much?
Save the date cards with magnets.
One per household or couple.
These are not essential but you may like to order these if you have guests coming from abroad, your wedding is at busy time of year such as the middle of summer or perhaps if your wedding is during the Christmas or New Year season.
These lovely cards come with a magnet (for your guests to put on their fridge!) & envelope and can be the first glimpse your guests receive of your theme or colours or they can be kept neutral if you want to send save the date cards but have not yet decided on your colour scheme.
These should be sent about 8-12 months before the wedding.
Day invitation
One per household or couple- for guests attending the wedding and evening celebration.
All invitations are provided with good quality envelopes. The price of one invitation is for the complete package. We do not charge extra for envelopes or printing.
We recommend ordering between 5-10 extra invitations (dependent on the size of the wedding, generally 10% of the order) in case you make mistakes whilst writing your guests names or in case a guest cannot make it and you would like to invite someone else. Many clients do come back to us to order more and it is more expensive to do so than to place them at the time of your original order.
Evening invitation
One per household or couple – for guests attending the evening celebration only.
You may also like to order a couple more in case you make mistakes whilst writing your guests names or in case a guest cannot make it and you would like to invite someone else.
Reply cards
All of our day invitations include the reply card and envelope except for the Bloomsbury Collection.
These are small rectangle cards which allow your guests to reply by simply crossing a word out to tell you they can or cannot attend your wedding and there is a space for the guest to write their name so you know who it is from plus an option for your guests to notify you of any dietary requirements. The cards have the bride and grooms name on and a Swarovski Crystal which is included and optional.
Order of service
1 per person or one to share.
Order of service is mainly purchased by brides who are getting married in a church.
The order of service coordinates with the design of the invitation you have chosen and is an A5 300gsm booklet with up to 4 printed sides.
This is a lovely way of continuing your stationery theme and also a nice way for your guests to read through the order of the service and hymns plus a lovely keepsake!
Place cards
1 per person.
These are essential for your guests to know exactly which seat they have been allocated.
Some venues supply these and will be very basic.
Our place cards are made to coordinate with your theme and are printed with your guests name on.
Table plans
1 or 2 for a large venue.
These are essential for your guests to know exactly which table they will be seated at for their meal.
Some venues will supply these but generally they would be very basic and made on mount card but mostly just printed on to an A4 paper!
All plans are designed to coordinate with your theme and are an absolutely delightful talking point for your guests.
Menu's
2-4 per table.
Some venues may supply these printed and are generally very basic.
Our menus are made to coordinate with your stationery and are a lovely way to continue your theme and add colour to your table.
Thank you cards
1 per household or couple plus extra for any suppliers you would like to thank that may have given you exceptional service.
These are not essential but good etiquette.
After the wedding the couple (or traditionally the bride) should send a personal thank you note expressing appreciation and to say thank you for any gifts received.
These cards coordinate with your stationery.
We also provide extra special thank you cards for the bridal party which are very popular and can be seen on our Bridal Party card page.
If you are unsure of the quantities to order please do ask us or slightly underestimate the numbers, it is very easy to add to the order at a later date, numbers cannot be reduced once the payment has been made. This is standard practice with stationers whose designs are hand finished, your order will have been allocated specific timings to be created as they are very time consuming to finish and stock will have been ordered in advance. Clients are responsible for finalising the quantities on invitations before revising their invoice, we cannot be held responsible for miss calculated orders, however clients will be advised that they can make the order up elsewhere with other items.
What happens if I need more stationery after my order has been dispatched
If you have received your invitations and then realise that you have not ordered enough (this often happens!) you can still place an order with us but there will be a small charge, this is at our discretion due to our work load at the time but generally invitations will have 35-40% added to the order if they are required within 2 weeks. Table plans and other stationery that is not required immediately would not incur a charge unless we are fully booked at the time the order is required to be dispatched.
Example, 10 invitations @ £3.95 = £39.50 plus 40% = £55.30
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How do I place an order for invitations and/or 'on the day' stationery?
Once you have ordered and received your samples and have decided to pursue your order with els-design you will need to complete the following;
1. Amend any errors printed on samples by making a note of them on the amendments sheet provided.
2. Sign & date the back of your hard copy proofs.
3. Decide which stationery items you would like to order and the quantity you require by amending the pro-forma invoice given to you in your pack.
4. Sign and date els-design's company policy.
5. Return all the above with your full payment.
Unfortunately we do work on a first come first served basis so the sooner your proofs are returned and your deposit paid the sooner your order can be secured.
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Please send your payment to us by the date we have requested on your invoice, places do become booked very quickly and we can only officially book your order once payment has been received.
We accept payment by cheque or bank transfer, details of these will have been provided to you.
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Do I order everything at the same time, what if I don't have all the information?
Yes, most clients order everything they require at the same time as placing the order for the invitations.
Don't worry if you do not have exact numbers, slightly underestimate if you need to and you can increase the order nearer the time.
Don't worry if you do not have all of the information needed for items such as order of service when ordering your invitations, we will not require this information until 4-6 weeks before the wedding.
Secondary stationery items such as table plans, order of service etc are sent 2 weeks before the wedding.
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How much is postage & packaging?
You can expect to pay between £15 and £25 for delivery. However, costs will vary depending on the size and weight of the parcel. Most orders will exceed 2.5kg therefore postage and insurance on special delivery will be £25.00.
Table plans are £30.00 - with protective packaging suitable for glass.
Costs will be confirmed once your order has been placed and you will need to include payment for delivery with your deposit.
Collection is available if you are local.
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How should I send the invitations to my guests?
We supply all of our invitations in high quality envelopes. To keep your invitations protected on their journey from you to your guests, we suggest you contact your local sorting office for advice. They are able to provide a service where your stationery can avoid a machine based sorting and go via a manned sorting station. All designs come complete with 225gsm envelope which will really help protect you beautiful invitations as they make their way to your guests!
Unfortunately we are unable to ship orders outside of the United Kingdom.
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Can I have my stationery in a language other than English?
Yes, this not a problem we have created stationery for clients who have guests in, Italy, South Africa, Germany...!
There is a small charge of £25.00 for one additional language (for example, English and Italian) and £30.00 if you require 2 additional languages (for example English, Italian and German)
If you require all of your invitations in one language other than English the charge is £20.00, all you have to do is e-mail the wording to us and we will create a template for you to approve.
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All monies paid are non-refundable.
els-design cannot refund clients once the order has been made or is in the process of being made as the product is specifically designed for the client and cannot be resold.
The order will be processed and materials purchased when els-design has received the clients 50% deposit.
If your wedding is postponed after the deposit has been sent els-design will hold the order until the
client instructs us to continue.
Orders can only be held for six months.
Deposits will be lost on orders postponed for longer than six months.
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The Express Service @ els-design
Need your invitations in a hurry?
We have several of these allocated in each month for brides who need their stationery soon!
We can turn around a bespoke order in around 3 weeks, this is dependent on our schedule and time of year.
Please call us to see if we have an Express service available for you or if you have any questions.
There is a small charge for the Express Service, a one off payment of £35.00 so no matter how large or small your order is you will not pay any more than £35.00 to have your invitations within a minimum of 4-5 weeks.
Colour trends for 2012/2013
The usual suspects which are always popular colour choices are gold's, silvers, reds and a variety of different shades of pinks.
Colours that we are being asked for a lot at the moment (for weddings taking place 2012/2013) are Purples, Blues and Dusky Pink!
Do you supply stationery for corporate events?
Yes, due to popular demand we now offer stationery for corporate events. Invitations, Menus, Place Cards and Table Plans.
Please do provide us with as much notice as possible as all items are hand finished.
Please contact us for further information