It was a woman who'd been married and, like anyone who has done so, marvelled at some of the costs involved, and especially at costs that were suddenly 2-3x as much as normal if you say "wedding" rather than "family get-together". So she bought into a business that provided chairs, chair covers, table centrepieces, etc.

But with weddings come huge expectations and issues of timing. You're usually working weekends and nights. You have to work in and around other providers, setting up at certain times and often dismantling well after midnight (because the venue has something else on the day after). Yet everyone grumbles about paying for crucial things like delivery and setup (sounds easy, but who in your wedding party needs to be setting things up amidst the dramas of the actual wedding?) and, as you suspected, tensions are high and customers are demanding (bridezilla-style).

Invitations are a tough space. Horrendously competitive and though everyone wants lovely invites, no one really wants to pay what they cost. It's rarely the design process that kills you. I bet there are loads of people who fall in love with letter press invites and then get a quote that knocks them over. Some invites might be $10 ea and for that price you can usually add another course to your reception dinner!

I married for the second time earlier this year (second time ever, not second time this year! ;)), designed the invites myself (though I'm a web designer rather than a graphic designer) and handled RSVPs and everything that goes with it through a custom designed and built site (now in post-wedding mode at http://www.march20.com.au/).

I am actually in the process of expanding my setup into a side-project (http://www.guestlist.com.au/) that actually touches on invitations. @limedaring, I would be more than happy to trade ideas and tips and even see if there's room to collaborate on a link between ventures if you wanted (email in profile).

That's how the idea started — people wanted to save money on invitations and ended up doing it themselves, resulting generally in a really poor product. I wanted to do something that allowed for budget consumers to do-it-themselves, but give them a better ability to make it typographically beautiful.

Weddings also often require all-day commitments, which is a huge factor in pricing. I am a photographer and make about 60-70% of my revenue from weddings. This is one of two reasons why we charge what we do; the other is the massive wholesale costs on albums ($500-$900 from the vendor we use).

The rest of my revenue comes from other types of shoots, which are much, much easier and a much faster turnaround. A family shoot can be redone. A wedding can't, so experience matters more than any other kind of shoot.

People don't want a quote for wedding invites, they want to know all the prices / price-breaks upfront and do it all online, if that's not already happening there is room for disruption.

I'd love to beta your guest list software (it would save me from building my own!). I am about to do the invites for my wedding so I am on the lookout for sweet wedding related web services.

I have a lot on the go so unless you're getting married in the distant future, I wouldn't bank on me having it all ready for you. Otherwise, thanks for the offer - hopefully one day I'll have it ready to show to the HN crowd and get some feedback on the concept.