Invitations help

[JenandJosh2009]

Has anyone used Impressions for their invitations? If not, who did you use? We met with Shelley during our planning session and had a really great time picking out what we wanted for our invitations. However, I'm kind of confused now because she sent me an email with a contract to fill out and wanted a non-refundable deposit before we ever heard how much the invitations would cost. I emailed her assistant about a week and a half ago asking if they could give me a price before I sent a deposit and she said she'd get back to me. A week went by, so I emailed again asking if she got a chance to get a price for me and she said Shelley would be out of town until this past Wednesday. I still haven't heard anything. Is it normal to put a deposit down before you find out how much the invitations would be and is it normal for them to take a while to get back to you? TIA!

 

[Rawr]

If you don't have too many guests, you might want to consider doing them yourself. Invitation sets can be quite cheap at Michael's or the like, or, if you're a bit crafty, you can even customize them. I'm going to be writing our the invitations by hand (since I am an amateur calligraphist ). We don't have an incredible number of guests, so you might not want to go that route.

You could even consider typing it out in a word processor and printing them onto the cards. It can be a lot cheaper, and you give it that lovely little personal touch. I will be adding a bit of ribbon and a Mickey cut-out shape to our invitations to make them look that much cuter!

You might not want to DIY this one, but it's an idea to consider!

 

[lurkyloo]

People have had mixed experiences with Impressions. Until I read Tiggerificheidi's glowing review, I had heard mostly negative reviews about the communication.

Her prices are very steep, so I definitely would not put down a deposit until you know exactly what you're going to be paying. And if you continue to have communication problems, tell your wedding planner so s/he can apply a little pressure.

 

[tiggerrifficheidi]

I used Shelley for all my "paper" stuff. She can definitely come off a little disorganized at first, but I was truly stunned how she pulled it together in the end. I think her disorganization at first is due to the fact that a lot of people start the process and don't finish with her. She gives a lot of effort to her brides, though.

I did not put a deposit down till I knew how much they were, so they probably got something mixed up. Ask for an estimate and keep bugging them. If you ever get nervous, call your planner! I did! I figured since DFTW recommends her, they can be somewhat accountable. After we finalized the design and got the invitations ordered, everything else was easy.

Also...if she comes back with something that is too expensive, tell her your budget and see if she can work within that. Keep in mind that embellishments like bows are exponentially more expensive. You can save a lot of money by eliminating those.

I work full-time, and my DH is deployed, so I had Shelley address and mail my invitations, and that to me was worth the service. It would have taken me weeks to get them out by myself...and wouldn't have looked near as pretty!

 

[jspahn]

I had the same experience with shelley - we met with her, then she sent a contract and no pricing.
So I jsut wrote her back and said until I saw pricing I wasnt going to give her a deposit. She said that was fine, and about a week later we got pricing from her.

She seems very nice, but a little disorganized We have decided to do our invitations ourselves - we felt she was to expensive for what you got.

 

[JenandJosh2009]

Thank you all so much for your input. I'm really not sure what to do, I still have not heard back from her. I am going to contact my planner and see if that helps. We have about 120+ guests so that may be a bit much to do myself, plus I'm not very crafty. I really loved what Shelley put together for us, so I'm hoping everything works out with her. I was afraid that the fact that she seems unorganized would show in the invitations she produces, but I'm glad to hear that they came out great in the end. Thanks again!

 

[MegKate]

I'm not sure if this will help but I saw that Invitations by Dawn is now doing Disney Wedding Invites. Here is their selection here. And if you make $150 dollar purchase you can get 10% off with the source code 31268.

 

[receptionist]

We too didn't have a good experience with Impressions either. We met with Shelley and looked through all her samples and found some that we really loved!!!! She said she would get back to us as to how much everything would be but we didn't hear back from her even after emailing her a few times. When we did hear back from her the price was so way out of budget that we decided to look elsewhere. We went to a place called Parchment in Orlando and found invitations and programs that we really loved and they even had some that were very much like the same ones we saw from her. We went ahead and ordered them and they even did the printing of the addresses on the envelopes etc. They were so wonderful to work with, we highly recommend them, the invites and everything came out beautiful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and it didn't cost as much as what she was going to charge.

 

[JenandJosh2009]

Oh thank you! I will definitely check out both of those companies! I have to admit that I was a little put off when she sent the contract and wanted a deposit without even contacting me again and telling me how much it would cost. Although I really loved what we put together, that just seemed kind of weird to me. Thanks again!

 

[JenandJosh2009]

I just wanted to give an update on this situation, b/c I am really upset and disappointed. I decided to try emailing Shelley direct and explain to her that we really want to use her but we cannot sign a contract w/out a price first. I hoped that if she understood that we were serious about using her she would finally send over the price. Well, she did email me back, gave me some excuses and told me that I'd have a price before the weekend was over. Well as of last night, supposedly she had some questions for the printer and said that they should be in by 10 am today. It is now 9:15 and still no price. I am very upset b/c we spent a good 2 hours putting together what we wanted at Franck's (and I was really excited about everything) and now it seems she is just avoiding giving us a price. I just don't understand how she can expect people to sign a contract w/out getting a price or even an estimate first (which an estimate is really not acceptable if you tell her exactly what you want and how many you need). I'm sorry for rambling, but if you can't tell this has me very upset. Just please, whatever you do ladies, DO NOT SIGN A CONTRACT WITHOUT GETTING A PRICE UPFRONT!

Anyway, we've started looking at other companies to get our invitations and we are going to make our own place cards and table signs.

 

[tiggerrifficheidi]

Very strange...I got an estimate from her before I signed anything.

I was looking over my emails. It took about three weeks from when we decided on an invitation design to the bill, because she had to run my design through Disney licensing for approval. They charge her for licensing (hence the reason she's the only legal custom way to have them professionally done). I had Disney images on my invitation and the Welcome Dinner invitations, and the licensing was $270.

I would tell her you need a ballpark, at least.

 

[Bride-to-be]

How funny - I was just posting on another thread about how much I liked Shelley.

When she did our save the dates she didn't ask for a deposit until she had the final bill for me (before production started). I was happy about that b/c it gave me time to make changes before we paid anything.

We met with her for invitations when we were down for our site visits. I am so happy we know what we want. She just emailed me this am telling me about a cheaper way to do what we want with thermography instead of engraving. I thought that was really nice of her.

If you give her a specific budget to work within then she is very good about sticking to it. If you tell her there is no budget then she will show you the finest and most expensive of everything she has. So just be upfront about your budget ahead of time.

Its possible she may not be getting back to you if she has to wait for a quote from someone else - like disney for licensing. Just email her and tell her you are impatient and would like a rough estimate. =o)

Also just so you know she was out of town for the past week at the stationary show. So that could also be why she hasn't been on top of emails.

 

[JenandJosh2009]

Its possible she may not be getting back to you if she has to wait for a quote from someone else - like disney for licensing. Just email her and tell her you are impatient and would like a rough estimate. =o)

Also just so you know she was out of town for the past week at the stationary show. So that could also be why she hasn't been on top of emails.

Ok, I emailed her about 3 weeks ago now asking for a rough estimate (which she could have given me an exact price b/c we told her exactly what we wanted and how many we needed) and didn't hear anything. Sorry, but I don't think I'm being impatient when she asks me up front for a deposit.

Second, that's fine, I understand she's busy with other brides and other work commitments, but then don't promise you'll have something for me and then not deliver by that time.

And for the record, I love Shelley. She was so much fun and just seemed like a wonderful person, which is why I think I'm so upset, b/c I really was looking forward to working w/ her.

 

[Bride-to-be]

I am sorry for the frustration - I have felt that way about other wedding things and I know it sucks.

I am puzzeled because the deposit on mine was a percentage of the final bill.

If you don't have any luck emailing then I would just call her and tell her you need the estimate today or you have to go elsewhere.