Baby Shower Invitations!

Oh Baby!

Here are some fun new baby shower invitations,

that work for both a boy or a girl.

 Green and Blue

 Orange and Blue

Green and Pink

These color combo's work great if your keeping the gender of the baby a secret, or you just want to be surprised!

These invitations are 6x6, printed on matte card stock, and come with matching envelopes and liners.

Contact us today to order your baby shower invitations! 

Party Signs

Don't stop at the invitations,

keep the theme or design style going through-out your party!

Dress up your party, with fun and stylish signs!

Allowing the guest's to help themselves allows people to

enjoy themselves more and feel more at home and welcomed.

A welcome sign directing people where to go, will keep you off

your phone making you, a better host/hostess! 

BaBy-Q Shower!

Summer is just around the corner, and what a better way to enjoy it then with a BBQ!

Are you a mother-to-be? 

Many moms-to-be are getting ride of tradition. Not may females these days are excited about going to baby showers and watching the mom-to-be open up diapers and bottles, and everything else a new mom needs. Yes, we all like to support our friends and show that we are excited that they are bringing a new bundle of joy into the world, however that does not mean we want to ohh and ahh over a diaper genie.

Many new moms are having couples showers, or here is a great concept a BaBy-Q Shower! Get ride of the old boring games, of "guess how big the mommy-to-be is" have a diaper raffle! 1 pack of diapers gets you 1 raffle ticket and raffle off a nice bottle of wine. And if you think the lady's aren't excited about watching presents be unwrapped, if they bring the guys they probably are not going to want to watch that either, so here's what you do. Tell everyone not to wrap the gifts, put them up on a table so people can still see what the mom and dad to be are getting, but this way you can enjoy your time at the BBQ!

Check out this great new style from The Green Loft!

These are fun 5x7 Invitations that work great for a Boy or a Girl!

These Invitations are great for any type of Shower, or for any type of BBQ.

Not having a baby, just a 4th of July BBQ, that's fine too. All we need to do is change up some wording and colors and your ready to celebrate!

These invitations are designed for an all ages event! 

This design work's well as a single, one card invitation, or if you have more to say attach a smaller 3.5x5 card as well for not that much more in price!

This way you can say what you want without the card getting too busy!

Times are changing and traditions need to as well! 

Contact The Green Loft today for this design, or check out our other designs.

Got a special event coming up, we will design a one-of-a-kind style/design just for you!

Script Save The Date

New style Save the Date Cards

You don't always need a picture of you two on your save the dates. Yes, they are fun, but this is a fun design that sets a fabulous tone for your wedding!

It is a classy, however is very attractive style for the mid 20's crowd!

Save-The-Date Magnet's

Here is a fun new design for Save-the-Date cards!

This photo booth design is a great way to show many pictures of you and your wife/husband to be!

These can be made into a nice 5x5 card or printed on a magnet!

Check out more great designs from The Green Loft

Postcard Save The Dates

Here is a new fun way of sending out save-the-date cards!

Have them designed as a postcard!

Creating a Save-The-Date Postcard saves you money on envelopes and you can still have them designed in any way you would like. Show off your wedding colors or give a preview of your wedding theme. You can even have a picture on the front of the two of you! These postcards printed on matte or glossy paper will catch everyone's eye!

Remember this will be the first look of your wedding, and it is ok these days to have a little more fun, and you don't have to be so formal with the save-the-dates. However, I do still recommend giving a preview of your wedding colors, theme, or something to show what people can expect from your wedding.

You want people to be excited about going to your wedding, why not give them a little taste of what they can expect from your big day!

Do I Need A Calligrapher?

Let me just start by saying NO! Stop throwing away your money! These days it's almost as expensive to pay for someone to address your invitations than it is for the whole over all design of them.

After checking online in my area (Chicago suburbs) most Calligrapher's price between $2.50-$4.00 each! Now obviously this is depending on font style, how many lines etc. However, imagine you have 150 guest, that is anywhere between $375.00 and $600.00! That is absolutely crazy to me that is more than half the cost of the invitations themselves! These prices are also only for black ink usually too. If you want color or a fancy text they are more expensive. Then If you want them to mail the invitations afterwards, that's an additional cost.

The prices just keep going up and these are just additional add-ons that you really don't need. Did you know we can print on your envelopes in any font you like for less than half that price. There are also a lot of very creative things we can do now with labels that won't make the invitations look cheap. Wouldn't you rather use that $600.00 towards something you care more about in the wedding, rather than on an envelope that people will just throw away anyways!?

Here is an example of a wrap around label that coordinates with the design of the invitation. This style is huge right now. Why? Mainly because it makes the overall presentation of the invitations look complete. It looks like you went to one person/place to have these made for your wedding. This wrap around style label also saves money on buying two different sized labels. It has the address to be mailed to on one side and the return address on the back!

A lot of very expensive invitation can look cheap very fast if the overall concept does not all tie in together. If you had the cute and modern design mixed with a calligrapher it would not go well together. So No you do not need a calligrapher and I'm not just saying this because of the cost. There are so many new designs and techniques you can use to address your envelopes without spending an excess of money.

Black and Tiffany's Blue Damask Wedding Invitations!

Onyx, White, and a touch of Tiffany's Blue!

These three colors make for a beautiful wedding color combination! Here is a new design that we came up with, Damask's are big right now to use as a watermark or to be the focus part of the design. It creates a classy and elegant look no matter where you are having your wedding. 

These invitations were created for a November wedding inside, but they would also work well outdoors! The damask is a classic design that seems to never go out of style. The Tiffany's Blue works well as an accent color, to give the Onyx a little punch! It is also a great color to tie into the flowers with maybe some black bridesmaids dresses. It is enough color to make any bouquet of flowers pop!

Summer Wedding: Blue/Teal and Orange

New Design! 

Here is a new design using the damask style again, while incorporating the blue/teal and orange colors. This is a great example of how the damask design can be used with a new and modern twist. With this design we used such bright and fun colors it gives the damask design a modern look.

Now I'm sure you are probably thinking Blue and Orange.... Gross! But check out these colors all together, they make for a great color combination for summer weddings!

These colors work great if you are getting married on a beach or outside at a country club or resort. They don't clash with nature and photography very well!

I'm not a big fan of Orange myself, however I think these colors

are beautiful for an outdoor wedding!

Thanks to the following sites for selected images
http://www.glendaloughmanor.com/ . http://blog.dressesshop.com . http://manolobrides.com . http://www.brides.com . http://jpmdesign.blogspot.com

Biggest Wedding Myths

DIY is not the cheapest route unless you have done DIY invitations before or crafts A LOT. Their are a lot of extra tools and supplies you will need to make your own Invitations! There are a lot of websites out there now that makes the invitation process very simple and easy... Just pick the style, ......now pick how many inserts, ......do you want an envelope to go with that RSVP card? .....oh you wanted text to actually be printed on that 5x5 card? .... that won't go through your printer....yeah sorry that's gonna be extra. Oh don't you want this cute ribbon to be tied around it? ...


.....Before you know it you've spent double the cost on invitations, supplies to make these simple DIY Invitations, and not to mention all the headache medicine and the bill to get your sanity back .... because your not a professional designer! AND THAT'S OK! Hey that's why were here!... 


Take a look at these wedding invitations from the knot.com. These seem simple enough and easy to do but let's break it down... 

1. They have to be printed (sure you can print these at home on your printer...)
2. They need to be cut ... hmmm starting to get a little more time consuming ... do you have a paper cutter that will cut straight? The cheapest cutter I could find was about $34.99 .....and just an fyi the paper moves!
3. Take a look at the rounded edges of these invites ... oh yea that's another tool you will need. To cut these corners you will need a rounded corner craft paper punch. Which you can get for about $15.00, maybe even $10.00. However did you leave enough room on the paper you have already cut to now punch rounded edges? You might end up with rounded edges, and the sides don't match up.
4. Now we need to go buy ribbon for that cute pull tab. This you can pick up at any craft/fabric store for about $30.00. And make sure you know how to tie ribbon, because it can look cheaply tied on very quickly!
5. Look at that beautiful lace, good luck trying to find that pattern cut to the size you need, and enough for 150 invitations... then there is that brown belt on top of the lace.... and what looks like purple string.... and then a round label. Obviously you get the point that these costs and time adds up very quickly! If you don't know what you're doing it could end in double the price to start all over!

The thing you have to remember is who is putting everything together? Sure you may think that's what my bridesmaids are for... which is true. However, most people have about 150 invitations, you have so much that you're doing already do you really have time to glue every piece of paper together, tie a ribbon around it, stuff it in an envelope, And label it!? Probably not. Trust me, I have had many brides find problems with paying money for invitations or what I've heard a countless times, "that's a lot of money for paper." There's a reason why it's worth the price it is. There's a reason why designers like myself do this for a living... to save you your sanity!


Think of it like this, most people have no problem paying a lot of money for flowers .... but guess what, they will die and you can't save those. Wedding Invitations you will put in your photo album and keep forever...do you really wanna show your children/grandchildren a card that's falling apart?

*

Response Card . . . I know it seems obvious, however many people forget to write the name on the blank line. Here's a tip many Brides find very helpful... Number your guest list, then number the corresponding response card. You can either number the back of the card OR number the inside of the response envelope. Some Brides worry about the guest seeing the number ( I recommend writing it in pencil) but if you write it on the inside of the envelope your guest will never notice!

This is very helpful for guests with bad handwriting also, when you can't make out the name. I know you probably think you will be able to read it (they are all friends and family, right?!) however you do have at least 150 guests, not to mention you don't know all of them. And I wouldn't recommend counting on the groom to be able to figure out who that chicken scratch is.

Timeline for wedding invitations

Wedding Invitations are one of those items that must be on the check list!

The Invitation is what sets the tone and feel for the whole wedding. You don't want to leave these to last minute! The invitations are one of the most important things, and not just because if you don't send them no one will come, but this is your first impression of what your wedding will be like!

You can only make a good first impression Once!

Browsing different style invitations can also help with what style wedding you want, yes everything needs to have the same style so don't try to save money buy using a cheap style wedding invitation that your guest will bring to the wedding and then realize you bought your invitations at an office supply store and used stock images because none of the styles correlate.

Start browsing invitations about 9-11 months before the big day. Check out different styles, and designers. It may seem more expensive these days to have a designer rather than just buying an "off the rack" invitation but its really not! Designers, like me, will usually bundle items together and work one-on-one with you to give you exactly the style you want!

This will guarantee that the invitations will match your wedding!! 

....and they will match your save-the-dates!

Once you've narrowed your search of styles let, your designer know so that she, I (wink, wink) can start designing your save-the-dates. These are usually sent out about 6-8 months before. This gives out-of-town-ers enough time to start saving money to be able to make it to your wonderful event!

After the save-the-dates you want to start the design process: what style, how many people, how many inserts would you like, a standard invitation card and rsvp? Or do you need an accommodations card and directions also? Make sure you get all this done and finalized for the designer by about 4-5 months before.

4-5 months you should be done with your invitation designs, this gives enough time for the designer to get  a sample to you, and make changes if need be. By 2-3 months before the big day you should have your invitations in hand with your bridesmaids stuffing and mailing them!

Finally about 2 weeks before the Wedding you should be receiving the RSVP cards so you have time to plan your table seating!

The invitations can be the most fun process! Remember it is what sets the tone for the whole wedding! You don't want your guests to open your invitation and feel the cheap paper and be able to notice that these were clearly a template you picked up from an office supply store and you ran through the computer! You want them to see how nice and fancy they are and have your guest get excited about going to your wedding! 

*Thank you to theknot.com for providing a checklist and information*

Wine Labels!!

I am so excited about our new item! Wine Labels!! We all love wine, and trust me you will love it even more when it has your name, or your event on it. I created these for my best friend as an engagement present and everyone loved them!! They are an easy and thoughtful idea for any type of present! 

These work so well for bachelorette party's, birthday's, graduation presents, or just a girls night in with the lady's!!

You can wow your guest with these for a party gift idea that everyone can go home with! Ask your best friends to stand up in your wedding and put a cute picture of the two of you on the label and tell them that you finally stopped "wining", and your engaged! 

Put a special quote of funny story that happened to you two on the back, and that's why they must stand up in your wedding!

Use these for Holiday party's or cheap gift ideas when money is tight. We also create labels for liquor bottles too! What a cute wedding gift idea to have little bottle of vodka with your thank you message as the label!! 

Do you know someone who brews there own beer? These would be a great gift idea, we can create beer labels that you can put on yourself or we will do that for you! Any guy who takes the time to brew there own beer would love to have there very own custom labels for the bottles! Another great way for these very stylish labels!!

We can create any type of label, an old fashion beer style, sexy and fun, sweet and sophisticated, anything you have in mind we will create it for you!!

Not a big drinker? That's OK too we can also create custom labels for water bottles, baby bottles, (such a cute and original shower present!) there are so many ideas on what to put these labels on. And what types of labels to design!

Just a little info of what you can expect

I just recently started, besides designing business items, I started designing Wedding Invitations! They are so much more fun then business cards and brochures! So while some of this blog will have to do with graphic design ideas and concepts, it will mainly focus on the latest and greatest wedding trends. Types of weddings, awesome wedding invitations designed by me and those who inspire me. And probably a lot more random crap when my ADD gets away from me!