This post is in collaboration with Paperless Post. All opinions are (of course) my own!
Hi friends!
I hope you’ve all had a very Happy Christmas!
We had a beautiful day with both mine and Tom’s families, filled with lots of food and laughter (isn’t that just the best combination?!)
Tom’s cousins have the cutest little kiddies and I had so much fun with them - dancing (and running - kid’s are surprisingly fast!) around the park in search of tigers and fairies. It really added so much more magic and fun to the day!
This is my favourite time of year because everyone’s (usually) in a great mood, it’s warm and gorgeous outside (in Australia anyway!) and there’s such a relaxed holiday vibe when everyone gets together.
Celebrating and making time with friends and family shouldn’t just be something we do at Christmas though, and when Paperless Post contacted me and asked if I’d like to try out their service, I thought it would be the perfect tool to help carry that warm and connected feeling into the rest of the year and the celebrations that 2019 will bring!
Paperless Post is (you guessed it) a paperless events platform focused on helping you use digital tools to gather more easily and meaningfully in real life.
The website has hundreds of beautifully designed cards and invitations that you can customise and send by email (and their latest offering "Flyer" can be shared anywhere you can paste a link - such as social media, text and Whatsapp).
“We exist to help people connect in the real world more easily and meaningfully.” - James Hirschfeld, Paperless Post co-founder and CEO
I’m still a big fan of actual paper so I’ll admit that when I first heard of the idea I wasn’t so sure. There’s something so special about receiving a handwritten card or invitation in the mail, but here’s the thing… how often would you realistically go to the trouble of sending a hard copy invitation these days? I know that for me, the only time I’ve done that in the last five (or more) years was for our wedding!
After exploring the site, I realised that this is the perfect platform for the occasions where you want to send something a bit more special, thoughtful and personal (ie: not just a facebook invite or “Merry Christmas” text message) but in a more efficient and easy way, without the hassle (and cost!) of posting paper invitations or cards.
They have free options as well as a more premium selection and additional features (designs by well known brands, personalised digital envelopes and other touches) that you can add on for a small price. I was initially unsure of these paid features, but after playing around with them I realised that it gives you the option of adding those special details and trimmings you’d expect from a traditional, hard-copy version, at a much lower cost than if it was actually printed and posted!
Note: One thing I did find a little confusing at first was the fact that some of the “free cards” required payment. This is because, by default the envelopes come as part of the package. You can easily select “remove envelope” while editing and it takes it back to being free!
I can imagine sending the free cards or invitations for casual gatherings, and paying for the extra features when it’s something more formal such as a Hen Party, Bridal Shower or big Birthday Bash where you’ve put in a lot of planning and effort.
From what I’ve read, this desire to convey the effort that has gone into planning a party was how Paperless Post actually started. Co-founder James Hirschfeld came up with the idea after his 21st Birthday Party, when he realised that there was no solution for sending invitations online that communicated how much thought and effort had gone into the event he’d created.
In an interview with Vogue, he said; “Paper invitations are beautiful and special. I understood why it was compelling, but also, that there was an opportunity for us to create a digital experience that captured all of that thoughtfulness and personal touch, but that allowed you to use a more efficient platform”
With so many beautiful digital designs to choose from, I feel like they’ve done just that and as they’ve partnered with a number of famous designers and brands, their selection is very extensive. I particularly love the Kate Spade New York and Rifle Paper Co. designs!
Initially I did think - “why is this any different to creating an invitation using something like Canva and just attaching it to an email?”, but after giving it a try I realised that Paperless Post makes it super easy to create a guest list and collect RSVP’s all in one place. It also allows you to track delivery and see if an invitation has been received and opened - things that wouldn’t be so simple if you were just attaching a picture to an email.
For anyone out there who’s engaged, I think Paperless Post would be particularly handy for Wedding Save the Dates as they are one of those items that are nice to send but kind of an annoying expense if you’re trying to stick to a budget!
With Paperless Post you could easily send out free (or very low cost!) Save the Dates, and I particularly love the feature that allows you to request people’s mailing address which would be very handy when it comes to sending the actual paper Wedding Invitations.
They’ve also collaborated with Paper Source so some of their invitations are available to printed which I think is really cool, because for certain occasions, digital just won’t do!
I had a bit of fun popping our engagement photos into some of their templates and I love how they turned out! If we weren’t already married I would definitely be using this for our Save the Dates!
I also played around with their Holiday Card selection and came up with this pretty Christmas card (the photo is from a trip to Prague a few years ago - such a magical place to spend Christmas!)
So that brings me to the end of my review. I enjoyed exploring the Paperless Post platform and it’s actually really inspired me to host a few more gatherings next year and also to send cards to the special people in my life!
Although I was initially a little skeptical of some of the paid options, I can definitely see the value that they are providing, as the designs really are just as beautiful and customisable as a hard-copy paper invitation would be (at a fraction of the cost).
I’ll be making good use of the Paperless Post this year as my best friend is getting married and I’m sure it will come in very handy for planning her Hen Party!
Let me know in the comments below or on Instagram @laurennatalia29, if you’ve tried out Paperless Post before and what your thoughts are!
Lots of Love
Lauren
xxx