Wedding Program count?
 

Hi, I am making my boss' wedding invites, and I am making 400 total! I have to do the wedding programs also, does anyone have any idea what a good number to make for those? Thanks in advance!

If you are sending out 400 invites, I'd probably do 175 programs.

Will you have enough time to make them if you wait until the RSVP date and then find out from the family how many people have RSVP'd?

Agreed, I made my own invites and waited for the RSVPs to do the programs...you can make about 75% of the number of RSVPs, as most people will come as couples and will share a program. Meaning, if 100 people RSVP, make 75 programs.

That's what I wondered. If you have the RSVP number, you'll have a better idea. I sent out about 140 invites, had about 180 (a bit over) RSVP yes (remember that an invite invites more than one person usually), and made 120 programs. We had a handful left. Our wedding coordinator told us that most men don't take programs, but most women do. She also told us that usually only one person in a couple takes the program.

And then they throw them away. haha.

I've never gotten the point of a program but we are making my sisters for her July wedding. We are waiting until RSVP's are back before starting. :)

I've been in the wedding stationery industry for the past few years and we always ask our clients two important questions before ordering programs:

1) Will you have a greeter at the entrance? If so you can usually get away with doing one program per couple (as there will be someone there to regulate the quantity). If not, I would suggest doing enough programs for at least 3/4 of your guests to have their own. There is nothing worse than realizing that the last four rows of guests were not able to get a program because you ran out too early. I know that my husband and I always pick up our own if there isn't an attendant. Mine usually gets saved and his gets messed with throughout the ceremony.

2) Are a majority of the guests coming as couples, families, or singles? This count can have a significant impact on your quantity. 100 people in couples can mean 50 programs, but 100 people in couples and singles could mean more like 75. This is why it is really a good idea to wait until you have more of the response information back from the guests before you start.

Another thing to consider is the keepsake quality of the program. Are the Bride and Groom going to want any extra to put into a scrapbook or keepsake box? What about the couple's family.

Sorry to make this so long. Wedding stationery is something I am very passionate about and you would be amazed how often it is the last thing anyone considers when planning a wedding!

Ok girls, here's the deal. Please don't die of shock when I say this. THEY AREN'T DOING RESPONSE CARDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am having a fit over this, but hey, it's their money, not mine and I can only pass on advice.

1. Yes, there will be someone handing it out, but they are little kids.
2. They are letting everyone bring a guest, but since they ARE NOT DOING RESPONSE CARDS, who knows!
3. Yes, they are planning on keeping some for keepsakes.

This is turning into a big bad mess! HELP!

Holy Moses...in that case my best suggestion is to take the number of people on the guest list and figure out what 3/4 of that number would be (ie: 100 guests invited means 75 approximate attendees). Then, base your quantity around that number. You may just want to ask the Bride and Groom what a comfortable quantity is for them and prepare accordingly. Don't be shy about asking questions (ie: How many of your guests are singles, families, couples). Just get as much information about the guest list as you possibly can. Good luck!

Thank you! Well, the bride and groom were thinking I only need to make 100. I said I don't think that's nearly enough! So, thanks for the input! I need as much as I can get!

If you have no response cards and kids are handing them out it spells trouble. We had response cards, but the cousins didn't listen to how to hand them out and we ran short.

Are they having any food or drinks at the wedding/reception? How do they know how much to prepare if there are no response cards? Yikes!

Uh, yes, they are! Buffett! I told them to talk to the caterer to see what they think. This is what happens when boys are put in charge of a wedding! HIs fiance' is in Mexico, and he is doing the entire thing!

That's frightening! LOL

Hope everyone enjoys flying by the seat of their pants. :rolleyes:

Whatever number you decide on, I would make an extra 10 programs, set them aside, and give them to the bride separately with a special note that they are to be used for her wedding album, or in case someone "important" (i.e., her mother, her grandmother) didn't get one by accident or needs a nice, uncrumpled one for a scrapbook or album.

Well, I am a bit peeved over the whole situation. I asked for the details back in November, and didn't them till January. I have the majority of the card made, but still wording for the invites! No Joke! I still don't know if I need response cards, as of yesterday, he "really doesn't think they need them." Last week I was informed they need another 100, and I am freaking out over because the wedding is May 3, and I don't have a single invite complete out of 400! What are they thinking?!?!?!?!?! Obviously they are not. I can't believe someone can't talk any sense into them. I am just so done!

Is it too late to back out? Seriously, they can't expect to put together a big wedding in such a haphazard way (a barbecue in the back yard, maybe. But a big wedding with a buffet reception, and they don't think they need reply cards??).

Where's the mother of the bride? Is there a mother of the bride? Is she involved in any way? I think you need to be dealing directly with the person in charge. How long will the bride be in Mexico? If it's just a short trip, perhaps you can wait until she returns. Either that or tell your boss that you'd be willing to be hired as their wedding coordinator, and set your hourly wage for that. Then you can crack the whip and get all the info you need. ;)

I don't envy you.

P.S. Men never think you need ANYTHING related to a wedding! :rolleyes:

Ha! You are going to LOVE this! My BOSS is marrying a lady from Mexico! She speaks English, but has not been to the States since October. He goes down there every 8 weeks to visit her. So, needless to say, they don't know how an American wedding is supposed to go!

I am doing a criss-cross invite, which was a TON of work. I had 300 of the outside parts done, and then last week said they needed 100 more. Uuugghgh.... So, another SU! paper order, post on b/s/t here for more ribbon, place another specialty paper order w/ GinaK, and I still don't have wording! Wanna know why I don't have wording?!?!?!?!?! Because the bride's annullment hasn't gone through back in Mexico, so they are not sure if they can get married in the church!

Do you even believe me?!?!?!?!?!? I don't blame you if you don't! Part of me thinks I should just make the 100 programs he asked for, and then it's their problem, but I think he needs closer to 300 minimum!

So, how much do you like your job? ;)

I'm all for honesty, even if it may seem a little brutal. I think you need to sit your boss down, preferably somewhere outside the office (perhaps over a margarita?) and have a very frank discussion about what he needs to provide you, and the date by which you need that information, so that you can complete the invites and programs. Otherwise tell him he needs to find another way to obtain his invites and programs. And tell him that he does need response cards!

Perhaps type up a list and ask him to fill in the blanks.

Date of wedding
Location of wedding
Time of wedding
Location of reception

Bride's name
Bride's parents' names
Groom's parents' names

If you can get that basic information, write up a sample invitation for his review (follow a more traditional format). Sounds like he'd approve just about anything. As for the reply cards, I would just computer generate them on nice white cardstock, postcard style. They don't need to match the invites as far as I'm concerned. Create a mock-up for him and if that's OK, print the number you need. If you do a postcard, you don't have to worry about getting envelopes for the reply cards.

Oh my goodness...you are a wonderful employee!!!!

I cannot imagine sending out 400 invites to a wedding much less NOT doing a response card. They could have 100 people come or 600 with guests...I cannot believe the caterer is not having a fit as well.

Good luck to you :)

Thanks for the advice, I have done pretty much all of that. I even broke down the cost of the response WITH post card stamps.

The big problem is the location, if she can't get her annullment to go through, they can't get married at the church. So, I guess it's a waiting game for that. I guess if they don't do response cards there isn't a huge rush to get them out. Gggrrrr.....

Is he sure they need 400 invitations or are they inviting 400 people. That makes a HUGE difference. I wish you all the luck in the world. I am going through a similar situation with a friend right now (I owed her a favor and she called it in big time - I think I got the shorter end of the stick on this one). Just be as professional as you can without being a push over. Good luck, stand firm.

Thanks Lizzie! Yes, I made it very clear the difference between 400 invites and 400 people. Thank you, I certainly need the luck! You girls rock!

WOW!! That is a lot of Invites!! How awesome.. I hope you are getting paid for it!! that is a lot of work!! Congrats!!

Jessica

I hope you have an agreement in writing as to what you will be paid for all this work! Good luck!

Oh dear, annulments can take years and years and years... do they have a back up plan? that might be the best to ask if it is all going forward with a civil ceremony if the annulment isn't granted.

And just make sure he knows that invites really need to be out now for a May wedding (even without replies - so people can make arrangements to attend) and that is still cutting it short.

I have to be honest the lack of replies doesn't bother me if they are a family that talks a lot and if the majority of the invites are going to family because you tend to get a "rough idea" anyway.

You may want to suggest a reply -webpage, e-mail address or telephone number in case it is the additional postage costs they are concerned about.

BTW I'm sure whatever you are able to achieve for them will be great! Just hope they sort it soon.

Thanks everyone! Feels good to vent a bit!

I was wondering this at all - as they numbers could be huge with 400 invites even if half the people bring guests that is 600 people. I don't know 600 people.

I got married in September and both my husband and I are from different provinces and then got married in another so basically all our family had to travel. We invited 220 people and had 90 people at our wedding. Location of wedding in comparison to guests is important. The wedding is now 10 weeks away and they haven't sent invites - if they have travelling guests it might be too late for them.

I made 100 invites - I couldn't image making 400! I found the wording took me a lot of time and was the hardest part. I hope your getting paid well for these and had a price set when you started out. Men don't realize how much invites cost.

Actually, wedding invitations should traditionally not be sent out more than 8 weeks before the wedding. If you are concerned about travel time and accommodations for guests save-the-date cards should be sent out up to a year ahead of time. If the couple decided not to send such an announcement that is unfortunate, but should not push the invitation's mail out date past that 8 week mark.

Think it's pretty flexible and is dependent on cultures, backgrounds and personal preferences - we had a very posh wedding invite in November - RSVP by the first of December and the wedding is the end of this April :lol:

Like I said, traditionally invitations should not be sent out more than 8 weeks ahead. An invitation sent in November for a wedding in April is highly unusual, however. More than likely the response date has something to do with the catering of the event. In my experience as an invitation consultant I've never seen an invitation go out that early.

We made about 80 programs for our wedding of 100 people. I thought that would be plenty, because there were a lot of couples, but we ended up running out. I'd probably make one per couple or individual (if not coming with a date) then add maybe 5%?

By the way, I just uploaded pics of my wedding stationery from my September wedding to my gallery and blog, if you are interested and want some ideas...

Hope that helps! :)

oops. I guess my wedding stuff didn't have enough stamping involved, so SCS deleted it from my gallery. Oh well, you can still check it out on my blog, if you'd like...

Link in profile. Post from February 21, 2008.

Did you have a unique name on your pictures? there is a thread about gallery posting getting edited out if more than one has the same generic name.

http:////www.splitcoaststampers.com/...llery+pictures

Yeah, I did have a unique name for all of them. They said they deleted them because they didn't have stamped images (makes sense, I guess). Strangely enough, though, they approved the ones that didn't have stamped images and deleted the ones with stamped images. Go figure. Oh well, they're all on my blog if anyone wants to see the full collection LOL.