The Stationers Guild

I love American ingenuity and, more importantly, the willingness of perfect strangers to share their shopping secrets.    I recently came across a Blog post asking for help to find “affordable wedding invitations.”  Many of the comments are priceless and, if you need a bit of humor, dig in.  I tried to post a comment myself, but presumably the Blog is not inviting any new comments.

Mr. Not Interested was my favorite:  ”Break out the xerox paper and fold it.   Get your local kids to sprinkle some glitter on them and take some of your old perfume or something . . . Maybe you should think about just calling people . . .”  (Note from Editor:  We should hire Not Interested to write for the Stationers Guild.)  Or, how about:

Kaeli:   “Micheal’s…duh create them yourself and ur good.”   On a more enterprising level, we have

Jessie:  “i got mine at wal-mart for 7 dollars for 25 of them went on my own computer and typed them up my self and printed them it took a little bit but if you have time u can do it your self or if you need someone too i am starting my own wedding service and i can do it for you just email me and let me know (email omitted but, if you are interested you can find it on the Blog post).”    

Umm, let me think about this.  You pay $7 for 25 invitation, say $5  for gas to go to Wal-Mart and maybe a couple of hours of work at minimum wage (another $15) and we have 25 invitations that cost $27.  I suppose Jessie could mark it up 100% and market her new wedding invitation line at $2.00 per invite.    Go for it Jessie!  I do recommend buying an etiquette book on wording your wedding invitations properly.  You might find it useful.  Or, how about:

Brown Eyes:  “If you have a Dollar tree store in your town, that’s the place to go. You’ll find all your thank you cards there also. Or if you prefer Staples’ Store, they also have a lot of invitations. Hope you find what your looking for. Good luck!”

Searching for “affordable wedding invitations” is no laughing matter.   With a tough economy, people are doing everything possible to save money and, as such, it is wise to scrutinize your entire wedding budget.  Personally, I have found that searching for a “cheap wedding invitation” is generally a false economy.  Cutting back on the extra pasta dish at the reception buffet might help free up part of your  budget to allocate toward a well-crafted and not necessarily expensive wedding invitation to celebrate this milestone event in your life.   After all, your wedding invitation is likely to be around far longer than the pasta. 

I recommend that you contact a qualified stationery store in your neighborhood for expert advice on crafting your wedding invitation.   You will be surprised at how much time and energy you will save to devote to other aspects of your wedding.

Richard W. May
Therese Saint Clair

I’ve got a beef (or “tofu” for vegetarians out there!):  I hate to be lied to by wedding portals and “local” search engines that favor their advertisers to the detriment of their search audience.  Specifically, when I type “wedding invitations” and a “zip code” into a search bar, I expect to find a brick-and-mortar stationer who sells wedding invitations in the general vicinity of my zip code.  Unfortunately, your search result is likely to return a slew of silly-named national printers that “service” your local market.

Companies such as local.com, the Knot or the many varieties of online Yellow Pages should know the difference between a “local business” and a ”national business” serving local markets.   I have spoken with many representatives of these firms and most will tell you that they recognize the shortcomings of the search function.  Nevertheless, to paraphrase a recent conversation with a local search company representative, ”we can’t do anything to alienate our advertisers since they are paying for that particular zip code or geographic area.”  With the possible exception of Google (and they too have their faults), your online “wedding” search results are largely determined by advertising dollars and not relevancy, let alone competence.  Is there something wrong with this picture or am I just naive?

It is largely in response to this online playing field of false expectations that the StationersGuild was established.   On this website you can locate qualified stationers in your neighborhood and research fine paper lines without too much editorial commentary.  Buying fine stationery and invitations or  buying flowers for your wedding is personal.  It requires a connection at that most basic sensory level. 

We can only hope that wedding portals and “local” search engines will begin to rethink their strategy of putting the all powerful advertising dollar in front of honest search results.  Personally, I believe that a balanced approach to local search marketing would be helpful for the public, the search engines and wedding portals that sponsor true local businesses. 

Richard W. May
Founding Member Stationers Guild