Budget
Kira Evans Design saves clients money by producing a large quantity of shells of a card branded for a company, but without information about an actual event. She can then create multiple versions of the inside sheet with information for different events or guests, or use the same shells for a series of events in different cities. Evans created an embossed shell on pearlized paper for a pretty, branded piece (pictured). She recommends this process for minimum quantities of 1,000 from about $5 per shell, plus the cost of the sheets that go inside.
Mid-Price
Melinda Morris of paperie Lion in the Sun in Brooklyn uses pockets that hold whatever inserts you need: reply cards, sponsors lists, speaker bios. (One recent invitation featured a skinny purple envelope with a chartreuse card stock insert in the pocket.) Depending on the number of inserts, paper, and printing method (flat printing on the low end, engraving on the high end), the price ranges from $8 to $12 per piece.
Splurge
If you can afford to go all out, consider an invitation like the one Alpine Creative Group designed for Mariah Carey’s The Emancipation of Mimi album release party. The over-the-top invite was a hand-assembled scroll with three layers—velvet, gold paper, and parchment—on a gold leaf dowel with plenty of ribbons. Alpine’s Steve Paster won’t name the flashy invite’s price, but says the cost for a similar invitation is about $40 to $60 per piece.
—Alesandra Dubin
This story originally appeared in the June/July 2005 issue of the BiZBash Event Style Reporter.
Kira Evans Design saves clients money by producing a large quantity of shells of a card branded for a company, but without information about an actual event. She can then create multiple versions of the inside sheet with information for different events or guests, or use the same shells for a series of events in different cities. Evans created an embossed shell on pearlized paper for a pretty, branded piece (pictured). She recommends this process for minimum quantities of 1,000 from about $5 per shell, plus the cost of the sheets that go inside.
Mid-Price
Melinda Morris of paperie Lion in the Sun in Brooklyn uses pockets that hold whatever inserts you need: reply cards, sponsors lists, speaker bios. (One recent invitation featured a skinny purple envelope with a chartreuse card stock insert in the pocket.) Depending on the number of inserts, paper, and printing method (flat printing on the low end, engraving on the high end), the price ranges from $8 to $12 per piece.
Splurge
If you can afford to go all out, consider an invitation like the one Alpine Creative Group designed for Mariah Carey’s The Emancipation of Mimi album release party. The over-the-top invite was a hand-assembled scroll with three layers—velvet, gold paper, and parchment—on a gold leaf dowel with plenty of ribbons. Alpine’s Steve Paster won’t name the flashy invite’s price, but says the cost for a similar invitation is about $40 to $60 per piece.
—Alesandra Dubin
This story originally appeared in the June/July 2005 issue of the BiZBash Event Style Reporter.
Kira Evans Design
Lion in the Sun
Alpine Creative Group
