Though New York weddings do tend to entail a larger guest list than out of town affairs, you may still find a need for a small run of invitations, if not for the wedding itself, than possibly for n engagement party, aufruf, kiddush, sheva brachos, or wedding shower. If you have to think small for your affair, you may find yourself having to think premium for the price. From catering to printing, the standard per item cost usually assumes an order of at least 100, 250, or even more. So it is quite possible that the number of invitations you need will not meet the minimum required for printing. As much of the work of printing is the initial setup, the printer is forced to charge as much for 50 as for 200 to cover that expense. So at that quantity you would have to pay over $3.50 a piece even for a not very elaborate invitation.
Economies of scale generally kick in above 250, so that 500 costs you far less than double the cost of 250 unless the paper stock itself is extremely expensive. That is why you are generally advised to order more invitations than you need. It doesn’t add much to the cost of initial printing, and some will inevitably be damaged or lost. Also if you have contingency guest lists that you have to wait on, you will have invitations on hand available for them. Printing them up as a separate run would cost you far more than just printing 300 instead of 275.
When you pick out your invitations, bear in mind that if they weigh more than one ounce, they will require more than standard postage. You don’t want your invitations not getting to guests in time due to insufficient postage. It would also be embarrassing to have to add stamps on an envelop marked "Returned for Insufficient Postage" so that you would end up having to spend more time addressing fresh envelops to mail without any such telltale marks. To avoid such possible problems, you should definitely have your invitations weighed at the post office to ascertain exactly what type of stamps you need.
Generally, the more elaborate invitations with the extra envelopes and tissue paper will require more postage. You can choose a more streamlined style and limit the weigh even more by opting for postcards as the reply cards (also saving you return postage). You could also print RSVP info, such as a phone number or even a specially designated email address like WeissWedding@...com at the bottom of the invitation and skip the return cards altogether. (Do be warned that this may be regarded as rather too thrifty by some.) Many who receive invitations will lose their reply cards or just not bother to mail them or to call to clue you in to their intentions, so you will have to take some initiative. To play it safe, be prepared to spending time on the phone calling invited guests who failed to RSVP; there are bound to be a fair number of those.
continue with http://www.examiner.com/jewish-bridal-in-new-york/inviting-your-guests-part-2
related articles http://www.examiner.com/jewish-bridal-in-new-york/planning-the-guest-list-part-1
http://www.examiner.com/jewish-bridal-in-new-york/the-straight-a-approach-to-wedding-invitations
http://www.examiner.com/jewish-bridal-in-new-york/planning-the-guest-list-part-2
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