The Village Invites

09/14/2008 Posted by slpbfg

I just put my wedding invites in the mail, and am actually sad that this part of the wedding planning was done, since it was one of the easiest and most fun. I went to several of the bigger box invite stores in the city (kate's, papyrus) but wasn't getting the type of assistance I really was looking for. Then I found Jaye at Village invites, and not only was she able to help us with a save the date that would be ready really fast, she also helped us find the invite (from Oblation) that perfectly reflected our vision of our wedding. Better still, she maintained her sense of humor when my fiance and I were debating over really silly stuff and helped us resolve our differences of opinion on font and ink color. Overall, it was a really terrific experience, the styles they carry are truly a cut above most of the other stores in the city and the service is exactly what we were looking for -- really helpful, responsive to questions, and with a great artistic eye!

Cons: Would love them to be open on the weekend.

06/16/2008 Posted by Chellychell

I was considering getting my wedding invitations online, but I'm so happy I came here instead. The service is great. Jaye is awesome! It's so much better to actually meet with someone, see samples of the invitations and get advice about styles, fonts, colors, everything. She's so easy to work with, and great at following up to make sure everything turns out just right. She even gives you real advice. She didn't try and push me to spend more money, she helped me make the best and most cost effective decisions. I ended up getting Studio Olivine invitations (100% recycled paper, letterpress). So gorgeous and unique! I can't wait to hear my guest's reactions! I highly recommend Village Invites. At least go to the studios and check it out. It's definitely worth it.

Pros: great selection, service

Cons: closed on weekends

05/20/2008 Posted by mthomas10

After spending several afternoons culling through the nearly similar selections of wedding invitations at Kate's, Papyrus, and Lion in the Sun, I was thrilled to find Village Invites. They carry some unique vendors while still handling the typical brands. I found invitations from Wiley Valentine that fit my taste and budget perfectly. Jaye was a great help in the selection process. She helped us stay on budget and find something we loved. Everyone who has seen them comments on how beautiful and unique the invitations are! The environment is much more low-key than the other places I went to and I felt very welcome and comfortable taking my time and asking lots of questions. Jaye made this part of wedding planning a real joy!

Pros: Great service and selection

Cons: Midtown location

05/16/2008 Posted by jkdev

Village Invites is my favorite invitation shop in New York! I always receive a very warm welcome and hello there. They have a huge selection of custom invitations and I will tell you, they will work crazy hard to help you find the perfect invitation. I had been to bigger shops with tons of employees and have had a tough time getting personal service, or getting help from the same person more than once. There, I always work with Jaye. She is amazing about checking in with me and keeping everything organized. I really feel like she is just a friend rather than a person trying to tell me something. I go there every time I need something custom printed and every time Jaye is just as excited to help me tailor something perfectly to whatever I have planned. They are just lovely there.

05/15/2008 Posted by commitmentceremony

We worked with Jaye from Village Invites to create the invitations for our commitment ceremony. She was patient and helpful while we picked out the right colors and patterns for us and I can be very indecisive. She created a unique and gorgeous invitation that was bi-lingual in Spanish and English. When our families and friends received the invitations they were calling us non-stop letting us know how beautiful they were. Every time I look at the invitation I'm excited about our ceremony and how these invitations were really tailor made to our personalities. And Jaye produced the invitations quickly considering we gave her short notice and we were on a very tight deadline. I have recommended Village Invites to other friends and everyone I know has gotten professional and friendly service. You should definitely go to Village Invites if you want the best service and most gorgeous invitations imaginable!!!!

Pros: Service, quality, professionalism

04/07/2008 Posted by anon76

My advice to you is go elsewhere - there are so many places to order invitations that I don't know how they think they can get away with the pathetic customer service they offer. After telling us that they have "NEVER" made a mistake when processing invitations, we were forced to go through multiple rounds of proofs because there were so many mistakes that consistently were not fixed and instead of being apologetic they actually gave us attitude about the edits. We had discussed our timeframe upfront but all the mistakes delayed the timing significantly so we were worried the invites would not be ready on time. Again, instead of apologizing, they asked us if we wanted to pay extra to upgrade the shipping costs - after all the mistakes you think the least they could do would be to offer to pay for express shipping!! We were quite patient with them during the whole process but this was particularly annoying. We said we did not think it was fair that we should have to pay for the upgraded shipping and they told us that "in future we should take our business elsewhere"...which is quite funny considering we were not the ones who made all the errors but I guess it is easier for them to blame us than actually admit their own mistakes. To make matters worse there were further delays with the printer and even with overnight shipping there was a chance the invites would not be ready on time. Then all of a sudden Village Invites changed their tune and were very nice in their emails and pretended they had never "fired" us as customers. In the end they didn't charge us for overnight shipping but the damage was already done! To tell a customer to take their business elsewhere is a very strong statement and of course now we will take our business elsewhere, and we will also tell everyone we know about our experience. A shame really because if they had just offered to pay for the upgraded shipping as a gesture of goodwill rather than "firing" us we would not feel any resentment.

03/18/2008 Posted by frosty24

I used Village Invites for my whole wedding process. From day one, Linda and Jaye helped me with every detail, from my save the dates to my thank you cards. As everyone knows, weddings are so stressful, the last thing you want is for anything to be messed up. Luckily, I found the village invites and atleast it was one less thing to worry about. they kept track of deadlines and had a beautiful selection of printing options. I've gotten so many compliments on my wedding invitations, sometimes I think people remember those more than my dress hahaha! i recommend the village invites to everyone i meet that is looking for experts in invitations.

Pros: huge selection, great service

05/09/2007 Posted by mbaydin

Jaye Kotze, of Village Invites, is by far one of my favorite "vendors" that I worked with through my wedding process. Not only is she creative, effecient, timely and organized, she has a great personality and is more like a friend than a vendor. She provided unique, affordable and really creative assistance on my invites, place cards, thank you notes, etc. If you live in the city, I would highly recommend using Jaye at Village Invites for any of your stationary needs.

Pros: Open until 7

Cons: Not open on weekends

11/26/2006 Posted by lk817

I discovered Village Invites because they carried a line of custom invitations I wanted to use for my save the date cards. I was taken aback when I first arrived because I thought was entering a copy store; however to my surprise, the custom invitation part of the business is tucked into a cozy corner of the shop. They carry the most creative lines. We ended up using Village Invites for everything we produced for our wedding. I was able to create custom invitations that were definitely not your standard invites (though they have those too!). However, the best part of Village Invites is the wonderful customer service provided by Jaye. She stayed open late for me, offered wonderful advice, and consistently kept me posted on the status of every order. She made what can be a stressful process really enjoyable.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful

11/23/2006 Posted by elerder

When my daughter was born, we tried to doodle an image that we wanted for her birth announcements -- unsuccessfully. Three months later, we still were slacking on the announcements, and the grandparents were starting to panic! We went to the Village Invites -- which, though around the corner from where I work, I had never explored -- and loved the samples in the books they showed us. More importantly, Linda Schonfeld, the woman who owns the store, listened to us describe the story of the ill-fated doodle, and did a fantastic sketch for us, which we loved, and made the center of the announcements. [Turns out she's an artist]. Although we finally sent out our birth announcements several months after the birth of Amanda, they would have been far later if not for the ingenuity and speed of the Village Invites! Highly recommended!

Pros: Great service, creative staff with artistic background, various hard-to-find papers and prints can be ordered from abroad.

Cons: It's a hard neighborhood for parking. [Welcome to Midtown].

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful