To begin… let us know what you are thinking.
Be it an announcement, social stationery, a simple invite or a whole event suite, we are keen to hear about a possible collaboration.
We can provide advice on timings, etiquette, the little details that make an event and how we can help make it uber special. We know a thing or two about the traditions and formality surrounding event correspondence and how to follow that in a way that your great-grandmother would have been proud . We also know how to break the rules and make an event contemporary and more importantly, yours.
At Alfies we are fans of good old fashioned snail mail and are always keen on creating unique, personal stationery. It’s a real treat to receive something lovely through the post and we love creating beautiful stationery for you to write to loved ones on.
You are never just a client once you have signed on with us. We like to build a relationship with you to be able to come up with the best work that we can.
Before getting started, we like to get to know you and what you like. As well as what you don‘t like.
Tell us your favourite colours, whether your style is contemporary, classic or somewhere in between. Favourite music, movies, past times. Favourite fashion house, celebrity style. If you want us to work on an event invite we like to know where, when, what you’ll wear, whether you are aiming for formal or laid back and the type of event you dream of creating. It all seems incredibly nosy but really we just like to build a solid profile to be able to create something unique to you that carries your persona. It used to be said that if a person touched an object, that object would form a bond with part of their soul. We want to create something touched by you, created by us.
Custom made doesn’t have to come with an enormous price tag. We can tailor a project to any budget and create something unique and beautiful.
Prices vary depending on numerous details and will be quoted on an individual basis. For a basic idea of prices please click here.
Once we’ve had an initial conversation (we prefer the term conversation to consultation, it implies more of a two way process) about what you want and your budget we’ll put together an individual proposal based on those factors. This will include suggested items, styles and cost estimates.
Should you decide to go ahead and appoint us as your designers we will then create a preliminary work contract* detailing arrangements for you to sign and return to us with a £75 design fee (in the case of couture designs) or £25 alterations fee (in the case of purchasing from our collection). These fees are liable to change in the case of complex designs or a lot of extra work but are the base fee that we charge. Further contracts may be issued for each stage of work to keep you up to date on where we are with things, as well as make sure that we have got the details of what you are requesting right.
Having already quizzed you to build a personality profile and an idea of your requirements, we’ll need wording from you (we can help with this if you need guidance) and a specification on colours (we can base this on a swatch that you send to us). We will come up with a set of ideas that we will send to you as a PDF.
You will have the difficult task of choosing the idea you like best and wish to see taken in to production. Alternatively you may specify elements of the designs that you would like to see bought together. Should the latter be the case we will send another PDF with the refined design.
Having received a definite design decision from you we will put together the designs for the items that you have expressed an interest in. We may put a few extras in if we think they would work spectacularly well for you based on what you have told us. You are under no obligation to take these extras, we just like to give you the best possible options available.
Once you have confirmed the items that you require we will send an order completion contract** (based on your chosen items) and a request for payment (as appropriate at the time, this will depend on the items and quantities that you order). Should any further design revision be required, we will do this, we will then require sign off on all items. Please be aware that any further revisions or design changes beyond those specified as reasonable and allowable in the contract may incur a further charge.
Should any further/outstanding monies be required by us we will request them before your order is sent to you.
Shipping is charged at cost price. We don’t believe in handling fees and hidden extras, but if your items are overly bulky we may have to charge extra to accommodate any difficulty in packaging. We will keep you informed if we think this will be the case at the design approval stage. Postage will be the last thing that we charge for as we can’t accurately estimate the size of parcel and cost.
*Once a contract is signed/agreed upon and terms (as set in your contract) are agreed, any fees that are paid are non refundable and all cancellations are liable to incur a charge. We realise that other vendors that you may be working with may be able to offer more flexibility on their terms but due to the nature of what we do and that items are on a made-to-order basis we are unable to offer that same degree of flexibility. We will, however, always be up front with you on the terms and conditions we are applying and always act in the fairest possible manner.
We aren’t being mean or over pushy, we simply like clarity of a situation as it can ruin a good working relationship if things aren’t clear and obvious.
If you need clarification on any of the points mentioned, just ask.
We are working on setting up PayPal. In the meantime we accept cheques or bank transfers and will provide details on your invoice/request for monies.
Things to remember:
We need payment before we send your order out.
We don't charge a handling fee on shipping.
The more time the better. We like a minimum of 6 weeks where possible before your mail out date in the case of event stationery. For personal social stationery a shorter lead time can be accommodated depending on our workload at the time.
We know time can sneak up on you, if you need something in a hurry we will try our very best to help.