Wedding’s are super expensive. People will tell you you can do it inexpensively, but whatever way you look at it, everything has a price tag and truthfully there are just a lot of those everything’s you feel like you need for the big day. With wedding budgets, it really comes down to choosing what is of value to you and your fiancé. Maybe you guys aren’t really into cake, but you would be upset if you didn’t have your dream photographer. Maybe you don’t mind a little less flowers to have a very personalized wedding invitation. 

If you're over there thinking I WANT IT ALL, I was right there with you. Take a sec to think about your wedding budget from a different lens. What do you value the most? If you’re saying you can’t (or don’t want to) choose, think about what you can get multiple uses out of. By this, I mean splurging on florals, invitations, signage, dresses, photography, even cake toppers can be worth it if you think about them differently. Can these things have a second life?

 A few ideas for you:

Day of Details

Weddings can require so much signage. You have the option to go inexpensive with templated work or go big with custom pieces such as signature cocktail signs or cupcake flavor signs that will make your guests stop in their tracks! 

After the wedding: Hang your cupcake signs in your kitchen in a cute mural. Decorate your bar cart with your signature cocktail sign and fun bar cart related items such as alcohol (obvi!), fun straws, wine openers, books, and your wedding day champagne glasses!

photos by @Laurengarrettbrown

Cake Topper

I splurged on a cake topper for my wedding for sure! The custom designed cake topper from Better Off Wed caught my eyes from the get go, but it was pretty pricey (around $80) for just a cake topper. 

After the wedding: I glued the topper to a white backboard and framed it. It is now hanging in my office and I AM OBSESSED. 

Invitations

Invitations can be pricey too, but it’s totally worth it when the end result is a beautiful custom branded wedding invite that showcases every bit of you and your fiancé's personality. It is, after all, the first thing your guests see, setting the mood and tone for everything they should expect to see in the following months.

After the wedding: There are a lot of ways to cherish your invitations after the wedding. My favorite idea is to buy a shadow box and pin each piece to the back of the box. Think about other items you could pin with it such as a wedding corsages/boutonnieres, wedding jewelry, and any day of details.

Florals

If you want to splurge on flowers for the wedding day, I say GO FOT IT! I think some people get hung up on the fact that florals literally last one day and are not something you can get any use out of again, but I say that’s totally not true! 

After the wedding: One easy way of keeping your wedding bouquet around, other than preserving it by air drying or hanging it upside down, is to have your bouquet drawn! This is such a unique way of keeping your beautiful bouquet forever (without actually keeping it physically). The great thing about a bouquet drawing is it looks great in just about any room's decor due to the subject matter.

For those of you just married, what are some ways you have given second life to items from your wedding day? Bride to be's- what are some of the items you HAVE TO HAVE!? Tell me in the comments :)

So you’re interested in my custom wedding invitations, but you aren’t quite convinced yet or you just need to know what you’re getting yourself into? No problemo! Keep reading for the step by step process you’ll recieve when you book your custom illustrated wedding suite with me!

1. Inquiry

Congrats-you’re engaged!! Maybe you’ve been following me for some time on Instagram or maybe you found me on Pinterest – however you got here, I’m glad you’re here! It’s time to get this wedding planning party started! During this important first step, you’ll be filling out a quick questionnaire for me so I can whip up a free quote tailored to your needs. This questionnaire really helps me get a sense of who you and your fiancé are at a high level and what you guys are interested in as far as wedding invitations go. I will ask you simple questions such as:

• What are your names?
• Where and when are you getting married?
• How many people are estimated to be invited and how many of those people should receive an invite?
• What are you interested in having created pertaining to the actual invitation suite (ie: main card + envelopes, address printing, details card, rsvp + envelopes, wax seals, ribbons, custom maps, assembly, etc)

Interested in taking a look at this form right now? Click here for your free custom invitation quote.

2. Quote

Once I receive your form, I will evaluate it and put together your quote. This quote will contain a few sections in it. The first page will contain the proposal. It has a line item for each checkbox you clicked of the items you were interested in having included in your suite (ie: details card or rsvp + envelopes). There will be a total at the bottom of this page as well as a check box asking if you are interested in proceeding, not yet, or if you have questions. If interested, it will automatically take you to the contract once you submit.

3. Contract and Invoice

A contract sounds scary, I know! But it’s vital to my business because I want to make sure you and I are both satisfied at all times during the process. This contract will go over things like the number of revisions you'll get and what is considered a revision, when you are expected to make payments, and what happens when you want to up your number of invitations after you already signed this contract. Once you sign the contract it will take you to the invoice where I require you to pay a 50% non-refundable retainer of the total in your proposal before I move into any sort of custom designing. The remaining will need to be paid in full before the invitations go out in the mail. Keep in mind, if you are wanting custom or vintage stamps will be added to your final invoice if it pertains to your needs.

4. Couples Questionnaire and Lookbook

So you’re all booked with me and have officially become a #JesMarriedBride 🙌🏼 I will now send over a quick questionnaire to get to know you guys better! This will be a deep dive into the look and feel of what you’re interested in having drawn. The unique part about my offering is you can get whatever you want drawn! If you want your favorite flower on the details card and a crest on the main card- done! Dog can't make it to the wedding? That's what you think! How about that heart eyes venue you just booked? I’ll be there! (Jk – just checking if you were paying attention). The price for subject matter is all the same, no up charging for a specific design. I like to keep it easy peasy :) All of my work is custom drawn in my signature marker illustration style and is 100% unique to your suite. No two designs are the exact same. Once I get all that info I will put together a custom tailored lookbook experience for you to review. This will be my suggestion of what I feel works best based on your questionnaire!

5. Illustrations and proofing

Your designer sketch and lookbook is approved and now the fun begins! I will take the approved ideas back and begin the designing phase. You will receive three rounds of revisions, before there will be an additional fee, but I bet we can get it done in three or less :)



6. Approval and Printing

Once I have you final invitation suite designed I will send you your final design print release. This includes all final designed pieces. You will be checking for spelling errors and date errors! This will be your last chance before it is sent to the printer. You’ll sign the release and I'll send to the printer.

7. Assembly and mailing

If you have decided you’d rather have date night instead of assembly night, I got you! I can (and would love to!) assemble all of your invitation suites and mail them for you! I’ll even mail one to you so you can experience the same exciting moment all of your guests are experiencing! However, if you want to do the assembly and mailing yourself, I will gladly ship the invites to you. Before anything is shipped or mailed, your final invoice must be paid in full. Your final invoice will include any additional costs that were added on (ie: you decided to add on a map design halfway through the process) and any stamp/postage fees.  I will send your final invoice to you once I have received the work from the printer, and if applicable, weighed your suite and have you sign my usps mailing agreement. 

Phew! Sounds like a lot but it’s really a simple, straightforward, enjoyable process for you! I really hope if you were on the fence before reading this, you have decided to take the plunge and go for it! You won’t regret it ☺️