Question 1

DO WE NEED TO SEND SAVE THE DATE CARDS?

Accepted Answer

Save the date cards are very useful if your wedding date is more than six months away. By sending your save the dates early in your planning process, you will be left with plenty of time to confirm the finer details of your wedding to include in your wedding invitations, which you can send closer to your wedding date.

Question 2

WHEN SHOULD WE POST OUR WEDDING STATIONERY?

Accepted Answer

If possible, it’s a good idea to post your save the date cards to your guests as soon as your wedding date and venue have been confirmed, to allow your guests to start planning their travel and accommodation.

Plan to send your wedding invitations anywhere from three to six months ahead of your wedding. (For a destination wedding, or if many your guests will be travelling from overseas, you may wish to send your stationery earlier than this).

You might find it helpful to work backwards from the date that your venue or caterer will need your guest count and dietary requirements. Set your RSVP date at least two to four weeks before you need to have your numbers finalised, giving you time to chase any forgetful guests.

Question 3

HOW MANY WEDDING INVITATIONS SHOULD WE ORDER?

Accepted Answer

Remember that you won’t need to order one invitation for every guest; you will need to order one invitation per household that you are inviting (either couples or families). This generally works out as around 60-75% of your total guest count.

We would also recommend ordering an additional 10% of the total quantity required to account for any additional guests that you may wish to add to your guestlist, and to have as keepsakes from your day. Printing a small number of additions at a later point will have a significantly higher unit cost than adding a handful of spares to your main order.

Question 4

HOW MUCH DOES WEDDING STATIONERY COST?

Accepted Answer

Every wedding is unique, and therefore every couple will have a different vision and requirements for their wedding stationery. We do provide a guide price list for the House Collection, however due to the unique nature of bespoke design work, a personalised quote tailored to you will be created following a consultation call.

Get in touch to request a price list.

Question 5

WHAT WORDING SHOULD WE USE ON OUR WEDDING INVITATIONS?

Accepted Answer

The formality of your chosen wording will set the tone for your wedding. Consider the following details:

- Who is inviting the guests; for example are you, the couple, inviting your guests, or do you wish to include your parents or families on the invitation? (for example “together with our families”).
- Your names as the bridal couple, consider whether you would like to use your full or first names only.
- The formality of your ‘invitation’ line (for example “request the pleasure of your company at our wedding” or “Cordially invite you to join us at the celebration of our daughter’s marriage”).
- The details of your wedding day, for example, wedding date, ceremony location and time, reception location and time. If you are also including an information insert or wedding website, you can limit the details that you include on your wedding invitation to keep the design of your invitation card pared back and easy to read.

Please let us know if you would like to see any examples of different wording options.

Question 6

WHAT DOES BESPOKE WEDDING STATIONERY MEAN?

Accepted Answer

Bespoke wedding stationery is a suite of stationery that has been designed specifically for you and your wedding day. By choosing to create a bespoke suite of stationery with ERA Calligraphy, we will work with you to create a completely unique set of stationery designed specifically for you and your wedding day.

Your bespoke wedding invitation suite may include bespoke venue or church illustrations, hand-drawn maps, uniquely shaped cards, calligraphy, monograms, or other bespoke illustrated motifs to reference you as a couple.

Question 7

HOW DO WE ORDER OUR WEDDING STATIONERY?

Accepted Answer

There are two ways of working with ERA Calligraphy to create your wedding stationery.

The first is to choose one of the six House Collections. These collections are designed to include all of the stationery that you might need for your wedding, from save the date cards and wedding invitations to wedding day stationery and signage too. The House Collections allow customisation of your card and envelope colours, printing processes and ink colours, but the layout of your design will be exactly as seen in the examples for each of the collections.

If you would prefer to create something a little more personalised, we can work with you to create a bespoke suite of wedding stationery. Again, this bespoke stationery can include everything from save the date cards and wedding invitations to wedding day stationery and signage. Following a consultation call, we will start your bespoke design process which might include bespoke venue or church illustrations, hand-drawn maps, uniquely shaped cards, calligraphy, monograms or other bespoke illustrated motifs to reference you as a couple.

Question 8

WHAT DETAILS FROM THE HOUSE COLLECTION CAN BE CUSTOMISED?

Accepted Answer

The House Collection allows customisation of card and envelope colours, printing process and ink colours. The layout of your design will be exactly as seen in the examples for each of the collections.

If you would prefer to create something a little more personalised, we can work with you to create a bespoke suite of wedding stationery.

Question 9

CAN WE ORDER WEDDING STATIONERY SAMPLES?

Accepted Answer

Absolutely, sample packs are available to purchase for each of the House Collections, House paper colours, and printing processes. Before placing an order for your own wedding stationery, we recommend ordering a collection of samples for you to get a feel for our work in person.

The cost of one set of samples will be deducted from the total cost of your wedding stationery at the point of ordering.

Order your sample pack here.

Question 10

WILL WE BE ABLE TO SEE PROOFS OF OUR WEDDING STATIONERY BEFORE IT IS PRINTED?

Accepted Answer

Yes, for both bespoke wedding stationery and stationery chosen from one of the House Collections, you will be sent a digital proof to review and sign-off before your wedding stationery is sent to print.

Question 11

WHAT DIFFERENT PRINTING PROCESSES CAN I USE FOR MY WEDDING STATIONERY?

Accepted Answer

ERA Calligraphy offers three different printing techniques:

Letterpress printing:
A debossing or relief process, impressing your design into the card in any ink colour, leaving a deep pillowy impression of your design on the surface of the card.

Hot foil printing: 
A process of relief printing similar to letterpress, but your design is impressed into the surface of the card in foil, choose from metallic, coloured or holographic foil.

Digital printing: 
Your design is printed on the surface of the card creating a clean and contemporary finish, this is the most cost-effective printing process.

Read more about the different printing processes here.

Question 12

WHERE WILL OUR WEDDING STATIONERY BE PRINTED?

Accepted Answer

All of our stationery is meticulously printed by our trusted and carefully selected printing partners based in the UK. We use different printers for the different printing processes that we offer to ensure the highest quality of print from expert craftspeople.

Question 13

HOW WILL WE RECEIVE OUR WEDDING STATIONERY?

Accepted Answer

Following printing, your stationery will be carefully checked by ERA Calligraphy. If you have ordered any finishing touches, we will add these by hand, before carefully wrapping and packaging your stationery.

All UK orders will be posted to your one nominated address using Royal Mail Special Delivery (or a comparable courier service), tracking and insuring the shipment and requiring a signature upon delivery. For any overseas orders, your preferred shipping method will be discussed before confirmation of your order.

Please let us know if you would like us to quote to send your stationery directly to your guests for you.

Question 14

HOW LONG WILL OUR ORDER TAKE?

Accepted Answer

Typically orders from the House Collection will take between approximately four to six weeks, however this will be dependent on the printing process that you choose.

Bespoke wedding stationery orders may take anywhere from four to twelve weeks, depending on the amount of detail and design work required, together with the speed that you provide your revisions.

Question 15

DO YOU OFFER WEDDING DAY STATIONERY?

Accepted Answer

Yes absolutely! You can choose your wedding day stationery from one of our six customisable House Collections, or you can work with us to create a bespoke suite of wedding day stationery.

Question 16

WHEN SHOULD WE ORDER OUR WEDDING DAY STATIONERY?

Accepted Answer

A guide time line for ordering your wedding day stationery is below, however we do advise that you enquire as far in advance of your wedding date as possible.

12 weeks prior to your wedding date:
Begin design work for any bespoke elements of wedding day stationery.

8 weeks prior to your wedding date:
Begin design work for any elements of stationery from the House Collection.

4 weeks prior to your wedding date:
Final confirmation of any guest names to be written in calligraphy or added to your seating plan, and sign-off on any elements of stationery to be printed.

1-2 weeks prior to your wedding date: 
Your completed stationery will be carefully packaged and posted to your nominated address.