Do-It-Yourself Invitations - Design Process

In a previous post, I walked through the research process I underwent before deciding on the wording, font, and layout for our invitations. It was now time to design the darn things.

Prior to getting engaged, I had already started following the awesome wedding blog of Kate Miller (do-it-yourself bride extraordinaire!). (Fun fact: Since her wedding, Kate has become a full-time event planner in Northern California! Check out her site: http://www.katemillerevents.com/.) These were her invitation sets:

Wow. Now that's some crazily impressive handy work! Inspired by her abilities (she learned as she went), Future Hubby and I downloaded a trial version of Photoshop and Illustrator, which ended up confusing us more than anything. (He did, however, figure out how to alter the Save-the-Date photo, which was useful considering my hair in that picture.) After the subscription for our trial version for Photoshop and Illustrator expired, I turned to PowerPoint just to see if I could even attempt to design an invitation. PowerPoint can be limited in spacing objects on the page, but with some persistence and the magic of cropping, I was able to design the invitation and inserts.

You may remember that I love toile patterns, but they are a little too feminine and flowery for Future Hubby's taste. So, I introduced him to damask.

Madison Damask

Waverly Damask

We finally agreed on dandy damask, which has just the right balance of floral and swirl without being too girly. It is bold, to match the Copperplate font we are using, but also delicate enough for a wedding and the Edwardian font we are also incorporating.

Dandy Damask

A graphic designer friend of Future Hubby's from college cleaned up the image for us so it prints super clean and crisp. Using several sources of inspiration and after many conversations with the Future Hubby, here is the final design of the invitations and inserts (a link to our wedding website for RSVP as well as a double-sided insert with map and directions).

Check out my next posting to read about where to find GREAT deals on high quality, recycled, and beautiful paper!