Month: August 2020

  • Tips for Proofreading Wedding Invitations

    Whether you’re using one of your wedding invitation templates or working with a designer, don’t skip the step of proofreading before printing. The design process gets exciting and it can be easy to miss a little detail, misspelling, or extra space if you aren’t checking carefully. It happens, but can easily be avoided if you follow these steps.

    Here are a few tips for proofreading your wedding invitations to ensure they are perfect before going to print!

    simple black and white wedding invitation template

    ASK FOR HELP

    Have your fiancé, wedding planner, mom, or friend look over the designs. Calling in for backup is crucial – you’ve been staring at the invitation closely and it starts to look familiar. Someone who hasn’t yet seen the design can really provide new insight. It’s good to get a fresh set of eyes to review everything before signing off your final approval!

    TRY OUT YOUR WEBSITE LINK

    Often couples include a link to their wedding website to direct guests for further information about their big day, typically listed on the details insert card. Try typing the link you have into your browser to make sure it is correct – add or remove any prefixes as necessary.

    If you want to make it as easy as possible for your guests, consider using a QR code rather than typed link.

    READ BACKWARDS

    Sometimes when reading words in order, it can be harder to notice a spelling order. Our brains kind of “autocorrect” and might skip a mistake because the words make sense together. By reading backwards you are isolating each word and are more likely to identify an error.

    modern wedding invitation template
    CHECK SPACING

    Look over the invitation and insert cards carefully to make sure spacing is correct. When drafting up proofs, sometimes an extra space might accidentally get added. This can be a very small error, but checking closely can ensure all spacing is as it should be.

    CONFIRM VENUE AND ADDRESS SPELLING

    When proofreading, you’re easily able to notice an error in your names or general words because it’s something you are familiar with. The venue name and address is more likely to get missed. Double check that the full name, street address, city, and state are spelled out correctly.

    REVIEW ETIQUETTE

    Some mistakes you might not even know you are making, like using abbreviations or adding unnecessary information. Check out this post on how to avoid common wedding invitation mistakes and refer to Emily Post for more in depth etiquette rules.

    printable modern wedding invitations

    With our wedding invitation templates, it’s super easy to go back and fix any mistakes before printing. Read more about how the editing process works right here!

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  • How to Get Beautiful, Quality Wedding Invitations on a Budget

    Everyone is on a budget and often invitations are one of the first things to sacrifice when it comes to allocating wedding funds. (I have no idea why since invitations are the first impression of your entire big day, the detail that ties it all together, and one of the only things you get to keep after the big day is over – just sayin!) 

    What if I told you that you can still get beautifully designed invites with quality printing, without breaking the bank?

    Easy Wedding Invitation Templates

    Say hello to wedding invitation templates – one of my favorite wedding hacks for saving money!

    Modern Wedding Invitation Template

    Instead of working one-on-one with a designer, you find an existing design you like and customize it yourself. If you’re thinking – no way can I design my own invitations, read on ‘cause it’s easier than you may think!

    You don’t have to be a designer or even tech savvy to use our wedding invitation templates. Each design includes a free demo so you can even test it out before you buy. You can read more about exactly how the process works right here!

    It’s beyond easy – most clients spend less than 10 minutes editing the design to customize their invites before downloading to print. And if for some reason, you want to have a pro edit for you – we can do that too!

    Wedding Invitation Printing

    Your invitations deserve to be on nice paper, with quality printing. Since it is the first detail of your big day, it gives guests a preview of the event – subconsciously telling them how to dress and even how much to gift. No printer paper here!

    Wedding Invitations on a Budget

    We partner with an amazing online print shop, Prints of Love, where you can easily upload your files. Their matte cardstock is my personal favorite for wedding invitations! Pricing is great four couples on a budget and they often have sales running with discounts.

    All invitation orders include free envelopes, which is an awesome bonus. As of February 2022, code “Love10” will earn you a 10% discount on orders of $49 or more. Visit their website for current sales!

    If you don’t use Prints of Love, we recommend using a local print shop where you can discuss the specifics of your order with someone. For best quality, we always outsource our printing. It might feel like it’s more cost effective to print from home but when you add in the cost of paper, ink, time spent troubleshooting, a paper trimer, and time cutting – it is usually well worth it to leave it to the pros!

    Your wedding invitations matter, they’re so much more than just a piece of paper. They truly are the first impression of your entire event and serve a pretty important role – getting your guests to your wedding. We’re excited to offer our affordable templates so you don’t have to sacrifice on design or quality, even if you’re ballin’ on a budget. Visit the template shop now!

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  • Pretty Stamps for Wedding Invitations

    Stamps for wedding invitations are often overlooked, but it’s a little detail that pulls together the whole design. Let’s avoid any ugly stamps for your oh-so-pretty paper, ok?

    At the time of this post, custom stamps have been discontinued. Fear not, future bride (or groom!) there are still tons of options for good looking wedding invitation stamps.

    Buying Stamps for Wedding Invitations

    Trust me on this: Ordering stamps in bulk from USPS.com is the easiest way to buy stamps. Otherwise, you’re waiting in a post office line to sift through a binder of what’s available – often not 100 of the better looking stamps. When you buy stamps online, they usually arrive in 1-2 weeks and shipping is $1.85. Do it, you can thank me later.

    Pro tip: If you’re using a traditional RSVP card with a reply envelope, you’ll need to buy enough stamps to cover that postage along with the mailing envelopes.

    Pretty USPS Stamps

    The selection of stamps you can buy through USPS is always changing, but here are some of the ones I’m loving right now for wedding invitations!

    Floral Stamps

    These are probably the most “traditional” stamps for wedding invitations. The two on bottom have been my go-to stamps for my full service invitation clients for the last couple of years. The top two came out recently and I like that they’re a little more modern!

    wedding invitation stamps

    The boutonniere versions are perfect for RSVP envelopes. You can also use them on your mailing envelopes if your entire invitation suite is under one ounce. If you have a heavier suite with double envelopes, multiple inserts, ribbon, wax seals, etc – opt for the two-ounce stamp which is currently 70 cents.

    Other USPS Options

    USPS just came out with a bunch of new options (yay!), but that also meant they discontinued some old favorites. Keep reading to see how to find the “retired” stamps online!

    I’m digging these abstract art stamps for a couple reasons! I love that it’s highlighting a female artist. They have a modern feel and are somewhat neutral, so could be paired with a variety of invitation designs.

    These outdoor-sy stamps are new and really cool if you’re a couple that loves to travel, having a destination wedding, or are just nature lovers. The scenes are colorful and peaceful; the canoe design truly sparks joy for me!

    Retired Stamps

    Like I mentioned above, with new stamps means USPS will discontinue, or retire, other designs. 

    BUT – you can buy USPS’s retired stamps on Amazon. Forever stamps are good, well forever. You can expect to pay a little more than face value, some are more expensive than others. 

    floral stamps for wedding invitations

    A few of my favorites:

    • These floral Love stamps are my favorite USPS has ever sold. I used them on every wedding invitation order I could and was super bummed when they discontinued them. They’re cheerful and the perfect way to add a fun detail to your invitation envelopes!
    • These Love stamps are a close second. Blue in color, fun font, and an airplane – these were made for wedding invitations!
    • I love the colors in the berry stamp collection. They’re also a bit smaller than the typical stamp, with a dainty feel. I still have a small secret stash of these I’m holding onto!
    • Tropical vibes or plant lovers – these fern stamps are made for you! So fun for a boho wedding.
    • Nothing says wedding like floral and these sets have such variety! Another I used frequently and was sad to see retired. These are pretty pricey through Amazon, but I wanted to share them just in case they’re available elsewhere!
    • These air mail stamps have such a vintage vibe and are perfect for an industrial wedding! I used them for my Christmas cards last year because I wanted red, but couldn’t bear the cheesy holiday stamps.

    After looking at all of these, I’m really wanting to start a petition to bring the good ones back! I have no idea why USPS only keeps such a limited selection available at a time. #wewantprettystamps

    Vintage Stamps for Wedding Invitations

    If it’s in your budget and you want something really pretty, I recommend vintage stamps! These are old, unused stamps and Etsy is a great place to find them. 

    You’ll have to order in the increments that add up to the actual postage you need. For example, if your mailing envelope is under one ounce, you’ll need 55 cents worth of postage so you could use four stamps – 25 cents, 15 cents, 8 cents, 7 cents. Make sense? (Cracking myself up over here, sorry!)

    One of my very favorite shops for vintage stamps is VerdeStudio on Etsy. She’ll even put together a curated collection for you in your color palette or theme! I’ve also ordered from Little Postage House and other Etsy shops!

    Speciality Stamps

    If you’re mailing anything over an ounce, you will need to add additional postage. I always recommend taking one, fully assembled invitation suite to the post office you’ll mail from and have them weigh it for you. It would be a less than awesome experience to have all your invitations returned for insufficient postage.

    Square envelopes require this special stamp. Basically, a mail machine “reads” envelopes and knows which way is up by the length of the sides. Since a square’s sides are all the same size, it has to be sorted manually and that cost is passed on to the mailer.

    Postcards require only 35 cents of postage to mail, a definite favorite for save the dates and RSVP cards. Currently USPS only has this design available and because it’s not very fitting with most wedding themes, often couples choose a prettier 55 cent stamp anyway.

    Did you have any idea there were so many options for stamps for wedding invitations? If you’ve found another stamp you love, let me know in the comments below!

    *Affiliate Disclosure: We recommend these products because we use them, enjoy them, and found them helpful. By using our links, we sometimes receive a commission for referring, at no cost to you.

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  • How to Use a QR Code for Wedding Invitations

    Website links? So last year. Using a QR code for wedding invitations is a trend that’s still emerging, but we’re loving it for a few reasons! I’m sharing exactly how to set up a QR code, creative ways to use it for your wedding, and invitation templates that incorporate a place for the scannable image.

    Modern Virtual Wedding Invitation with QR code

    What are QR codes?

    Quick storytime: I’m not a tech savvy person and always resistant to anything new. I’ve seen QR codes everywhere for years, but didn’t know how they worked. If I’m being honest, I thought you had to have a QR code app and truly didn’t understand the power of these funky looking images.

    Fun fact: QR codes came out in 1994 and rose to popularity in 2002 in Japan. The QR codes we know today, scannable with our phones, really gained traction in 2011. Steph (that’s me) didn’t understand what they did until 2019.

    Within the past year (a little embarrassing, but true!), I realized how QR codes actually work — and how incredibly easy they are to visit as a user and to set up for use. So, all you do is pull out your smart phone, open the camera, and hold it over the image – it does the magic from there! Nothing to download, just leads you straight to the intended link.

    Pretty neat, right? QR codes are frequently used on business cards, signage, menus, instructions, packaging, and more. I haven’t seen them used on stationery, like invites, too often and I don’t know why the heck not – here’s why using a QR code for wedding invitations is an awesome idea.

    QR Code Wedding Website

    So many couples opt for a wedding website as a place to list the full logistics of their big day. Instead of writing out the long website URL on your invitation or details insert, just create a QR code (it’s 100% pain free – the steps to creating your own are below!). 

    It makes the website accessible immediately and your guests don’t have to type in your full website link. Not only is it super easy, but dare I say – fun? When I see a QR code on something, there’s a little bit of a surprise as to what I’m getting when I scan. This is a great way to make sure people actually visit your website: pure curiosity.

    Online RSVPs

    I’ve been working with couples to design wedding invitations since 2013 and I can tell you that choosing an online RSVP is definitely growing as a trend. Rather than the traditional RSVP card with pre-stamped and addressed envelopes, couples are choosing the virtual RSVP for a few reasons. Often ease and cost prevail, although I do still recommend the traditional RSVP for more formal weddings!

    With a QR code, you can have guests respond directly via your link letting you know if they can or cannot attend. When they read your RSVP instructions with a QR code, instead of thinking “I’ll do that later”, they can just pick up their phone and do it instantly. 

    You can keep wording simple and state: “Please scan to RSVP. We appreciate your response by September 1 and look forward to celebrating with you!”

    QR Codes for Virtual Weddings

    In 2019, I don’t think anyone ever dreamed that weddings would become virtual within the next year, but here we are!

    Meeting links for Zoom and Skype live streaming sessions can get long, especially if you want to include a password. QR codes are the perfect way to make attending a virtual wedding super, duper easy. Just scan and you’re in!

    We have a mini collection of invitations for virtual weddings, all with a space for adding your custom QR code.

    How to Create a Custom QR Code for Wedding Invitations

    Spoiler alert: creating a QR code is easy. If I can do it, I promise you can!

    Once you have your URL, visit a QR code generator website. Drop your link and ta-da! That’s it. If you’re fine with keeping the standard code, you can just download! If you want to change the color or add a logo, you’ll have to create a free account. 

    Wedding Invitation Template Shop

    Tip: Keep colors dark, some phones have trouble picking up lighter shades.

    If you choose one of our template that already has a QR code, you can easily drop it in. When customizing the invitation, just click the code and “replace image”. Upload your custom QR code and you’re done!

    How to use a QR code for wedding invitations in 2020

    You can also “add a new image” to any of our designs that don’t have the QR code or include with your own design.

    Before printing everything, test your code out. It can be harder to scan through a screen, so zoom in if you need to. It’ll be much easier to scan once printed, but you want to make sure you got it right first!

    So, what do you think? Are you going to use a QR code for your wedding invitations? Let me know by commenting below!

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