Simply to Impress Review — Invitation Printing Comparison (2012)

Simply To Impress was founded by Heather Hasse in 2003. She started the company because she wanted to use personal photographs to commemorate special moments in her life which she was celebrating, and she did not want to pay a fortune for them.

Hasse began running the company on her own but as it grew in popularity she recruited graphic artists, photographers and other staff to support her, but the team kept the original concept of the company the same.

Their mission is to create personal quality event cards and announcement stationery that is unique to each client. Although Hass prefers to use photographs which is their speciality Simply To Impress can create any design for products according to the customers' wishes.

The company produces the following products

• Birth announcements
• Invitations
• Holiday cards
• Thank you cards
• Simply photos

The more unusual products they do for their clients are

• Adoption announcements
• Twin Baby announcements
• Baby's First Holiday.

To see their full range of products click on to the Simply To Impress website

What makes Simply To Impress different and unique is the customers design their own cards. Other companies have templates already designed by their professional designers with the design and wording already inserted. Customers choose the design they like and send their personal wording and photograph in for the designers to put together.

What comes over from the reviews is customers have swtiched to this company because they like the excitement of designing their own cards and the photographs of their family are not too small which is what they want.

The cards are professionally finished and "tweaked" by the design team but they are basically the customer's own design which makes them all the more personal.

Tiny Prints is a company which pproduces photo cards , personalized stationery and stylish designs. The company was started by three friends with big dreams and a passion for beautiful paper, and it has grown into a self-funding company specialising in baby stationery.

Where it differs from Simply To Impress is they have standard cardswith their own designs which customers select and then personalise. At Simply To Impress customers actually design their own cards and then submit them to the design team to finish off, which makes them more personal.

Tiny Prints do allow customers to submit their personal photos to be inserted on the cards if they wish, but some of the designs have very little space for the photo so it comes out very small. That was a point brought up by one of the reviewers who has now switched to Simply To Impress.

Cardstore has a personalisation system that allows customers to create their own photo cards and photo postcards. They do Easter cards where customers can add their favourite family photograph and family name to the banner which has a brown or a white rabbit on it, which is not to everyone's taste.

The cards are pronted on high quality 130lb matte recycled cardstock and the company offers a service where they will mail the cards direct to the customer's recipients.

Customers can order one card as a proof but it will cost them $2.39 or order them without seeing a proof. They have a nice range of birth announcement cards, blue for a boy and pink for a girl. They are nicely designed and there is plenty of room for a personal photograph.

They also do photo adoption announcement cards include one for a child adopted from other countries like China. Cardstore also has some very cute twin announcement cards.

Although the customers cannot design their own cards as they can on the Simply to Impress website, the designs are minimal allowing large personal photographs to be used.

Simply To Impress

Envelopes are included in the price. Minimum order for invitations 15, all other cards minimum 25.

• 5" x 7" on photo-style paper $0.74 each
• 5" x 7" on 12pt glossy cardstock or 14pt matte cardstock $1.35 each
• 5" x 7" on 12pt glossy or 14pt matte cardstock $1.66 each

Delivery Prices

• Standard (2-4 business days) $8
• Expedited (2 business days) $15
• Overnight delivery (1 business day) $23

Tiny Prints

Some orders have a minimum of 10, others are 25. Each card has to be checked for price separately.

• Photo Cards start at $1.08
• Flat Cards start at $0.69 for a long narrow card up to $1.44 for a normal card

Delivery Prices

• Economy (7-10 business days) $7.95
• Standard (7 business days) $9.95
• Priority (5 business days) $19.95
• Super Rush (2 business day) $27.95

Cardstore

Customers can order one card as a proof and there is no minimum limit. The prices qioted are for a single design card.

• 5" X 7" folded cards 1-9 $2.79 each, 10-19 $2.39 each, 20-49 $1.50 each
• 5" x 7" Flat cards 1-9 $2.39 each, 10-19 $1.99 each, 20-49 $1.59 each
• 10 personalised Easter Cards $19.90

If the customer chooses to have the cards sent to their recopients by the company postage is charge at $0.44 each for US addresses and $0.90 for International addresses.

Delivery Prices

Postage to have the cards delivered to the customer depend on the number of cards ordered. The price for 11-25 cards are

• Standard $5.00
• 3-day $8.00
• 2-day $12.00
• Overnight $24.00

Simply to Impress judges its success from the customer feedback they receive. Here are some of the latest reviews

1. Great Service! My birth announcement cards arrived quickly and such nice packaging. Will definitely purchase from this company in future. Thank you. Ashley M.
2. This was the first time I used your company for my holiday cards, it won't be the last. The cards came out beautiful and the recipients of the cards were impressed. They were simple and quite lovely, thank you. Jennifer S. Westbury NY.
3. Two years ago you printed our birth announcements for our son. I received so many compliments and was beyond satisfied, I designed and ordered some Christmas Cards as well. Now every year I look forward to designing my next card and the finished product is like a Christmas gift itself. Thank you Simply To Impress, you do an awesome job preserving our memories from the design options to the actual turnaround time. Every year you amaze us and each year we look forward to working with you again. See you in 2011. Serena L, Anchorage AK.
4. I was very very happy with my holiday cards! The design templates were really classy and they were lots of choices. I LOVED the card's execution, the colours were vibrant and the photo looked great. I also loved the photo on the back. It was a nice size and not hard to see like the ones at Tiny Prints whom I have used in the past. Overall I would recommend you guys to everyone and I can say I am now a Tiny convert! LOL. I'll be ordering my daughter's burthday invitations soon. Thanks for a great card. Clare K. Sherman, Oaks CA.