When Should You Hire A Stationer For Your Wedding?
When you start planning your wedding it feels like you have a thousand decisions to make immediately and you might not be thinking about when you to hire a stationer as one of them. However there’s certain vendors that you should focus on based on where you are in your wedding planning timeline. You don’t need to do it all at once! And when it comes to your wedding stationery there’s a few factors that will determine when you need to hire one. I’ll go through your options below and if you want even more details of the timeline of working with a stationer you can see it all right here.
Do you plan to send Save the Dates?
The first item that you will need a stationer for are your save the dates. These can be sent out as early as 12 months before your wedding and as late as 6 months prior. I love Save the Dates for so many reasons which I will dive into in another article. But the bottom line is I think they are beneficial for almost all couples. And if you want them to set the tone of your wedding from the get go then hiring a stationer right away is the way to go.
When to hire a stationer for your wedding invitations?
If you did not use a stationer for your save the dates then your next chance to hire one will be for your invitations. I recommend starting your invitations with a stationer at least 8 months before your wedding. If you don’t have that much time or have put it off, don’t stress! You can always find stationers that can help create your dream invitation suite. The 8 months is just a guide that can help the process go smoothly with plenty of time built in for designing, reviews, print production, assembly, mailing, and receiving RSVPs. Once you have your stationer hired they can guide you through the timeline. The stationers can also help you plan out additional designs for your wedding day and build it into your whole wedding timeline!
What about hiring a calligrapher?
Another aspect to your invitations are the envelopes and if you are interested in envelope calligraphy you need to take this into consideration. Sometimes your stationer also does calligraphy and can easily add this into the process. However if they do not offer this service you can still work with them. They can either help refer you to calligraphers or work with the calligrapher of your choice. This may add additional time to the process so make sure to bring this up early. You will need to plan for the shipping of the envelopes to the calligrapher and then depending on who is doing the assembly you will need to make sure all final pieces are in one location. It sounds more complicated than it is!
Hire a stationer cheat sheet
If you are already planning your wedding and have the date set you can check out this graphic to help you plan when to start working with your stationer. The guide is based on hiring 8 months out.
Other times to hire a stationer
If you did not hire a stationer for your wedding invitations there are additional designs a stationer can help you with. And depending on what your specific needs are will determine the timeline. If you only need wedding day designs then you probably wouldn’t need to start working with the stationer until 2-3 months prior to your wedding. However it’s always a good idea to check on your dream stationer’s availability and get on their calendar early so you can guarantee they will be able to do anything from seating chart signs to menus for you!
I hope these helped you figure out when you need to hire your wedding stationer. It’s also a good idea to have a few stationers in mind so that way if one is already booked you aren’t scrambling to find another option. And as always I’m available right here for free consults if you want to discuss your wedding invitations.
