Mortlock flat invitation by Akimbo

Perhaps at first thought it seems like a silly question, but your invitation order is something you don’t want to miscalculate. It can be costly to re-order a small number of invitations because you’ve forgotten to put someone on your guest list (it happens!), want to invite a ‘B-list’, made a mistake addressing or one’s gone AWOL in the post… and don’t forget you’ll want a couple of spares as keepsakes.

With that in mind, how do you go about finding the magic number?

First thing to remember is that you don’t need as many invitations as guests. I often receive quote requests that include 120 invitations and 120 place cards. If you are having 120 guests, your invitation requirements will be closer to half that number. So, add up your number of invited parties (that could be a single person, a couple or a family) then add 10%. If you’re having the invitations or envelopes calligraphed, your calligrapher will usually require extras on top of that (ask her exactly how many).

Expect the unexpected and order a few spares for only a bit extra.

Birthday card from Akimbo

Don’t you hate that sinking feeling when you remember someone’s birthday… which was two days ago?

Here are some methods to consider if you use the word ‘belated’ in your birthday wishes more often than not.

Birthday book
A cute notebook listing birthdays by month. Convenient if you keep it with your cards and wrapping supplies… but only if you remember to actually check it.

Yearly diary/calendar
Take your birthday book or last year’s diary and copy out all the important dates. Great if you are in the habit of using your diary or calendar daily.

Perpetual calendar
If you like the idea of a paper-based solution but don’t want to have to re-write them every year or know you’ll never remember to look at your birthday book, try a perpetual calendar (one that has dates but no year or days of the week). Keep it somewhere in plain sight (such as the kitchen or study) so with a passing glance you’ll know what’s coming up (and the family will have no excuse not to remember your birthday).

Or, if you think pen and paper is virtually medieval, here are some electronic options:

Facebook
This works OK for acquiantances but for family and close friends you’ll probably want more notice to give yourself enough time to send a card or buy a gift. And of course it’s useless for your nanna and baby nephew who don’t have profiles. (Sidenote: Before Facebook I used to get credit for remembering friend’s birthdays, now everyone they know gets an automatic reminder. So ripped off!)

Reminders
Use a reminder system such as Remember the Milk on your phone or online.

E-calendar
Use your mail system’s calendar to enter birthdays to repeat annually. You can set the reminders to whenever you like, for example you can set it a few weeks beforehand if you know you need time to buy or post a present but on the day is fine if all you need to do is phone the birthday person. This is my preferred method, but it may not be for you if you are not on your computer much.

Tell me, what system do you use and does it work for you?

Purl Bee

It was my birthday last week and it’s The Man’s birthday today (he’s my toyboy by all of six days). And you know what that means? Party time!

I often hear people say that their homes are too small to have parties. Our townhouse is very small but we’ve had parties of over forty people. Sure it was squashy but that just gave it fantastic atmosphere!

Here are some things I’ve learned and will keep in mind when preparing for our party this weekend:

Place decorations overhead and on walls rather than take up valuable surface space with table arrangements.

Rearrange your furniture to open up the space. We’ll be moving our couch and dining table up against the wall to ease congestion.

Use decorations that are also functional such as attractive buffets and menus.

Place food platters throughout the space so guests can spread out instead of all congregating around the snack table.

Don’t clutter up the entryway with coats and handbags – designate an out-of-the-way spot such as under the stairs or on your bed.

Think outside the fridge. A small home usually means a small fridge, so you may need to fill your laundry tub or bath with ice to chill drinks.

Accept that guests will spread outside the living room, so make sure the rest of the house is tidy too. We always end up with people in the courtyard, the kitchen, even the laundry.

Put away breakables as people are more likely to bump into things in a crowded space. I know this from experience.

Have you got a tip for entertaining in a small space?

Check out examples of my work or drop me a line to enquire or place your order.

While The Man was constantly bemoaning our chunky old tube television, I was quite unfussed by it. However I admit that when we did upgrade, I was excited at the prospect of not having to decorate around a black box.

That is, until the new TV arrived and I realised that instead of a chunky and daggy but small black box, I now had to decorate around a flat but ernormous hole in the wall.

With that in mind, I thought I’d round up some ideas on how to disguise your TV… in plain sight.

Rearrange your room
Arrange your furniture and create another feature (like this gallery wall) so that the TV is not the focal point of the room.

Apartment Therapy 

Put it off-centre
Similarly, place the TV off-centre in a symmetrical arrangement and your eye will be drawn to the more aesthetically pleasing central feature, such as a fireplace or grand mirror.

Houzz

Bookshelf
Recessing the TV in a bookcase will create other interest for your eye.

Apartment Therapy 

Both via Life. Kids. Pretty Things.

Paint the wall black
For a TV that fades into the background, paint the wall behind it black.

Houzz

…or both
You might even like to combine the previous two ideas.

Lonny

Wallpaper behind it
Wallpaper will draw your eye to the walls instead of the hole in it. Patterns with black will help it blend in even more.

Apartment Therapy

Folio via Desire to Inspire

Make it into an artwork itself
Let’s admit it: we all watch TV. So instead of trying to disguise it, you could make it into a feature that’s still sympathetic to the decor.

House Beautiful

Real Living

From looking at these examples, I can see a few common themes we can learn from.

• Blend into a dark background
• Surround with objects of a similar colour
• Arrange the room so that the TV is not the focal point
• Distract by placing another feature (eg. artwork or mirror) in a prominent position

I haven’t decided I want to do yet but it’s certainly given me plenty of ideas.

I’d love to know: how have you solved the black box dilemma in your home?

Judging by the questions I get, a lot of people must be confused as to when they should be sending out their wedding invitations and announcements, so I’ve put together a quick guide. 

Save the dates
These should be sent out no later than five months before the wedding day, otherwise they will arrive too close to the invitations. There’s no such thing as too soon with the save the dates, however if you’re sending them out a year or so in advance, you’ll need to think carefully about who should receive one because circumstances can change. Once they’ve gone out you can’t later turn around and decide you’d prefer an intimate family affair or find that you’ve changed jobs and don’t want to invite your former colleagues.

Invitations
Eight weeks is a good rule of thumb for when to post your wedding invitations, but there are exceptions. If you are having a small or casual celebration with local guests who have been made aware of the date, you could get away with six weeks. Aim for 10 weeks if you are having a destination wedding, have lots of out-of-town guests, it falls on a holiday weekend or if you didn’t send out save the dates. 

Thank you notes
Try to have all of your thank you notes sent out within three months (of course your guests will offer a little more grace if you had a two-month honeymoon). With a little planning you’ll be able to have them done in no time: make sure you have ordered, addressed and stamped them in advance.

So that has all the important sending dates covered, but what about receiving?

RSVP date
Your venue will need to know final numbers for catering purposes a few days before the wedding and (trust me) there will be people who don’t respond on time. Setting an RSVP date of 10 days prior will give you enough time to chase up the stragglers. This won’t affect ordering your personalised place cards: simply order one for everyone and only use the ones that are coming. However if you plan on having a custom printed seating chart you will need to set a response date that allows enough time for design, printing and shipping.

I hope that’s cleared things up a little.

As I lay out my outfit on the bed the other day, it became obvious that I lean towards the same style when buying homewares or fashion.

I’m sure I’m not the only one, so if you’re having trouble deciding on a style for your home, visit your wardrobe for inspiration. Chances are, if you like to wear it, you’ll be happy living with it.

We don’t have a spare mattress, let alone a guest bedroom. But we have two sets of bedding as a result of merging our possessions when the Man and I moved in together. They were good quality and fairly new, so we didn’t want to get rid of them. Storing a spare set of sheets is no problem, but the queen-size doona and pillow-top mattress took up a lot of room, an entire shelf of our tiny linen closet to be exact:

Garbage bags: classy, right?

I headed to Tarjay and picked up some Space Bags and it now looks like this:

I’ll probably move that shelf up to create more space on lower shelves where we need it.

By now you might be thinking, ‘That was easy’. Well I am here to tell you that Space Bags are in fact, VERY complicated and I would be remiss if I didn’t share this crucial safety warning with you:

Today’s lesson is: Space Bags are good for storing your doona, not good for storing your baby.

Do you love the look of gallery walls but can’t work out how to perfect the layout other than hammering away and hoping for the best?

Just lay out the frames flat on the floor, starting with the largest item and working your way out, and tweak the arrangement until it’s pleasing to your eye. Then hang them one by one, remembering to hammer in each hook at the correct distance from the top of the frame.

If you’ve got a huge collection to arrange, you can take it one step further by cutting out pieces of butcher paper the size of each frame and arranging them with blu-tack until you’re happy with it. Then hang each piece, removing the corresponding paper before doing so.

This may seem like a self-destructive article seeing as I’m an invitation designer. But truth is, I would rather see couples use their budget wisely to get the best possible stationery rather than have them think it’s out of their reach and automatically go for some seemingly cheaper sub-standard option. I see plenty of couples who value beautiful wedding stationery but have a limited budget and I always really want to help them make the most of it. If this sounds like you, read on!

Precious wedding invitation by Akimbo

Order early
Some stationery companies will charge a rush rate if you leave your ordering too late. Avoid the rush fee by placing your order no later than four months before the day.

Order everything at once
Some printing processes will be much more efficient when printing numerous simliar items together, especially if we’re talking about custom ink colours or specially-ordered stock. Print your day-of stationery and thank you notes at the same time and you could save some dough. Moreover (wow, haven’t cracked out that word since writing my last design history essay six years ago) if you’re ordering online, you’ll definitely save on shipping costs.

Order plenty
Increasing your order by a handful will cost you a few beans, but re-ordering the same handful will be a significant extra cost since the printing process is more cost-effective when producing larger quantities. So if you’re umming and ahing about a few guests, err on the side of caution and order invitations for them anyway. Similarly, if you’re having any items hand-calligraphed, order a few extra in case your calligrapher makes a spelling mistake. It’s not a waste if you have a bunch leftover, ask around and you’ll probably find a few guests who would appreciate an extra invitation for their scrapbook or as a keepsake (my father-in-law has added a spare of ours to the family history collection).

Stick to the standard
As much as I love creating unique invitations specifically for a couple, there is absolutely nothing wrong with off-the-shelf styles. Do your research and you might find something that suits you perfectly as is, which will save you having to pay for the design work. Your stationer also might be willing (I know I am!) to tweak an existing design for a small fee rather than starting from scratch, which would be much pricier.

Be selective with colours
If your invitations will be printed digitally, you can go nuts with as many colours as you like since it doesn’t affect the price. With most other processes, however, each colour needs to be printed individually so additional colours will add cost. If you have your heart set on a two- or three-colour invitation, you can still trim the cost by printing the coordinating items in single colour or in digital.

Limit the guest personalisation
With printing methods that use plates (such as letterpress) it’s not possible to add the guest’s name to the invitation. It’s an option with digital, however it will cost a bit more, so consider whether you really need it.

Plan and check carefully
Most designers won’t let you make infinite changes without charge; in my case I supply two rounds of proofs and any further revisions will be billed. To avoid additional cost, think carefully about your needs and wording and check your proofs thoroughly (better yet, have a second pair of eyes proof-read).

Skip the extra envelopes
Postcards are an increasingly popular format for save the dates and RSVP cards as it eliminates the need for an envelope. From what I can tell, outer envelopes (a second, slighter larger envelope to keep the inner envelope pristine) seem to be commonplace in the US, however they do add unecessary cost in the form of an additional envelope and calligraphy or labelling. In Australia, this decision is made easy by the fact that no-one sells them!

Reduce the postage
Ask your invitation designer to keep the size and weight to within standard postage to avoid extra costs – or worse, a pile of returned invitations covered in ’insufficient postage’ stamps. I have received invitations where the RSVP envelope came pre-stamped, which is a nice gesture, but if funds are tight let guests pay their own 60c.

Lose the liners
I love envelope liners but even I admit they are definitely a bonus not a requirement. Or you could have the best of both worlds and go the DIY route like I did.

Limit the calligraphy
Anything done by hand will add significant cost, so consider having printed mailing labels instead of calligraphed addresses or trying your hand using this cheat’s technique. If you still want to incorporate calligraphy but don’t have the budget for the individual addressing, have your stationer work with a calligrapher to design the invitation wording, monogram or return address that can then be affordably reproduced with printing or rubber stamping.

Take advantage of printable extras
All the little extras to complement an invitation suite (think favour tags, mailing labels, place tags etc) can add up. Once I’ve designed the main suite, designing these is light work and the print quality is not as important so I like to give these away as free downloads for customers to print at home. When you’re considering stationers, compare the price of all the items you need not just the invitations, to make sure you’re making an accurate comparison.

Be open with your stationer about your budget so she can help you make the most of it. You may have to make the odd compromise here or there, but you don’t have to cancel the honeymoon just to pay for top quality wedding stationery.

The thank you note is one of those things that doesn’t get a lot of airtime in wedding discussions. It’s not as exciting as having your invitations printed, not as fun as opening presents and as soon as the big day is over, you’re so relieved that the planning is over that the last thing you feel like doing is another wedding job.

Firstly, a big fat do-as-I-say-and-not-as-I-do disclaimer: we actually haven’t sent all of ours out yet (will explain why next week when I’ll post more photos of the notes). But I promise that, despite a bit of a hitch, actually writing them did not take long at all. Here are a few things to keep in mind before you get to that stage:

Write a list
When you are preparing your guest list, add a column for gifts and fill it in when you open them.

Get prepared
Have your thank you notes printed at the same time as your invitations. Not only will it save you the headache later, but it can save you money due to more efficient printing and shipping. While you’re about it, buy twice the stamps and print double address labels so once you get back from your honeymoon, all you need to do is grab a pen and start writing.

Get help
If you’re lucky like me, your new hubby will want to do his share (sorry, ladies, he’s mine). But even if he doesn’t put his hand up, still ask him to do his side of the family and friends. If he’s not confident with it, he might like to read some of yours first (or you could send him this article!). And if he’s worried about his handwriting, let him know you don’t care if it looks like it’s written by a monkey, and neither will the recipient.

Don’t overdo it
If you sit down with 100 sheets of blank full-size paper, of course you’re going to be overwhelmed by the task of filling it, so choose pretty stationery that’s appropriately sized. You don’t have to write War & Peace, a short but heartfelt note is perfect.

Now that you’re all prepared, here’s my approach to writing a thank you note.

State your business
The first line is fairly obvious: say what you are thanking them for, for example, ‘Thank you for attending our wedding’. If they weren’t able to attend but sent a card or gift then say something like, ‘Thank you for thinking of us on the occasion of our marriage’.

Thank them for their gift
Don’t just say thanks and nothing else, though. Say not just that you love it, but why, such as: ‘The beautiful vase fits in so well with our decor.’  Better yet, add something to describe what benefit it has to your new married life together. This works especially well for gift registries, cash and gift cards, where you are not so much thanking them for their thoughtfulness in choosing a gift, but for what the registered item means to you. For example, ‘Thanks to the power drill we purchased with your gift card, we’ll now be able to tackle the projects we want to do to make our house a home.’  or, ‘The honeymoon you contributed to was the perfect start to our marriage and we have created so many wonderful, lasting memories.’ See how that will make the recipient feel all warm and fuzzy rather than just a signature on a cheque?

…even if you don’t like it
There’s no way around it, this is always tricky. I know it’s tempting to say you like the life-size medieval unicorn statue just so that Grandma doesn’t get offended, but never lie. It will only come back to bite you when she decides since you loved it so much she will add to your unicorn figurine collection every birthday from now on. Simply thank them for thinking of you and honouring the special occasion with a gift.

Acknowledge special circumstances
There’s a good chance that many of your guests went above and beyond to celebrate your day with you, so be sure to let them know how much you appreciate their effort. Did they have to travel? Did they have to get the night off work during a busy time at their new job? Has she just had a baby and hasn’t slept or worn anything but stretchy pants in months? Don’t mention the pants, but you get the idea. Same goes for anyone who helped out in some way. I’m not a fan of wedding speeches where the couple thanks everyone down to their cousin for recommending the florist, but your thank you notes are an ideal opportunity to do this. Of course you’ll want to make special thanks to your parents, bridal party, MC, and ushers. But don’t forget your sister-in-law for helping you handmake your centrepieces, your uncle for picking out-of-town guests up from the airport and your friend for providing the bracelet for your ’something borrowed’. 

Talk about the day
So that the whole thing is not just thankyouthankyouthankyou, it’s nice to mention something about the day, such as ‘It was amazing being surrounded by all of our loved ones,’ ‘I’m so happy that the whole family was in one place for the first time in years,’ or ‘The day was everything we imagined’.

Sign off
You might like to leave it at that, or you can wrap it up in a few ways depending on circumstances. For example, we had a number of guests who have since become engaged so we could finish off by saying ‘We can’t wait for your big day!,’ (only do this if you are absolutely sure you are invited!). If they were unable to attend, you can express your hope to see them soon.

Now, I’ve used the example of a wedding here, but the same applies to any time someone has given you a gift or done you a favour.

I will leave you with this thought: I recently received a letter from a family friend thanking me for sending them a condolences card following the tragic loss of their son. I can’t even imagine how hard those letters would have been to write. All of a sudden, writing a note to thank our wedding guests didn’t seem like so much of a chore. It reminded me I have a lot more to be thankful for than presents and I should tell people more often.