Your wedding invitations are special – even more so if you’ve decided to have names written on them by a professional calligrapher. But too often I receive invitations which are poorly packaged and dicing with danger as they pass through courier and mailing depots! In this blog I’ll share my top tips for packaging wedding stationery safely to send to a calligrapher, and my golden rule for protecting invites in the post!
Before I begin, let me reassure you: when I send your wedding invitations back to you, they’ll be very carefully packaged, regardless of how they arrive. It’s important to me that your beautifully calligraphed invitations arrive with you in perfect condition!
Most wedding calligraphers will do their best to package your stationery with care and in protective layers.
Unlike most calligraphers, I’ve spent time in mailing depots, and done an eye-opening corporate tour of a Royal Mail sorting facility. (It’s how I know that wax seals and string are NEVER safe to post in the UK.) I’ve also worked closely with mailing and despatch offices in a huge mail order business – and I was shown how to wrap and pack items safely for their delivery office adventures!
The golden rule for packaging wedding stationery:
Always assume some renegade in a sorting office is going to drop-kick your wedding invitations. Pack them accordingly.
Now, I’m not saying this will happen. I’m happy to say it’s incredibly unlikely anyone will treat your wedding invites like a rugby ball. But it does no harm to wrap them as safely as you possibly can – because that drop-kick event isn’t an impossibility.
(A similar rule applies when riding a motorbike. As my instructors told me: always assume the driver behind is trying to kill you. It’s a good rule for bikers, and made me a very safe rider for years!)
How to pack your wedding invitations to send to your calligrapher
First of all, don’t rely on the printer’s packaging. I’ve ordered many times from Printed.com and seen lots of wedding invitations from the likes of Zazzle which arrive in a little cardboard box with a bit of bubble wrap and a label. It’s always a relief when the corners aren’t bent!
Your invitations from the printers might have cost you £200. The production cost to the printer will be closer to £20. And too often, they’ll wrap your invitations as if they were worth £20. Not good!
I have always found that smaller scale letterpress printers are exceptional packers: the likes of Piccolo Press and The Wren Press value their products and will pack them beautifully.
Eight steps to perfectly packaged wedding stationery
- Secure your invitations between sturdy cardboard sheets. If you don’t have greyboard, you can cut pieces from a sturdy cardboard box (the kind expensive deliveries arrive in!)
- Wrap your invitations in paper and secure with paper tape.
- Optional: put this taped parcel of invitations in an inner box, padding with tissue or eco-bubble wrap if needed.
- Essential: use a sturdy postal box, ideally with 5cm extra space all the way around your invitations.
- Pack the bottom of the box with a protective layer: eco packing peanuts, paper bubble wrap or scrunched up Kraft paper. TOP TIP: Order something from Lush and re-use their packaging!
- Pop your boxed or wrapped invitations in the middle of your outer box, and pad around the sides and on top with your choice of protective packaging.
- Seal the box with strong plastic-free tape. Using too much is better than not enough!
- Use a reliable courier and an insured and trackable service. My recommendation would be DPD, or Royal Mail Special Delivery.