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Let me start off by saying if you're like really, really, really good at design stuff, this post is not for you.
Setting the tone for your nontraditional wedding starts with a unique wedding invitation that screams you all over it! But what if your dream is to design your own wedding invitations for your offbeat wedding, except you don't have a designer's eye?
If you're like me, you've tried creating your own wedding invitation on that infamously free online design program (you know, the one with the pre-set templates), and it came out like this:
Recently, I had to plan my bestie, Cristy's, bachelorette, and I wanted to incorporate pretty paper goods like a bachelorette itinerary. Cristy is such a cool gal (Offbeat friends would LOVE her), so I wanted to make every detail of her bachelorette as unique as she was!
When I saw Vistaprint offered expert design services, I decided to give it a spin and design a cardstock bachelorette itinerary for an absinthe fairy-themed bach party! I mean, that theme is as offbeat as they come, right?
If you're considering using Vistaprint to create your own nontraditional wedding invitation, I'll walk you through the whole process in this post. SPOILER: It was quick, easy, and FUN!
How to design your own wedding invitation using Vistaprint:
My favorite part of this process is that I got to work with a professional Vistaprint designer! Also, Vistaprint's expert design services aren't just for creating your own wedding invitations. You can also use Vistaprint's design services for any type of celebration.
Step 1: Choose the product you want
There were so many options from day-of wedding decor (acrylic signs, menu cards, programs) to everything you need as part of your wedding invitation suite (Save the Dates, invitations, RSVP cards).
Even though I was technically doing a bachelorette itinerary, I selected the Custom Wedding Invitations since the sizes would be about the same as what I wanted for the bach itinerary.
Step 2: Describe your design idea
If you’re not great at describing design-y things (“Idk, make it pop? Make the logo bigger?”), then you will LOVE the option to upload reference photos. It's like creating a mood board for designing your own wedding invitations!
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I recommend including EVERYTHING you want in this section. The Vistaprint designer working on this custom wedding invitation (or wedding-related paper goods) needs to know all the text you want on this piece. Otherwise, they will cancel the project and ask you to start over, which happened to me. So be sure to include all the information, such as dates, names, times, locations, contact info, etc. If you're trying to design your own wedding invitation suite, you will need to provide the Vistaprint designer with new information per piece in your suite. So for instance, you'll need to provide text for the menu separately from text that goes on your Save the Date.
Here is what I described:
Step 3: Upload any inspiration photos you have
Because I'm a serial Pinterester, I had a bunch of these ready to go! If you're trying to create your own wedding invitation, saving photos of things you like is a helpful tactic for creating a cohesive design. The designer was able to find the common thread throughout these, and…well, you'll see!
Step 4: And now we wait…but not for too long!
After a few days of excited anticipation, they sent me the proof! What do you think?
I'm screaming over the little absinthe glass the fairy at the top is holding!!! And those gorgeous floral designs in the corner are straight out of a vintage French book!
Also, if your design is not 100% where you want it to be, you can request up to 2 revisions!
I mean, if the custom bach invitations came out this detailed, can you imagine how creating your own wedding invitations with a Vistaprint design pro would go?!
I also asked to create a little business card with everyone's contact info. Why?
I've been in multiple situations where someone's lost their phone, or their phone died. This would always turn the night sour as we'd have to skip the fun things to go searching for our missing party member. Also, I don't think people memorize phone numbers anymore. So since everyone attending the bach party was practically a stranger to each other, I wanted to print everyone's contact information on a cute card so that they'd be able to reach out in the event their cell phone wasn't at hand!
Step 5: Order everything and admire your work
Yeah baby, YOU DID THAT! Well, a Vistaprint designer did that, but YOU came up with the one-of-a-kind design concept. Here's what the absinthe fairy-themed bachelorette itinerary looked like in person:
Should you design your own wedding invitations?
If you aren't a pro designer or you just need something that's fast but customized, Vistaprint's custom design services help make it easy peasy!
I would totally use this design service again. After all, I signed up to be Maid of Honor, not a design wizard. I didn't have to waste precious mental energy figuring out Photoshop, and you shouldn't have to either! Don't spend your spoons trying to design your own wedding invitations if design is not your passion.
Let the design experts at Vistaprint take this wedding task off your to-do list. That way, you can spend your spoons where they matter most and still get a unique, custom design you’ll adore for all your wedding print needs.
Ready to try Vistaprint's custom design service?!
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