This Is A Challenge — Paper Or No Paper Invitations
Expert Event planners know that the success of an event starts with designing and delivering a class-act invitation.
The Electric Dreamz Team wants to share a few useful tips when deciding what medium to choose for your event invites — the digital era gives us so many options. There is however a significant difference between giving a paper- or paperless invitation and how people react to it. How do you set the right tone to match the feel of the occasion?
Consider the type and scope of the event or party as well as your guest profile and their user culture.
Paper Invitations
Even today, nothing beats the thrill of receiving a tangible invitation. One clear benefit is that a hand-held invite serves as a reminder for the party — even if it is just lying somewhere at home or the office, it remains a visible cue.
Invitations for Intimate or Milestone Occasions
With the constant bombardment of social media and emails, so much of what comes our way just ends up forgotten or unnoticed. This doesn’t mean that e-invitations are ineffective — it definitely has a place when used in the right way. In the very old days, written invitations were a mark of high society and reserved for those who could read and write. So yes, choose paper for an intimate or milestone occasion such as a wedding or a 50th-year wedding anniversary.
Personal and Beautiful Invites
Stunning invites can be made with laser-cut designs, adding a ribbon or an authentic wax seal makes it really authentic. You can go all out and embed the invitation along with gift items in a box or do a scroll design. A personal and beautiful invitation is also something we can keep as a reminder of a special occasion even long after the event.
You can still be environmentally conscious. Great varieties of recycled paper exist or fiber alternatives like hemp, kenaf and agricultural byproducts made from wheat or straw.
Paperless Invitations
A paperless choice is always best when considering large numbers, ease of design tools and the instant access to RSVP and guest lists. You can of course use social media platforms like Facebook or Instagram to design and manage your invitations. The look and feel will be limited to their particular tools or unique photography and designs you can upload on it.
Paperless Post is a very affordable program with exquisite and fresh designs and textures. The tracking functionality is not that advanced but the visual quality of the invitations makes it a winner.
Evite allows you to customize your invite quite a lot, it is free and also has a mobile app, so invites can be sent to text or email. Like with most free things in life comes the annoying advertising, but a paid premium subscription is available. Evite shares party planning tips, has a supply store and offer similar tracking options to Paperless Post.
Pingg is a sleek platform often used by designers and event planners, because apart from design templates, you can upload your unique design there onto to gain artist recognition. Furthermore, it is a bit of a one-stop-shop, you can create an event web-page onto which you can post photos, upload videos and link gift registries. Again, invitations are subject to some advertising inclusions unless you pay a bit for the service.
In next week's blog Electric Dreamz will take a closer look at invitation trends for 2019.