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Comment by limedaring | Hacker News Reader

Definitely keeping that in mind. "You may get referrals, but you'll never get the same customers coming back to buy again." is a great point, and a big hurdle I got to jump over. One way to get around this is partnerships/licensing to the template makers, who are currently not taking advantage of what happens after they sell the template kits. Another is community building, since people who are working on their invitations love to show them off and critique others — keeping the people around longer than when they finish their design.

Thanks! :)

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Don't listen to the naysayers, this is a great idea and it is an industry primed for disruption. It's a total effing scam. But I agree with others. The DIY version is only one angle... we paid for ours (through the nostrils), but if there were a 4x6 or moo type option? Absolutely.

As far as referrals go: they matter. You won't get much repeat business so acquisition will be a concern (even with an growing divorce rate!). But people get a ton of advice from their friends when the go through the process. The same DJ that played at a friends wedding, played at ours, and now seems to show up at every wedding we go to. People ask my wife about our venue, go there and then call to find out which florists we down-selected to, etc. Point being word of mouth is probably a disproportionately large source of demand. I think that can help mitigate a low customer lifetime value.

There are other similar products you could offer to happy users. I might want to also make thank you cards, or come back a year or two after the wedding and make birth announcements.

Exactly. I don't want to plan too big just yet - get a v1 one out, start making revenue, and find out then where I should expand to because there are tons of ideas and paths. One reason I feel so passionately about my idea is because it as so much potential to build upon itself.

Then get out in front of that potential. If you don't, someone better funded will take your idea and immediately run past your v1.

I am getting married in November and wasted about an hour looking through a "book" of over-priced invitations a few days ago.

I was disappointed this site was not live because I would have bought on the spot!

The biggest issue for me is convenience, as soon as this in-person process became a chore, my fiancee and I thought to look online (again).

Even though you will not get repeat customers, you will get repeat families, party-planners and friends. Our entire vendor list came from family and/or friends referrals..

Good luck!

Exactly my thoughts. I recently got married as well and I can definitely affirm that a good part of the wedding industry works off of word-of-mouth. This product could be huge. I definitely would have used it if it was available and well executed when I got married.

An idea: -Be able to include more than just an invitation and RSVP. Food choices, maps, registry info would be great. Perhaps you could even have contracts with stores that have registries.

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