Wedding Invites, Monogram and Ring Engraver Suppliers Review
February 6, 2024
Wedding Invite: Neonovelties
Peso Power (Booked May 2023): Starts at Php 120 (3 sheets of 6 x 9 inch) + Php 20 (Chinese page) – standard package. Then we added deckled edges, copper foil, calligraphy, layout – which all had a corresponding one-off or per page fee.
Neonovelties is a super respected invites player in the industry. We saw them at a bridal fair and really liked the quality of the invites, so we decided to book them a few days after (thankfully they still gave us the bridal fair discount). Initially, we had wanted them to design the layout for us, but their designer is (to be perfectly frank) quite awful. As in the designs were very very bad. We spent a month going back and forth, us giving him feedback, him returning to us with revisions. In the end, we hired another freelance designer (a friend of my husband’s) to just design our layout for us, because we were getting nowhere. Note: Neonovelties still charged us Php 700 (partial layout fee) for their designer’s work – even if we didn’t end up using anything from their design.
Pro Tip: Super good to have your invite layout ready, because this is what will tie your whole wedding together. I made use of my invite liberally – sending it to the stylist, caterer, photoman, photobooth, souvenirs etc. so that they could get a feel of my wedding theme + use the same elements in their designs
We also had Neonovelties layout our Chinese page. I gave them all the information they needed, and they returned to us with the layout. There were errors though! The most significant one was the lunar date equivalent of my wedding – they had indicated the wrong date. This was super problematic because I have relatives who really refer to the Chinese invite, and not the English one. Good thing I double-checked (and can read Mandarin LOL). My husband was saying super deadz if siya lang, coz he can’t read any of it and would have just approved it.
In terms of the actual print, foil, and calligraphy quality – super good! We love our final printed invites (released 1 month after final layout was approved), and their handwritten calligraphy looks like a font (very pretty, and the ink used is raised, which gives that extra shala effect). I also asked them to throw in His and Hers Vow Books for free, and they agreed! Hehe so nice of them.
Overall, I would recommend Neonovelties for their print and calligraphy quality, but I suggest you have your invite layout done elsewhere, as I don’t think it’s their forte.
Monogram: Anne Icaro
Peso Power (Booked August 2023): Php 1,000 (personal monogram – raw files to be provided)
I messaged AI Designs August 10 to clarify the inclusions of the monogram design, paid 50% downpayment, and let Anne do her work. She said she needed 20 working days lead time, but she ended up getting back to me ~25 working days later (not a big deal for me though coz this was waaaay before my wedding).
She gave 3 designs to choose from – I chose one, paid the remaining balance, then she emailed me all the raw files. I also asked her for the fonts used, as I wanted the same look and feel for all my wedding paraphernalia etc.
Overall, I’d recommend Anne. Don’t expect lots of interaction with her, but she provides clean and classy monograms for a decent price and within a timely manner.
Digital LED Monogram: Jojo Artifacts
Peso Power (Booked October 2023): Php 2,000 (2-slide digital LED)
I really like Jojo Artifacts’ work! It’s very different from the typical digital monogram LED that I see. I booked them October 2023 and sent them my requests – see below:
- Watercolor feels – see invite to get the feel, but with more colors sana! Think sunrise colors – rust, mustard yellow, orange, lavender
- Our monogram – can include our name if you think bagay (do NOT include the date)
- Hashtag: #JoshGotTheGold
- Verse! Psalm 96:12 – Let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them; let all the trees of the forest sing for joy
- Visual and movement needs to feel lush and happy and vibrant! See the verse for the feeling we want to evoke –> OK din with us parang medyo sunrise watercolor ang background -> parang NEW DAY / NEW BEGINNING FEELS
- Sequence will be:
- 1st slide: Photo + Bible verse
- 2nd slide: Monogram + names (NO DATE) + hashtag
After sending, they told me they’d reserved me a place in their lineup and to message them again one month from now. I was a bit worried kasi bakit hindi ako hiningan ng DP? But I figured ok. I messaged them again November 20 (wow, cutting it close! Less than a month to my wedding), and they said OK, time to pay the DP. I paid, and four days later, they sent me the first draft. I requested for some photo changes (I realized the photos I chose weren’t a good fit for the design), and they quickly revised within the day.
Super easy to work with, loved the animation – overall a great supplier! (Also they threw in a third slide for free! Dapat two slides lang for Php 2,000 eh)
Wedding Website: Withjoy
Peso Power: Free
Super intuitive and easy to use. We liked that there were pre-set templates, and we simply filled it up with our prenup photos. Coming up with the FAQs and the wordings for the website was actually quite fun for us too as a couple, as we both like to write (but have very different styles LOL)
Ring Engraver: Marry Me
Located at Market Market, BGC
We forgot how much we paid for the ring engraving! But wanted to include here in case someone’s looking for a ring engraver. OK work nila, lots of fonts to choose from, and we were able to get the rings after 30 minutes.