Top 5 wedding invitation mistakes (and how to avoid them!)

There’s really nothing more frustrating to wedding planning than to realize that you’ve made a huge mistake. Planning a wedding is a big job. Fortunately, we make the process super easy by using our knowledge of great design, photoshop, and the printing process to take the load off your shoulders. I mean, who needs a crash course in design 101 while they’re also planning all.the.things and living a life outside of wedding prep?!

That said, there are a few mistakes we see that are totally avoidable! These mistakes make the process harder, your invites look less pretty or not exactly what you want, or can cost you time in your planning.

Here are a few of the biggest mistakes we see AND how to fix them before they become a huge problem!

mistake no.1 : your engagement photos are low resolution, blurry, or too dark.

Your roommate swore she knows how to shoot great photos. The newbie photographer you hired looked like a pro on her website (but was running a killer deal of $50 an engagement session to get more portfolio building).

Choosing a wedding and engagement photographer is important. Maybe more important than you realize. Engagement photos can be used in everything from reception decor to invitations, so making sure you get the best possible quality you can and photos you’re going to love is top priority.
If you’re planning on using engagement photos with your wedding invitation suite, you need to make sure your photos are the highest quality possible. Brides beware: Photos that are shot on a budget camera, iPhone, too dark, blurry, or blown out are harder to ‘save’. Meaning, your photographer won’t be able to make the photo better for printing or using. It’s fine for Instagram, but not for printing. A photo shot low resolution will not be able to be magically high resolution at the push of a button. A photo that is blurry will always be blurry.

the fix: make sure you are crystal clear with your photographer before the session if the fee includes high resolution image downloads. Whatever your budget is, know your photographers style and generally what you can expect for your photos. Don’t rely on photos from your sister/roommate/uncle bob especially when they may be just starting out or you don’t know what their past work looks like. No one wants to be a failed experiment.

Communicate with your photographer exactly what you need! No photographer is going to scoff at you needing great quality photos and wanting the best. If they do, they probably shouldn’t be your photographer 🤷🏼‍♀️

mistake no.2: you didn’t budget enough for wedding invitations.

You have been searching for an amazing deal on wedding invites for what feels like forever. Costco or Walmart can print photo collage cards for super cheap and some online printers are constantly running discount codes for 30% off. Who doesn’t love a great deal? It’s tempting to set your overall budget of wedding invites at some of these low cost options, but what you may not realize is that you may not be paying for quality or convenience. A low cost option may have terrible card stock or print quality, costing you both money and time trying to reprint. A low cost option may not include design (subjecting you to designing on your own) or have a clunky and generic template that you will have to tweak until you pull your hair out in frustration and exhaustion (let’s be real- we’ve tested them out. Those things are terrible)

The fix: weddings are crazy expensive. Everything seems to add up pretty quickly. Sometimes, by the time wedding invites need to be designed and printed, you may be overwhelmed by how much everything is adding up to. Or maybe you underestimated how much really good wedding invites actually cost because you saw an ad for a much cheaper company (with an inferior product!) While we know our invites won’t break the bank (we’re quite affordable!) we see some brides compromise on what they really want because of a few extra dollars. If you want the satin finish, get satin! If you really want to save time by getting return address printing, call it an investment! Get what you really want - you only have one wedding.

mistake no3: you don’t proofread the designs

This one is pretty self explanatory, but is still important. No one likes mistakes on their perfect wedding invite. There really can’t be too many eyeballs on your invites- it helps catch mistakes in spelling and addresses.

The fix: read over every email carefully to make sure you understand exactly what you’re ordering. Proofread what you send to us, and proofread every design we do. We don’t know how to spell you fiancé’s full name or the correct address for your reception. Make sure it’s 100% correct before you hit ‘I Approve!”

mistake no4: you procrastinated and now you feel a ton of pressure to get them done rushed

Whether your engagement is 1 year or 1 month, we all need to plan and stick to a good wedding timeline. Rushing everything and feeling overwhelmed for the entire wedding planning process will only foster a sense of panic and resentment.

the fix: Some planning things have a way of sneaking up on you. Don’t rush your design process, risking mistakes or a higher price tag for quicker shipping by missing an important timeline. We recommend starting your wedding invites between 8-7 weeks before your wedding date and sending them out to your guests between 4-6 weeks before your wedding date. No one likes to rush what should be a fun wedding planning step, so give yourself time to get it all done.

mistake no5: there is no cohesive style between your invites and the rest of the wedding plans.

When guests open your wedding invites, that is your first opportunity to set the overall tone for your wedding day. Planning an informal Spring wedding with lots of pastel florals but you send out a super traditional black and white formal wedding invite? Talk about confusing.

The fix: we’re artists here and love to see when couples are very clear on the overall wedding style and communicate that with us! One of the biggest style mistakes we see is when couples want to incorporate their wedding colors into the design elements but their corresponding photos are not the same colors. We love a harmonious design and color palette

We’re here to help! If you have any questions about our processes, click this link to email us!