InvitationsByDawn.com: One-Stop-Shop Wedding Store Offers Great Selection and Slightly Below-Average Order Experiences
Written: Sep 24 '09 (Updated Sep 24 '09)
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Planning a wedding introduced me to more wedding supply websites than I ever thought possible. It seemed the perfect selection for each item we needed was on a different website. During our two-year engagement, my husband and I placed wedding-related orders on more than thirty websites. As a one-stop-shop wedding supply website, Invitations By Dawn often came up in our searches. Consequently, we had several experiences with them. Though the title is a mouthful, it accurately describes our experience with this hit-or-miss website.
Website
InvitationsByDawn.com offers an incredible assortment of wedding supplies. You could feasibly plan a wedding without ever venturing off this website. They sell wedding invitations, favors, ceremony accessories, bridal accessories, decorations, reception accessories, and more. Their vast selection includes items to fit any theme or color scheme, including seasonal themes which are covered by their "Seasons of Love" product line.
Navigation of this site can be accomplished by browsing various categories or using the search feature. The former sorts the products into logical categories, but you can't sort the items further by subcategories. For example, if you choose to narrow your search by theme and select "Fall/Autumn," it returns three pages of products ranging from ringbearer pillows to favor boxes. I would have liked the option of viewing only one subcategory such as guest books. The search feature is helpful if you know exactly what you're looking for, but sometimes it's too specific. Though several unity candle holders are included in the "Fall/Autumn" section of the site, if you type "fall unity candle holder" in the search box it does not find any matching items since the word "fall" isn't in any of the unity candle holder descriptions. For easier browsing, a free paper catalog can be requested.
The product pages are well presented and easy to read. Each product is described in detail on the corresponding product page, with relevant details such as sizes. The site provides a picture of each product, which can be enlarged using the zoom for a closer look. Price information is included for each item, with bulk pricing shown when applicable. Shipping time and prices are not shown on each individual product page, but a link titled "Shipping Charges" includes general information for all orders. The page asks customers to allow 2-3 days for the order to be shipped and 2-6 days for delivery time. Shipping is a flat rate based on the order total and shipping time. I found the shipping prices to be a bit high except for orders over $175, which are ground-shipped free of charge.
The site was stable. I encountered no broken links or errors while
shopping at InvitationsByDawn.com.
My Experiences
I first visited Invitations By Dawn while researching invitation prices. When we first got engaged, my husband and I prioritized the wedding expenses and created a detailed budget. Invitations were low on our priority list so we wanted to find nice, inexpensive invitations. Our search brought us to this site which offers invitations to suit any wedding style. They even offer invitations made from at least 30 percent post-consumer fibers for environmentally-conscience couples. Free samples are available for many of the invitations and can be requested using a link on the product page. We ordered three samples, but only received one of them. A letter included in the envelope notified us that the other samples were out of stock. A few months later, we ordered two more samples of other invitations. The paper for all three invitations was rather thin and flimsy so we eventually went with another website.
My next experience with this website was in my search for a unity candle holder. I had trouble finding one that would match our autumn theme. I received a new "Seasons of Love" catalog from Invitations By Dawn that had a beautiful autumn unity candle holder that was shaped like vines of oak leaves. Upon visiting the website to order it, I found out they no longer offered it, despite the catalog being current. We eventually decided to buy another holder and decorate it ourselves, but I was disappointed that the holder we wanted was unavailable.
Our first successful order from Invitations By Dawn was for 100 maple leaf seals for our invitations. They were a little expensive, and in retrospect, I wouldn't spend $15 ($22.95 after the rather expensive ground shipping) for tiny foil envelope seals. I received an email confirmation immediately upon placing the order. The email only listed the order total and did not include an itemized list of the order. I think this is an important detail for them to add to improve the ordering process in the future. I received the seals 7 days after placing the order, which was about average turnaround time as compared to other wedding websites I had patronized. Overall, the seals were pretty and we were happy with the order.
Unfortunately, our first order was also our last successful order from this site. On October 14th (11 days before the wedding) we ordered copper organza favor bags to package one of our favors. They were quite expensive for little organza bags; $4.95 for 10. We purchased 140 for $69.30 and paid the high price of $26.45 for second day shipping. We didn't want to cut it too close with regular shipping even though the site said they ship items within 2-3 days. Four days before the wedding, I called the company because I hadn't received a shipping notification. I was told the item wouldn't ship in time. Customer service was very nice and cancelled the order, but we were disappointed the item didn't ship in the interval they had stated. Luckily we found a do-it-yourself alternative and managed to get the favors packaged in time for the wedding.
Overall Recommendation
Invitations By Dawn offers a great selection of wedding supplies, but their order processing and shipping time could use improvement. We found them to be hit or miss as far as item availability as well. Overall, I would recommend them as long as you aren't in a rush to receive the item and are willing to follow up on your order status if necessary. I would give this company 2 ½ stars, which I've rounded up to 3 since I feel that would be more accurately portray my feeling about them than 2 stars.
Other Wedding Supply Websites:
Before The I Do's
Forever Wed Store
Other Wedding Save The Date/Invitation Websites:
Creative Montage
Magnet Street
Recommended:
Yes
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noangels
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Member: Jamilynn
Location: Staten Island, NY USA
Reviews written: 224
Trusted by: 41 members
About Me:
So glad to almost be done with Christmas shopping!
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