4th of July BBQ Invitations

Summer is almost here… and what better way to enjoy it than having a BBQ!!

Whether it is for Memorial Day, 4th of July, Labor Day, or just because,

these are a fun and colorful design that will get everyone's attention!!

Check out more great summer invitations that The Green Loft has to offer!

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!

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!

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?

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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.