Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Oh Hello, Invitations!

Finally. I am so excited to FINALLY post about these babies. December 23 or 24 I got our first invitations from Vistaprint. They were... bad. Tiny, off-center, greyish, flimsy, and dull. I tweeted about it and Vistaprint contacted me- who knew they had such great customer service! They worked with me completely to get them re-ordered so I'd be happy with them.

I learned a few things that you can hopefully use if you order from Vistaprint- really measure what the size is, in real life. Don't let yourself be shocked. Also, with darker colors, don't order matte. I think it would only look nice for a white or ivory. As for borders... don't. They'll just look uneven, since cutting isn't 100% guaranteed on center.

Re-ordering, I knew I'd do a larger size. This meant a re-design and I knew my designer was unavailable because of the holidays. So I did it myself. While Mr P played poker with the dudes, I worked with the pdf images she sent, cropped, cut, pasted, and re-worked. I added new elements. I think I did a good job! Want to see? Ok... here we go!

The package arrived tonight. Mr Pug is still in Alabama for work, so I took the mail inside myself and just... stared at it. I poured some wine. I worked up courage.

I opened it, got past the envelopes... and laid eyes on our RSVP postcards. I ordered those with the new invites to save on shipping. I'm glad I saw these buggers first... cause look:

Oh yes, we went non-traditional!

I smiled immediately and went straight on to the invitations. I ordered them in the linen finish... what a difference. Here are some close-ups.

Below are the old invitation and new one side by side. Look at the difference in the richness! Although, part of the dullness was the pdf. When I had it in photoshop, it wasn't pure black. That also plays a part. But overall... linen is much crisper and so... juicy. I love it.

Better, right?!?!

I added that cool quatrefoil (I think that's what they're called?) in white, and created that neat monogram in the circle.

Some RSVP glamor shots...

The RSVP files sent to me were improperly sized, and I didn't like the way they were laid out, so I fixed those myself too. It was a lot of work (well, a lot of time) but I think it was worth it. I love the RSVP front without a border around it! It's so contemporary. I also had to change the RSVP date on the back because of the delay.

I got brave and decided to do wrap-around envelope labels as well. Here they are on my computer:

See how they go? Circle on the back, quatrefoil on the front? I'm making these into PDF files, 4 per page, and will try to print them at work on full-label sheets. Since... my printer? No green ink.

Yea I wrote the green parts in for effect. Don't judge my nails! Avert your eyes!

Jeez, AND bad lighting? I stink. Someone buy me a DSLR and a photoshop class, stat!

Here is the whole suite! (That's what it's called, right? PS- the invite is laying over half the envelope... it's a big envelope!

I figure I'll print the labels Friday, then assemble and send Saturday. I will need to get a paper cutter with a coupon from Michaels- any suggestions guys? What do you all think? It's a major relief to have it done. I am so glad I went with Vistaprint because I learned their customer service is top-notch. I am looking forward to sending these out to our loved ones! They're more non-traditional for our new unique situation, but I think that makes them really reflect us.

What are your favorite things about your invites? Did you self-design or have others do it?

26 comments:

  1. Looks fantastic! I don't recommend any of the paper cutters from Michaels for invitations. I have a Fiskars one and it doesn't cut as precise as need be. We're going to go to Kinkos and use one of those huge pull down ones.

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  2. Those are friggin adorable, especially the RSVP front!!! I ditto the DSLR and photoshop class. I need it bad. =/ Maybe when I hit the lotto one day. Hahaha.

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  3. They look amazing!!! Very important question haha.... where did you get that quatrefoil thing?? I've been wanting that shape for so long!

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  4. Paper cutter....go to Archiever's, buy some stuff and use their industrial strength cutter! You might even find some die cut shaped to use.
    LOVE the invitation "suite" - NICE JOB

    Agent99

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  5. Wow! I love your invites! I love how unique they are, the colors, the layout,... EVERYTHING! I just got the cheap print you own ones.

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  6. I loooove them! Seriously! I'm so impressed that you added all those details yourself - I love how they turned out!

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  7. How funny. My invitation came in the mail today, too! But I am not blogging about it until next Wed because I already have other posts scheduled :) And I want to run to Michael's to pick up some embellishments first. I also created my own envelope wraps, too! I LOVE yours though...so great. I think mine are a lot simpler...you'll see soon. I ordered sheet labels today for them and am trying to align the design and match the color on my computer just right...so they're not done yet. But soon...

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  8. I LOVE them, Pugs! Beautiful, unique & quirky! LOVE, LOVE, LOVE them!
    I have a paper cutter from Michael's that actually ended up working better than Kinkos' & other copy centers. Can you believe their paper cutters were crooked? It wasn't until FI and I pointed it out (after ruining 3 projects on it) and the guy didn't even know how to fix it. Oooohhhh well, I love your invites!

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  9. The suite looks great! I especially love the pug RSVP card, and I totally want to create wrap-around labels too! :o)

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  10. Wow, your invitations look great!!! That linen finish does so much for them in black, and I know that everyone is going to LOVE them. Great job!!

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  11. Yours look incredible! We got a DIY kit and are going to get to work on them soon.

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  12. I love them! You definitely did a great job... very impressed!

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  13. As a Phi Mu, I can confidently tell you that that is a version of a quadrefoil (our symbol)! VERY CUTE "suite"- you did a great job designing. I like the linen finish too!

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  14. those are AMAZING!! i really love the design, the colors, the wording--it's incredibly well done. yay!

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  15. Ok, i'm so glad that worked with you. I started reading this and got sad, but then i realized it all worked out ! YAY! I am really loving Vistaprint a lot ... and so glad that the giveaway worked out in the end for you! :)

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  16. Awesome work. I gave you a blog award so come by and pick it up. :D

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  17. Hey!
    Is there any way you can share your address label file? I'm really new at this design thing and I'd love to use yours as a starting off point. If you could email me: hannah.m.morris (at) gmail.com it would be amazing!
    Thanks :)
    xoxo

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  18. Why did I never see this in my reader?!?!?!? LOVED HOW IT TURNED OUT KEL!!!!! <3

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  19. wow these turned out great way to go puggy!!

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  20. I'm having a tough time finding great paper for printing our invites. What kind of linen paper did you use? It looks so great with your black!

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  21. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE your invite suite...especially the adorable pug. I wish I would have done something like that for ours!

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  22. I would LOVE a template of that address label too if possible!!! Do you still have those label sheets for sale?

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  23. Question... Did you type out each person's name and address and print individually, or did you mail merge your address labels? I'm dying to use wrap arounds, so I made my design in photoshop. Then I tried to make mail merged labels with the design in Word using my addresses in an Excel spreadsheet... But it doesn't work! Do you have any tips? Yours are beautiful and I love the wedding photos you put up recently. Don't stop blogging!

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