Monday 27 May 2013

Personalised Will You Be My Bridesmaid Cards

I was asked to design and create some
Personalised Will You Be My Bridesmaid Cards
So out came the nibs and the ink 


And out of the pen came the letters....



This was the final design for my client....



But I decided to design a couple more
one for a Bridesmaid 



And one with top hats for the guts......



These cards would also make lovely thank you cards.


Just a quick post today as it's bank holiday Monday
and I'm starting a full weeks holiday.

Hope you all have a great day..... Sue x

Wednesday 22 May 2013

When to send out Wedding Invites

Question from Bride:
"When do I send out Wedding Invitations?"



Well, not so very long ago, the standard answer would have been 6-8 weeks before the Wedding, but times have changed. 

Other factors to take into account these days are: 

Work and Lifestyle: People have busy lives and are usually planning what little time they have off, months in advance.

Hotels: Many weddings take place in locations now rather than in Churches  and many of these locations offer a package deal. Hotels in particular are keen to know final numbers, well before the Wedding date.

Distant Families: Many family's no longer live close by and are spread right across the country. If the Wedding is to be held at location not close to family and especially during holiday times, there may be a problem with accommodation. 

Stationery: For those Brides who want something that extra special, rather than 'Off the Peg' Stationery, you need to know that many of us are booked up well in advance, not only with Wedding Invitations but 'On the Day' items as well. I myself, took 13 Wedding Orders in January and as you can imagine there are only so many hours in a day and so many weeks in a Month. So getting your order in as early as possible is imperative if you find stationery you particularly like. 

So.... my answer to this would be:
As soon as possible! Especially if your 
Wedding is during busy, holiday periods.

I suggest 6 months is a good idea.

Also.... the sooner you get them out,
the sooner you have one less thing to think about 
and can get on with the rest of your planning. 

In my experience, the sooner you get them out,
the more time you will have for chasing up 
the people who lag at replying to your invite. 


What do you think?

How soon before the Wedding 
did YOU send out your cards?

If you are not already married, 
when are you planning 
to send out your cards?

It will be interesting to know what others think 
Add a comment below or email me (Sue) at

I'll publish your answers in a later blog post

Monday 20 May 2013

Personalised Gift Tags for Wedding Thank You Gifts

Where do you go for those 'Little Extras'? 
If you have an idea  and need something a little different,
made especially for you and to your EXACT requirements 
with no extortionate design fees,look no further.

Contact Me (Sue) 

or call 01609 776 866 

I make no bones about it.... here at Inspired by Script, most of our best ideas come from Brides and them asking 'us' to solve a problem. Now, if you are not creative where do you go? Who ill make exactly what you want using your ideas? or even worse, Who will convert your ideas into finished items when you don't have a clue about design?


I was asked to create some 'Thank You Tags' for a client. These are 5.25cm x 10.5cm.
Each one is personalised with the recipients name on and you can choose any colour ribbon so it matches your whole colour scheme.  Anyway..... here's what I came up with.....

The answer is simple....

These first designs are Daisy's


Available in any colour




Then we have the joined hearts




And you can choose your own ribbon colours too



They look great attached to your 
little Thank You Gifts and 
each one is personalised with the recipients 
name on them, making them extra special





They are also available as a single heart....




In any colour



Or.... if your theme is stars.....
No problem




These are n the theme of Purple....



So whatever your ideas,
whatever you need,
we can custom make anything that is printed to suit
your ideas and budget, 
with no extortionate Design fees either! 



Make your day more personal to you,
more quirky and more memorable.



Of course, I love creating things for people using their ideas, so if you have any special request please call in at the studio during opening hours


Tuesday - Saturday
10.30am - 4.30pm 

288a High Street, 
Northallerton, DL7 8DW. 

Tel: 01609 776 866 

Saturday 11 May 2013

NEW Personalised Wedding Cards

I feel there's been a slight lull before the storm as many of my Brides are getting married in August, it will be a busy June and July for me as I work on their 'On the Day' orders. Seating Plans, place cards, wedding post boxes and guest books to make.

So, I've taken advantage of the quite down time to come up with some Wedding Cards. All these can be fully personalised. 

Style 1


Style 2


Style 3


Style 4


Style 5


and there's more to come :-)
Designs copyright 
(c) Sue Simpson

Friday 10 May 2013

Wedding Awards - What do they mean?

I am on an eternal mission it seem to try and protect my regular Bride and Groom readers.
This week it's about

WEDDING AWARDS!

So... the item  or service you need has a flashy website.
Proudly on their site or blog they are proudly displaying a badge stating that the y were
some sort of Wedding Industry Finalist or Winner. Great news! you think to yourself.


  • Here's s site that can be trusted!
  • I mean, it's won an award for gods-sake!
  • So they must be really good?
  • Highly recommended? 
  • They are actually Industry experts! So they can be trusted on many levels.

If you are thinking all the above is true.... then you need to read on and see what I found out!

For the last couple of years and certainly within the last 6 months, I've seen award after award pop up and more and more websites and blogs proudly displaying everything from Wedding Magazine Awards to so called Wedding Industry Expert Awards. The awards are given out almost willy nilly and most are nothing more than a marketing ploy!

MOST and I use that word wisely MOST of these awards involve some or all of the following:


  • The supplier of good and or services pays a fee to enter (£50 is not uncommon)
  • A view of the award giving site looks pretty dapper and rather posh! (Remember... it's designed to get money from those who enter!)
  • The participant goes wild on Facebook to get everyone to place a vote for them. Please note, this is not directly proportional to the number of CLIENTS they have dealt with and who have been satisfied with their work. In fact... Joe Blogs can enter himself as an Expert, without even taking a photo! It's as easy as setting up a website, buying a few stock photos from the many companies out there, paying a fee and getting people to vote! In reality, that person can win an award by hiking up their votes through friends, family and other social networking places and/or have very little competition in their local area that have entered.... Therefore WINNING by default! 
  • They offer little or nothing in the way of Prizes... other than a certificate.
  • Finalist (everyone that entered)  is invited to their Award Giving ceremony... but entrants have to pay 'Big Bucks' to attend. (Which they do because they think they are in with a serious chance of actually winning!).
WHY IS MY BACK UP!

Lately, I was inundated with businesses in the Wedding Industry pleading with me to VOTE FOR THEM. I looked on the website to find that this Award company was actually based in the US! The competition was to be decided by so called Industry Experts (to be frank, I googled their names and websites and some of them need some serious help if they really ARE experts!). Then 2 days later I see that Everyone I know who entered actually had displayed on their Facebook pages, blogs and websites that they were Wedding Industry Experts Winners 2013! The results were out just a couple of days after the award had ended and was awarded on VOTES! No need to have experts adjudicate in the first place then? To be honest... I was sick and tired of the request from people who have just started out in the business and have very little if any, experience, never mind wanting to call themselves EXPERTS! 

At best, these awards are no more than a popularity contest. Yes... they may get more hits to their websites.... but hits and sales are completely different statistics!

SO WHY DO I 
HAVE A PROBLEM 
WITH THIS?

From the Brides point of view:

I am seriously concerned that Brides and Grooms seeing these badges on a website, gives them false hope of quality of goods or services. 

The award is NO MEASURE of how good the company is.
How long they have been in business.
Whether they can be trusted
or even if they are actually GOOD at what they do!

From the Wedding Suppliers point of view:

I am concerned that it's mostly NEW or very YOUNG businesses that get swept up in these so called Awards. They pay out money to enter, some even have to pay for a certificate if they actually get to the finals (which of course they do!). They somehow 'believe' that having this award will bring in more business... It WON'T! Brides haven't a clue what the award is for and to be honest, most working on a tight budget could be terrified of anyone displaying the word EXPERT on their site as been far too expensive and out of their league.

To Brides: Most Industry Experts.... don't need a worthless award to prove they are good in their field. Most of us are far too busy with work, not to even care about these awards.
Take these awards with a pinch of salt! Ask to see your suppliers portfolio of work they have done for past clients. 

To Businesses: BE CAREFUL! You have to think like an advertiser and marketing expert. You can be sure.... there's a LOT in it for these people and VERY LITTLE if anything in it for you! .... except perhaps for less money in your bank account. 

The only REAL way to build up your business and gain trust from Brides and Grooms is to actually offer the best service possible and have the recommend you to friends. Give value for money, go out of your way to LISTEN to your clients..... Your business will prove your success in your field, not some award which was gained by how many clicks you managed to get! :-)

What are your feelings on this?

Brides: What do you think of these so called AWARD BADGES?


Businesses: Have you been fooled in this way?  

Has this made you think about these awards in a different way? 

Award Company Givers: I am open to discussion for you to agree or deny these observations. So pleas FEEL FREE to leave a comment or contact me direct on inspiredbyscript@yahoo.co.uk 
I look forward to hearing from you. 

Thursday 2 May 2013

Save money by going to an amateur! GOLDEN Rules for Brides!

 PROFESSIONALS....
We may not be the cheapest.... 
but there's a reason we call ourselves this!


Paula (not her real name) came into the shop and chatted to me at great length about her Wedding Plans. They were full and detailed and planned to within an inch of their lives. 

We talked about my Wedding Stationery, as well as flowers, photographers, videographers, the gorgeous dress she had ordered from China (she showed me a picture on her phone... and I had to agree, it looked stunning!), she also told me about the real crystal bouquet she had ordered, the cake she was having made  and was overjoyed to tell me she was on a very tight budget and was proud of what she had achieved.

"I mean... these so called 'professionals' I don't know where they get their prices from!"

WEDDING STATIONERY: She was going to make her own, I mean, it's not that hard is it and people only throw them away.

FLOWERS: Her sister was going to make her Bridesmaids flowers and button holes as she had been on a 1 day flower arranging course just a year before.

PHOTOGRAPHY: Ahhhh no worries there, her other sister had just bought a super-dooper camera and wanted to take up photography as a hobby! It cost her a fortune so it was bound to be good.

VIDEOGRAPHY: Her Uncle John bought a small video camera to go on his holidays about 5 years ago. Ok so the video he took of Egypt wasn't that good, but she was sure he would have time to practice before her big day!

THE DRESS: The one from China..... only cost £120 and was a perfect copy of some top designer (I can't remember which one as dresses aren't really my thing).

THE CAKE: Her Gran was going to make the cake... she'd been baking for years, she had 13 kids you know and they never went hungry!

ICING THE CAKE: Oh that was no problem either... there was this ready to roll icing in the supermarket. I mean, no-one will know the difference. By the time it comes to cutting the cake everyone's sloshed anyway. 

She had splashed out though... on her venue. It blew almost all of her budget, but she knew her friends would be impressed! 

I wished her well and said I was full of encouragement for people who wanted to make their own Stationery. I mean.... if you are creative and will enjoy the experience... why not! 
It can be fun and very rewarding when someone says "I love your Wedding Stationery! Who made them", with a satisfied glow you can tell them "I did!".... perhaps you can set up your own little business one day :-)

I didn't hear any more from Paula for quite some time, then out of the blue, she phoned me in desperation:

THE FLOWERS: He sister had priced them up and it was going to cost more to buy them than the florist would have charged to make them up.

PHOTOGRAPHY: Her sister was trying her best to get used to the super dooper SLR Digi camera and was constantly watching Youtube to try and get hints and tips. Paula had rang all the local photographers as it was still 4 months till the wedding.... but sadly they were all booked solid.

THE VIDEOGRAPHER: Her uncle said there must be something wrong with the lens as the videos he had tried hadn't quite worked out.... they looked pretty fuzzy compared to some of the latest videos he'd seen and he wasn't in a position to buy a new one. 

THE DRESS: Well.... it came and was pretty poorly made to be fair. The seams were not sewn correctly and despite the company offering 'made-to-measure' it certainly wasn't HER measurements they had used. Also it came without any under skirts, so basically just a throw over top dress, made from what can only be described as lining fabric. The local dressmaker said that it was so tight in some areas that there was no spare fabric to let any seams out. 

THE CAKE: Her gran had, had a stroke and was unable to feed herself, so making a cake would be impossible!

THE CRYSTAL BOUQUET: Turned out to be plastic and the seller on facebook had closed the page down and I have no way of finding her as she never sent me an invoice and I paid by BACS transfer. 


Ahhh.... but at least you made your own Wedding Stationery! 
At least something went right!

No... not really.......

I bought in the card and some paper, lovely square ones like you make.
I designed the inside and printed it out on the paper... only the paper was too large to fit into the card.... so I went out and bought a paper trimmer which cost me £35 and something I'll probably never use again. Then I realised that I had to mess about with the printer settings for it to come out on the right page. I eventually gave up but managed to find some pre-printed ones where you fill in the blanks of who is getting married, where, when and at what time.... they took forever to write out, but at least I got there eventually.

Then I designed the cover on the printer, the design to be printed on card and found my printer will only take paper and it's not even like the card is thick or anything! It just jams!

Then there's the ribbon. I  only needed to make 30 invites, but that would have cost me £60 quid from you right? but then I realised I needed far more ribbon as each one took almost 2'... yes 24"! How can you use that amount on such a small card? 

Then I bought a butterfly punch, like the one you have, as the cards looked far too plain with just wording on the front. £18 for a butterfly punch! And then there was the putting together of all the parts... I mean the first half a dozen were fine... but 30 of them and tying all that ribbon! I had no fingers left!


I stopped her in mid flow.....
Wait a minute.... how much did it all cost?

The paper trimmer cost £35
The cards I had to buy a pack of 50 cost £10
Pre-printed inserts £3 (reduced to half price)
I had to buy 2 reels of ribbon costing £18 
The Martha Stewart Butterfly cutter was £18 
Oh and I had to get the local printer to print on the front of the cards and he charged me  £7.50

So.... all in all...... £91.50
And the hours and stress of 
making them up and getting 
everything to work

And more than I would have 
charge for making completely 
personalised ones for you!

Paula had to pay more for her flowers than it would have cost her to go to a florist who know what flowers were in season and therefore cheaper.... along with the fact the florist buys flowers trade price.

The dress had to be a hired dress as all the Wedding Dress shops needed more time to get her size in and have her measured and made to fit.... but she'd already paid for the dress from China too!

All the photographers were fully booked and she had to settle for disposable cameras and pictures that friends took to remember her special day.

She bought a 'Ready made wedding cake' from Marks & Spencers... which apparently was very nice!

She ditched the videography idea too as they were all booked up. 

The crystal bouquet had to be replaced by the florist with a real flower one.

All in all, it cost Paula twice as much trying to save money and Do It Herself than if she had gone to the professionals themselves in the first place and she had already blown most of her budget on the venue.

There's a reason we do what we do: WE LOVE IT!
It's our passion and our living.

There's a reason we charge what we do: 
We have to pay rent, rates, insurance, telephone, heating  and lighting as well as buying top quality materials... Oh and if we are VERY lucky, we sometimes managed to give ourselves a small wage... like I say.... sometimes!

There's a reason we call ourselves 'Professional': Because many of us have worked long and hard at our trade. Our training has cost us money. Our experience is gained over a number of years and we are experts in out field.

This is the most special and wonderful day of your lives,
memories cannot be bought.
I'm not telling you to go out and spend a fortune.....work out a budget and shop around.

If something sounds too good to be true it usually is!

Ask yourself... If you owned a Merc, would you take it to the guy round the corner that tinkers with cars in his spare time... or go to a Merc Garage? 

One last little thing... Paula is not a real character, however she is made up of many characters. All the stories your read above are true. They are made up from the stories I have heard brides recall to me over just the last two years, while specialising in the Wedding Industry.

You only have to go into Wedding Forums to see these and many other horror stories relating to things that have gone badly wrong.... to the people who can afford it least.

Stay safe! Get recommendations.

Ask your friends who have been 
married before you, who they used.  

Make sure that the companies you use have a registered TRADE address and are a real company.

DO NOT trust a website unless you have checked out their address (use Google maps) and also a landline number. Mobiles can be ditched at the drop of a hat!

If you have any problem with a particular supplier and goods are not what they seem, contact the vendor and give them the chance to put it right. If this doesn't work.....report them to your local Trading Standards Department and ask their advice
Whether you buy from a shop or on-line, you are covered by LAW and everyone has to sell items that are 'Fit for the purpose they were intended'. 

Good luck with your wedding plans and I hope this has helped, even in a small way. Sue x

Wednesday 1 May 2013

Here's the Lemon Wedding Post Box I made to go with Keely and Philis 

I
vory box and Lemon Butterflies decorate the front



And Lemon ribbon to finish it off.


I've some more Wedding Post Boxes to show you in the next few posts.
All these can be made to order by contacting me at inspiredbyscript@yahoo.co.uk

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