Inspiration, Tips and Advice, Wedding
The wedding stationers’ year-round business guide
The life of a wedding stationer involves a careful balancing act of pleasing current clients with acquiring new ones and coming up with new creative design ideas. It can be a big task, especially with different priorities depending on the time of the year. Find out what needs to be done when planning your wedding stationery business activities throughout the year right here, season by season.
Spring
The sun starts to shine, the flowers begin to bloom, and wedding fever really goes up a notch in spring. In fact, it is the busiest time typically for wedding professionals and stationers as this is prep time before the big day. At this stage you’ll need to be focusing on completing Wedding Invitations in time for summer weddings as well as bringing in new clients and designing the perfect wedding suite for your existing couples.
National wedding shows are in full swing during March and early April, with many venues and regions holding their own smaller functions to draw in potential brides and grooms, so you’ll need to have your promotional materials at the ready – a great Display Board with examples of your work as well as plenty of Flyers and Business Cards will do the trick. Then you need to differentiate yourself, so look at some newer options you can show off as examples, such as Laser cutting or Foiling (metallics are predicted to be a massive trend this wedding season) to draw in crowds to your stand.
It’s also a great time of the year to schedule in a few styled shoots, and by networking at wedding fairs, you’ll be able to build up some useful contacts who you could collaborate with on shoots, such as bridal dress shops, florists and venues. Remember venues are commonly asked for recommendations, so getting on their supplier list or even having a contract drawn up with them to provide stationery for their weddings will see you right through the summer months.
Summer
Tis the season of weddings! This is when brides can get a bit panicked by last-minute changes so it’s time to be quick, hardworking and flexible. Table Plan changes, Order of Service swaps, Guest Books and mountains of unavoidable circumstances mean you’ll be working to the last hour. Lucky we offer 48-hour turnaround time for wedding products right?!
While you’ll be working throughout the summer, it’s also important to note that they’ll be quite a few holiday proposals, so keep your head above water and keep an ear out for marketing opportunities. Wedding guests also get inspired by weddings they’ve been attending so there’s still ways to promote your business even when you’re creating on-the-day finishing touches. Wedding hashtags are also prevalent during this season so make sure you’re adding them to all your social media posts.
Autumn
As September draws to a close and the leaves turn a shade of orange, weddings start to ease off. However, more and more couples are opting for weddings later on in the year to save on costs, and also not have to worry about guests being away for the summer holidays. You’ll still be likely working on suites for clients, but the time has already come for fresh exhibitions and wedding fairs. This is also a common time for newly engaged couples to start thinking about sending their Save-the-Dates out so be prepared with new creative ideas and design inspiration.
Winter
There still might be a few wedding fairs here and there, but this is the time to take stock of all the amazing stationery you’ve created, and have a well-deserved rest while everyone focuses on Christmas. After all, the most popular day of the year to pop the question is Christmas Day, so you’ll be busy marketing yourself and fielding questions from January onwards. We’d recommend to use this time to wind down and think about new house styles and wedding suites.
It’s also a useful time to look at what you offer and think of extending this, for example look at different Save-the-Date formats (Bookmark style is a new favourite here) or adding Envelope Liners or Belly Bands to your wedding packs perhaps? We’re always releasing new product innovations, such as Laser-cutting and Foiling, so there’s lots of opportunities to go one stage further with your designs.
Let us know what you’re planning on working on, or if you have extra ideas, fairs or events you’d like to share, please comment below and don’t forget to tag us using #ProudlyPrinted. Oh and remember to check out our Wedding Collection, with 19 bespoke print products, an array of exquisite paper stocks and a multitude of finishes.
About the author
Caitlin is our Social Media guru and lover of all things food and travel. When she's not scrolling through TikTok you'll find her meticulously planning her next adventure abroad.
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