Your wedding invitation sets the tone for your big day. And whether you are after something super formal and relaxed and laid back, there’s definitely a wedding invitation design out there for you.
The choices you have today are VERY different to those available to you a couple of decades ago. Forget dated floral designs and hello modern, stylish options that won’t break the bank.
You’re likely reading this because you have reached that part of your wedding planning journey where you’re knee dip in wedding invitation options. There’s a lot of choice out there and it can be a lot!
So why not support local and opt for an Australian wedding invitations supplier. Sure, you can easily find a supplier in any corner of the world, but over the last year or two, small businesses have been doing in tough. So support the little guy (or gal!) and shout your love from the rooftops with Australian made and designed wedding invitations.
Australian Wedding Invitations online
Over the last few years, many brick and mortar wedding stationery stores have taken the leap and opened a digital store. In fact, some have even given away their store fronts altogether and work exclusively from home studios creating the most epic designs for Australian lovers.
To find Australian wedding invitations online, simply let your fingers do the walking. Using your search engine of choice, type in Australian wedding invitations suppliers. Your first page of search results should display a range of options to get your shortlisting started.
If you’d like to meet with your wedding stationer, consider also adding your suburb name or area into your search. That way you’re more likely to uncover wedding invitation makers who live nearby.
Why choose an Australian wedding invitation designer
There’s a few reasons to choose a local stationer to create your wedding invitations:
Reason 1. Postage is cheaper
If your stationer is printing your invites and sending them to you, postage is likely to be cheaper when you choose a local Australian stationer. If you’re sourcing your wedding invitations from an overseas stationer, postage costs can add up. In fact, if your wedding invitation designer is in your home state, they might not charge much postage at all. Hey, any saving’s a good saving when it comes to your wedding budget.
Reason 2. Supporting local makes you feel warm and fuzzy inside.
OK, so this isn’t true for everyone, but there is something nice about supporting local businesses in the Australian wedding marketplace. Many Australian wedding invitation and stationery businesses are competing with large global providers and that can be tough. BUT, many also offer very competitive pricing and a great customer experience given they have low overhead costs (eg they might work from home rather than hiring an office space or studio).
Reason 3. Communication will happen in your time zone.
Choosing to work with an online overseas stationery provider can mean that communicating with them can be tricky. No one wants to get up in the middle of the night during wedding planning (you need all the sleep you can get) to call a company located in a completely different time zone.
Calling, texting, “what’s apping” or DMing your Australian based wedding invitation designer during daylight hours is going to be a way more convenient way of communicating ideas, amendments and asking questions to make sure your wedding invitations reflect you and your partner perfectly.
The best Australian wedding invitations
Hey Lovers has been lucky enough to work with a range of different wedding invitation legends. And choosing the best company for you will depend on so many things. Some wedding stationery companies pride themselves on creating designs that are easy for you to edit yourself, others will have detailed conversations with you before they even put pencil to paper to design the perfect invitation just for you.
Some Australian wedding invitation suppliers offer invitations in their online stores with very little to no personal contact whatsoever. Others offer a personalised, bespoke service. These companies meet with every single couple across multiple face to face meetings to clarify your wedding day vision, to learn more about the two of you and to talk through the language to be used in your wedding invitation word by word.
Words of Advice to find the best Australian wedding invitations
The best advice when it comes to finding the best Australian wedding invitations for you is to:
- Use your search engine of choice to start uncovering wedding invitation makers whose work reflects your vibe, style or aesthetic. Create a shortlist.
- Check out social media accounts using hashtags like #[your home town name]weddinginvitations OR #[your home town]weddingstationery OR #[your home state]weddingstationery OR #[your home town]weddinginvitations or a combination of these to source companies that might not pop up in your search engine list
- Ask couples you know for referrals – not only will your friends tell you whether they liked their invitation design, they’ll also be able to shed some light on their experience with the company (eg were they responsive to questions, happy to make minor changes etc)
- Set your budget for your stationery and wedding invitations before you start chatting with your wedding stationer. Why? Because without doubt, you are going to swoon over the wedding invitations that are out there. And all of a sudden, you will have blown your wedding stationery budget.
So set that budget first and ask what can be produced without your budget rather than falling in love with a range of options you simply can’t afford (sorry for the tough love here!)
The top places to find Australian wedding invitations suppliers
Hey Lovers prides itself on impartiality when it comes to working with wedding creatives out there. We don’t take any commissions, kick backs or rewards for mentioning specific wedding vendors, preferring to work with a range of vendors in line with our clients’ needs.
Hey Lovers is proud to be part of the Theodore and Ivory Tribe families. Both of these directories showcase stationers who are local Australian legends, who bring their A game every single day. Simply use the drop down menu in each wedding directory to take a look at wedding stationers near you.
Here are some of the other places that you’ll likely find Australian wedding suppliers:
- Search Engine search
- Facebook marketplace
- Etsy (filter your search to Australian based businesses)
Digital online wedding directories such as Ivory Tribe and Theodore (simply search your state for some divine local options)
Wedding Invitation Budget Taming Tips
- As mentioned earlier in this article, you should set your wedding invitation (and broader wedding stationery budget) as part of your overall wedding budget planning. Without a budget in mind, your costs will quickly blow out
- Consider a mixture of digital and physical stationery. For example, perhaps send a gorgeous physical Save the Date to your guests in the mail that contains a reference to your wedding website. Guests can then be kept up to date from there on in via your website. This negates the need to send out invitations
- Explore options of buying digital invitations from an Australian stationer on sites such as Etsy. Print the invites out yourselves and post or hand deliver them to your guest mail boxes
- Let the maths do the talking. It’s obviously super convenient to have your wedding invitation supplier to print, address and send your invitations to your guests on your behalf. But this is often the most expensive option. Pick up your invites to save on delivery fees and consider stuffing envelopes, licking stamps and sending your invitations yourselves to save a few dollars
- Whilst it can be super tempting to “upgrade” paper choices, ask yourselves, will our guests actually notice the difference between what’s included in the “standard package” with the stationer and the upgraded, more expensive option
- Be flexible. Having your heart set on a wedding invitation shape or size can be expensive. This is especially true when you choose a design that needs to be put into a larger envelope, is heavier than usual or where significant additional work for your wedding stationer has to do significant additional work
- Keep things in perspective. Yes, you want to create a WOW moment for your guests but an Insta worthy moment isn’t worth going into debt for. There’s a design out within your budget – be open with your wedding invitation supplier about your budget, and they’ll help you create a design you both LOVE
So, there you have it lovers. Plenty of reasons to choose an Australian wedding invitation supplier and some tips to keep that stationery wedding budget of yours under control.
Happy planning and don’t hesitate to reach out if you’ve got any questions I can help you with.