How on earth do I decide what wedding stationery design to choose?

These days Pinterest is the first place many brides go to find inspiration. But let's be honest, the options are ENDLESS and quite frankly OVERWHELMING!

• Begin as soon as you are able to look at design ideas. Early on you will probably have an idea what style your wedding will be. Create a board on Pinterest specifically for your wedding stationery,  and search for stationery that appeals to you and fits the style of your wedding. When you save a pin that you like, ask yourself, "Why does this appeal to me? What do I like about this design? What do I not like about it?" Use the answers to these questions to communicate with your designer.

• Once you've chosen the colors and flowers you will have at your wedding, you can be more specific in what stationery you are looking for. But do not limit yourself to only stationery that has the exact colors and flowers of your wedding. There may be aspects of a design that you like, but the colors and flowers don't match. No worries! If you choose a stationery designer who offers custom design, changing those things are usually not an issue.

Following are a few wedding styles and how to choose your stationery to match:

Modern/Minimal • Your stationery should be clean and have plenty of white space with minimal design elements. (I use this term pretty often in the rest of this post, so to clarify what I mean, when I use design elements I'm referring to everything that is used in your design outside of the text and backgrounds, this could include flowers, lace, watercolor swatches, swirls, etc.) To keep it extra clean and minimal, do not use a script font. If you use a script font, choose something clean with few flourishes. Adding a pastel color to some of the text adds a bit of interest but still keeps the design clean.

Rustic/Western • Background options for this style include: cream paper, brown (like kraft) paper, or cream paper. Often sunflowers or roses are the flower of choice for this style, baby's breathe is a nice accent flower. Using lace in the design works well. In my experience, this is a design style where it's easy to go too far with adding different design elements. So keep in mind that the flowers and other design elements on your stationery should give your stationery a cohesive feel and lead the eye to the important parts of the invitation, namely the text.

Vintage • Watercolor flowers and design elements are currently popular with this style. The stationery could have a hand-made feel to fit well with your wedding. Lace adds a vintage touch. The design could be as minimal as the modern style, but often has a few more design elements that add interest, movement, and texture.

Garden • This style is very whimsical, fun, and carefree. Your stationery should have lots of floral elements using different shades of complimentary colors. It should have an unexpected fun feel. Use a neutral background to give the eye a place to rest. Using a script font for some of your text works really well with this style.

Because you are unique, your stationery should be unique as well! It should reflect who you are as a couple and be cohesive with the wedding you are planning.

Part of my design process, with custom stationery, is providing the brides I work with, with a number of different options to choose from, so not knowing exactly what you want right from the beginning is okay. But, I will add, knowing the basic design style is important at the beginning stage.

If you are still unsure of how to decide, contact me and I'll be happy to help!

I'd love to hear from you! How has this post helped you? What questions do you have concerning your wedding stationery?

3 Ways To Make Your Wedding Stationery Look Expensive Without Breaking The Bank.

I get it you want wedding stationery that's unique and beautiful, but most of the options (gold foil, handmade paper, embossing, hand lettering, etc) you are looking at add too much to the cost.

Following are three ways you can make your wedding stationery look expensive without breaking the bank...

1) Add a belly-band. It's a sweet way to add beauty and detail to your stationery and it's practical too, it holds all the different items in your guests' envelopes together. This is especially helpful if you have a separate details and rsvp card and envelope for said rsvp card, along with multiple other items. I personally think that belly-bands add nice a finished touch to a set of wedding stationery.

2) Have your designer craft a monogram, just for you. A monogram gives your stationery a very custom look and adds so much to make your design stand out from the crowd. I like to think of a monogram as your logo for your wedding. Just like a logo for a business, it should be unique, speak to the style of your wedding and who you are as a couple, and add a touch of class.

3) Less is more! Choose your stationery design carefully. The more simple it is, if it's done well, the more high end it will look. Crowding a lot of design elements, along with all the text, could make your stationery set look cluttered and cheap. Going the simple route gives your stationery a classy, expensive feel.

Your wedding stationery should appeal to the senses, specifically sight and touch. It should have some bulk to it, not flimsy. It should look appealing and exciting, yet classy and depending on your style understated.

My job as your designer is to make sure that you ultimately get the wedding stationery that fits your dreams better than you ever imagined. I'm also here to direct and help you choose a design that not only fits you perfectly but also looks beautiful.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me. I'd love to help you!

Part Three: Our Story of Love - Dating & Engagement

If you are just now beginning in this series, click here for Part One. If you missed Part Two, click here.

At the end of part two, I left you hanging. We had just finished our coffee "date" and we felt like we'd found a connection with the other that we wanted to explore and see where it would lead.

The week after the coffee "date", we text every day and I was beginning to wonder how long this would last. Did this guy really like me? Or was I reading into it all wrong? I simply didn't know.

The following Sunday I attended Silas' church again and as before he was leading worship. As he was walking off the stage from leading songs, he came down the side I was sitting on and right there in front of all these people I didn't know, he winked at me. In that moment, I'm pretty sure I floated away into the clouds of happy dream-land. When I bounced back to earth, I thought, "Good grief, girl, it looks like he likes you, but slow it down. Way down." But the heeding of logic didn't happen.

After the service, I was standing in the back talking to one of my friends that attended this church and Silas came and joined us. Suddenly, my friend looks at us and asked, "How do you know each other?" My mind went blank. Thankfully, Silas is quick on his feet in situations like that and said something along the lines of having seen each other around.

After a while my friend wandered off and we were alone talking again. Soon the lady that was responsible to host that day came up and invited both of us to stay for lunch. We accepted.

At lunch that day we sat beside each other and this girls heart was happy about that. We chatted about random things and talked with the others across the table from us. It was a good time.

Fast-forward to the next day... I was a mess, seriously. I was scared that this whole thing with Silas wouldn't work and I knew I was in too deep now to not be hurt if it didn't pan out. My co-worker knew what was going on and in the process of the day talked Silas and told him what was going on. 

Unbeknownst to me, Silas was sweating it out and trying to decide what would be the best way to proceed. 

Later that evening, Silas called me and told me that he is interested in starting to date and asked for my Dad's number. All of this was so surreal to me! I honestly couldn't believe that there actually was a guy that was this interested in getting to know me better.

After all of this transpired, I felt a lot better about it all even though I wasn't sure what my Dad would say. But I was confident that no matter what happened, I was going to be okay. 

That week as a joke Silas invited me to come to church to help him and a couple that are good friends with him place the new songbooks in the seats. I decided that I wanted to see him again and thought it would be fun to go and get to know some more people better. The dear couple that was there, was super sweet and I hit it off with them. After they left they were trying to figure out what my connection was to Silas and decided that I was probably a cousin or something.

It was a week from the time Silas asked for my Dad's number until he asked to meet with him. Dad was very kind and graciously gave the go-ahead. Later that day, Silas officially asked me to be his girlfriend. Of course, I said yes right away.

It was another week before we went on our first official date. Silas took me to Olive Garden and we had a good time. We both loved the fact that we got to know each other well enough before hand that the actual first date wasn't too awkward and weird.

The next three months were a blur! With Silas being the last one of his siblings to still be at home and living a very independent life and me living by myself, allowed us plenty of time to hang out. We saw each other nearly every day.

This was such a fun happy, period of life, but wasn't without it's bumps. I struggled with accepted love from Silas. I dealt with deep fears and insecurities. But slowly as God allowed love to be showered on me, my heart began to soften and be able to receive that love. The beautiful thing is once a person learns to receive love, they are then able to return and give it to others in a beautiful way.

Some fond memories I have from dating: • Silas took my to my first concert, Chris Tomlin. That was a lot of fun! • Hiking at a falls nearby. • My family asking us one of the first times we were all together, how many kids we want. At this point we hadn't even come close to talking about that. If you must know, I said that I wanted 4-8 and he said no more than 4. We laughed and later were able to discuss it and come to a peaceful agreement. • Hanging out and becoming good friends with the sweet couple that had helped us pass out songbooks. • Hanging out at my house. • Long talks in the car.

We were both sure that we had found the one pretty early on and we were super committed to making it work. We were coming up on the three months of dating and it was really beginning to feel like this relationship needed to be taken to the next level - engagement. I wasn't sure what Silas was thinking about it and that bothered me. But I decided that I was going to try my best to wait on him and allow him to take the lead on this.

The week before our three month anniversary, there were a few things that made me cautiously hopeful that he would propose soon, one of them being that he had found someone to take his place leading worship at church that Sunday. That along with the other things had perfectly good reasons other than the fact that he wanted to propose. So I tried my best not to get my hopes up.

Our three month anniversary fell on a Saturday and Silas was planning to pick me up mid-afternoon to celebrate this small milestone. When he arrived, he gave me this beautiful bouquet of flowers and I melted into a puddle and of course gushed at how pretty they were. I took them from him and turned around to set them on the counter. As I turned back to him, I suddenly realized that he was down on one knee and he proposed right then and there. I cried! I was so happy and believe it or not, in shock. Of course, I said yes.

That afternoon was so fun and blissful. We went to Cleveland to a nice place for dinner, went to two different coffee shops and just enjoyed being together. It was so fun to be able to let reality soak in for a while before we shared the news with anyone.

The next five months were a blur of working full-time plus wedding planning. Since I lived an hour from my parents, I ended up doing a lot of the planning on my own. They did help where they could and I was so very grateful for that.

I loved planning out all the little details of our wedding and making sure that when it came to the day of that everything was organized and ran smoothly. The day of only had a few small bumps, which aren't completely avoidable.

The day of our wedding was the happiest day of my life. I had been waiting and longing for this day for years and was in awe at how God had it all perfectly planned. I was basking in the love that I had learned to receive from my man. I felt beautiful, like a queen.

It's been a wonderful year and a half since we've been married and I wouldn't trade it for anything! Don't be fooled, there have been some incredibly hard times, times when we strongly disagreed on something and times when we weren't representing God to each other well. But one thing I know, we're stronger because of all of this and have gone to a deeper level of trust and love then before.

As you read this story, I hope it's encouraging to you. I hope, if you're still single that it would plant a seed of hope in your heart. But know that God has a plan and purpose for your life, He only asks you to be used right where you are. I know some beautiful single ladies who are touching lives right where they're at, not in a huge splash, but in small moments of interaction.

If you're married, I hope it encourages you to go back and remember the beginnings of your relationship and why you fell in love with that particular person in the first place. It's easy to take your husband/wife for granted. It's easy to allow small annoyances to creep in and steal the vibrant love you once had.

I'd love to hear from you! What are some questions you have about our story? Would you share your love story with me?

Part Two: Our Story of Love - Meeting

In part one, I talked about the preparation that was happening in my husband and my lives before we met, how we were in contact before we met in person and other details. If you missed that post, scroll to the bottom of this page and follow the link there to the previous post.

I'd also like to insert here, that I'm very aware that our story is out-of-the-box and may be frowned upon by some. I'm not endorsing this method even though it worked for us. God was very much in it all. Honestly, some days I just shake my head at the way things worked out because it could have ended very differently. My heart is that even though this story is very different from a lot of peoples' that you would be able to see the hand of God working.

After we text about the choir I wanted to join we continued texting about other things, in all reality I don't remember what all we text about. I had some bad experiences with texting previously, so I was cautious in not sharing too much. We text occasionally over the next two weeks.

With moving an hour away from my home church, I was very aware of the need to begin the process of looking for another church, so that I could become involved somewhere local. I was invited to church by one my coworkers, this so happened to be the church that Silas was part of. I went knowing that I would finally get to see this mysterious guy in person, but not knowing if we would actually meet.

Unbeknownst to me, my coworker was good friends with Silas and told him that I would be coming to church that day. So Silas was on the lookout for when I arrived. He hung out in the back of the church and saw me come in, though I didn't see him.

It was clearly marked in the bulletin that Sunday that Silas was to lead songs. I thought this was very convenient, because this made him very easy to pick out from the crowd of strange faces. I enjoyed the service and had a good impression of the church as a whole and knew I'd be back for more reasons than Silas. 

That Sunday, they just so happened to have carry-in at church, so I stayed for that. Of course during this time I kept an eye on Silas, trying to get a read on who this person is. From afar he seemed like a nice person, but there is only so much a person can tell about another before meeting them. Turns out he really is a wonderful man, even after being married nearly two years.

 When I went up to get some dessert, I got stuck talking to an older man from church who has connections to my parents. We were standing there talking and all of a sudden here comes Silas. He was clearly not coming to get dessert! It didn't take him long before he stepped forward and introduced himself. We spoke only briefly. Even though the meeting was short, I came away impressed with how easy he was to talk to. I had fallen hard for this guy, but was unwilling to admit it.

Later that afternoon we were texting about my opinion of church and I had a lot of questions for him. I wanted to make an informed decision about church and since becoming part of this church meant going from a fairly conservative setting to a much more liberal setting, I wanted to make the change with my eyes wide open. There were some very specific things that I had prayed for concerning church, and from all appearances this church was an answer to those prayers.

Silas wasn't able to answer all my questions via text so he suggested that we meet sometime to discuss these things. His week was too full, so he said he'd let me know. At the time, I assumed he meant talking about it at church sometime or something. But I was also really excited about the prospect of getting to know him better. I'm not going to lie, I was super nervous about it as well and promptly asked advice from my brother.

Throughout the course of the next week, I was really uncertain as to how this would play out. It scared me because I barely knew this guy. I spoke with a number of my friends and was able to get some good advice.

By the weekend I was nearly sick from the stress of it all. By that point, I had decided that Silas would forget about it and I wouldn't hear anything from him again. Because guys forget about things really easily, right?

Monday morning, I get a text from Silas wondering if I would want to meet him for coffee the following evening. I of course said that I'd like that. We set the time and place, making sure that the coffee shop we went to was outside of the greater Holmes County area as to avoid people seeing us and assuming that something was happening, because as far as we were concerned we were just two people meeting for coffee and talking, nothing more.

The following evening we met. I was running a little late because I was super nervous and had made a wrong turn because I wasn't using a GPS in a town I'd never been before. At that point I pretty much refused to use a GPS because I thought they were dumb. Of course, I had to explain this to Silas when we met and he thought I was crazy. We got our drinks, sat outside, and began to talk about church because, well, that's why we were meeting in the first place, right? Ha!

Four and a half hours later we were finally wrapping it up. We had covered topics that weren't even close to related to church as you can imagine. We found that we agreed on a lot of really key things. Our backgrounds were both very similar. We felt the same on a lot of foundational things.

We both left that evening, with our minds in a whirl. I really liked this guy and was finally willing to admit it. But what if he didn't feel the same?

Part One: Our Story of Love - Preparation

As you may know already, I'm a huge fan of hearing others' love stories. So I took the liberty to assume that you are also a fan, if you're not, that's okay.

This is part 1 of my husband and I's story of how we met, fell in love, and of course eventually got married. This is a story of redemption, healing, and the beautiful ways in which when one is open to receive love, they then are able to fully offer it to others.

It's hard to decide where it all begins, because in reality God was preparing each of us well before we met. In 2014, I moved to Arkansas and worked at a volunteer unit: Hillcrest Nursing Home. In the year that I was there I went through some incredibly dark times. But as I began to recover emotionally and heal, I slowly saw how beautifully the fire had refined me.  I was changed in some profoundly deep ways: finding my identity in the One who created me, pursuing relationship even when that relationship brought much pain, and learning to accept my Father's love and care for me.

After I put in my two month notice, I was very uncertain as to what I would be doing when I moved back to Ohio. The future looked like a blank slate and it was scary. One day, a month before I moved back, I received a phone call. The person on the other end was offering me a job as a graphic designer, something I had dreamed of doing for years. If I took the job, it would mean moving an hour away from my family and I was unsure as to how that would work. But in talking with my parents and praying about it, I felt at peace with moving ahead and taking the job.

I moved back to Ohio in July of 2015 and in less than three weeks of moving to Ohio, I had moved the Holmes County area to begin my new job. It was a season so full of change that I literally couldn't catch my breath and process all that was happening.

I must insert here that I was never going to live in Holmes County, too many people and the culture didn't appeal to me. But God has a sense of humor and moved me right into the area that I was never going to live in.

I was able to find my own place to rent after a month of searching and moved into my very own little trailer in the country.

Shortly after I began my new job, I was talking with my supervisor and asked him if he knew of anyone that would have information to join a certain choir. I had always wanted to sing on this choir but the distance to rehearsals had been too far until this point. My supervisor gave me the number of someone he thought would have information.

Later that evening I text this mysterious person, who so happened to be Silas (my future Mr.) thinking that he's probably married with a few kiddos. He very willingly gave me the information that I needed.

I thought that was that until I told my sister about it and she realized that this was the same person who had gone on a blind date with one of our good friends. So much for "married with kids".

Silas and I continued texting through the next day and got to know each other a little better. I was intrigued and hoped we would have the chance to meet someday.

To Silas: It was the spring of 2015 and he had a God-given longing for a wife. He prayed specifically that his future wife would be at the same place as he in relation to church, along with a few other things. Believe it or not this very specific prayer was answered in amazing ways!

When I moved up and began my new job, he heard about this new girl and his curiosity was peaked. He decided he wanted to meet me. 

When he received that text from me about wanting information about the choir, he realized right away who it was and made sure he played his cards right. ;)

Stayed tuned for part two - how we met!

So, You Just Got Engaged. . . Now What?

He just popped the question and you said yes! Congratulations! This is such an exciting, love-filled time of life. But the stress of the wedding planning can drain the excitement very quickly and suddenly your relationship goes from hanging out and having fun to talk about all the wedding things, ALL.THE.TIME. I get it, you've never planned a party for 300+ people. There are so many details to keep organized, so many things that need to happen in a specific order and quite frankly it's totally overwhelming.

You don't get to see the fruits of your labor in the early stages of planning and sometimes you just want to see something tangible coming from all your hard work. Your wedding invitations are one of those first tangible things in all of the planning.

There are a few things that need to happen before you can order those invitations:

:: Choosing a date and time is one of the first things. The length of your engagement needs to be something you are comfortable with, some are able to do all the planning and pull off a beautiful wedding in as little as 2 months. My husband and I had a 5 month engagement and wouldn't have wanted it to be any longer.

Take your family as well as close friends (bridal party) and their schedules into consideration because it is important that the most important people in your lives are able to help, attend, and be part of your big day. Once again, drawing from my experience. . . We got engaged in January. My parents own a greenhouse business and the busiest season is March-May. So, we were either going to need to have a super short engagement or wait until that busy season is over, so we chose June.

Time of year also plays a large role in when you decide to get married. Have you always dreamed of a summer wedding? Or do you prefer the fall months?

:: Compile a guest list. . . You should invite approximately 10% more guests than your target number, since between 10% and 20% of those invited will decline. This will aid you in looking for an appropriately sized venue. Having a guest list before you order your invitations will help you know how many you need. It's nice to have a few extra invitations in the event that you missed someone, as well as keep on hand for sentimentality's sake. But having a whole stack of extra is a waste of money and paper and end up being clutter that you will eventually throw away. 

:: Next, search and book a venue that has an opening for the date you've chosen and is an appropriate size for the amount of people that will be attending. Keep the comfort of your guests and convenience of your vendors in mind: accessible parking, ease of going from ceremony to reception, short walking distance, kitchen on site at reception, etc.

:: By the time you are engaged you may already have an idea in mind of what theme and colors you would like use for your wedding: vintage, classic, elegant, western, rustic, etc. with corresponding colors. This is something you should have a decided by the time you contact the person who is designing your invitations as they will set the tone for your wedding. Your invitations are the first impression the guests will have of the type of event they will be attending. If you are undecided, the designer should be able to walk you through choosing an invitation style that will fit your wedding. Most designers are more than happy to provide you with a few different invitation proofs to choose from. But if you are very specific with what you are wanting that isn't always necessary and will, in the long run save the designer time. The designer will be able to help you choose a size and type of paper that will work well for your invitations, as well as a few other details. After the invitation design is decided, the rest of the wedding stationery can be designed to match (colors, fonts, design elements).

I wish you all the best in your wedding planning! Remember to take some time to still date each other, to spend time not talking about wedding. You will do great and will have a beautiful day! 

What's The Story Behind The Name?

Have you ever wondered what the story is behind a particular business name? I know I have. This post is all about the story behind this business name: Inspire Design Co.

Twists and Turns + a few bunny trails: There were a few twists and turns and definitely some moments when I wished I could start over again. See, I'm not naturally given to thinking ahead of the curve. I tend to live life, taking things as they come, instead of intentionally avoiding problems. It's one of those personality traits that has gotten me into trouble more than once!

Anyways, back to the story behind choosing a business name. . . Let's be very clear, there are so many options for business names, so many in fact, that choosing just one can be a bit of a problem.

First, I chose the name 'Focus Design' and began with a logo design. Now this is where I did things backwards. . . After the logo design, I did research to see if the name was available. It was, but somehow the name just didn't feel right. Focus can seem like a harsh word, sharp, not friendly or welcoming. So I scrapped that plan and started over.

The search: I did a lot of word searches for synonyms of what I was looking for, then combed though all of the options, considering each one and deeming most of them totally unfit for what I was looking for. I wanted my business, design, and customer service to be fresh, welcoming, and inviting. The word Inspire fit that for me. The name wasn't taken, I could buy a domain with the name and so I jumped for it.

The rest of the name 'Design Co.' took a bit of mental power to come up with. Whatever it was going to be needed to flow, it needed to feel like a creative business, be timeless, so that I don't get some hair-brained notion to change it in a year, and it needed to be me. //And just now, Inspire Creative sounds pretty good.// See I have commitment issues with these things! Back to the subject at hand, Inspire Design Co. flowed really well for me and I felt like I could build a brand around that name. My goal is that each of my designs reflect the word, Inspire. I want the designs I produce to inspire others to creativity. 

This all sounds easy, as I type this, but it really was hard. There were literally 5 or more business name options that I had on the table and was considering. Some of them I didn't like the feeling of the word/s, some of them didn't translate well into a logo, and some weren't usable because someone else had dibs on it.

If you are starting a business and trying to choose a name, take heart. You will find something that is you and reflects well on what you do. I understand and sympathize with the place you're at. Don't do it alone, there are people out there, including myself, who are equipped to help you choose a business name and then build a brand around it to reach your ideal clients and build a successful business.

How To Find A Designer Who Fits Your Needs

Many people become overwhelmed just at the thought of trying to find a graphic designer for their needs. They don't begin the search because of that overwhelm and end up being stuck with designs they created themselves that don't fully articulate them or their brand.

So how does one get past the overwhelm and find someone who fits their needs?

Keep in mind that if you've never had design work done, especially if it's for your business, that you are looking for someone who you are able to cultivate a long-term relationship with. You will save yourself time and resources in the long run, if you take the time to research properly and make sure that who you work with is a good fit. Finding a designer can be difficult and starting the process over every few years can be a serious time suck, because it will take a bit of time to brief the designer and get them on board with your vision.

1) Talk to someone who has had design work done in the past. Find out who they worked with. Where they happy with the service and/or products they received? Did their project move along smoothly, or did the company/designer they worked with constantly drop the ball? Did they have long or short wait periods between revisions? Did they feel heard? Was their design vision executed in the way they hoped? Was the overall experience for them a good one?

2) Once you've established that the designer/company has a good reputation, see some examples of the work they've done in the past. Reach out to them and talk about what you are looking for as far as design and the time frame you are needing your project completed. Ask them about the process that a normal project takes and see if it's compatible with you and your way of working. If at this point you feel like you're not being heard or respected, the designer is not catching the vision for your project, or their time frame doesn't suit yours, chances are, they're not a good fit for you.

3) Cost: This is often top priority in your mind. But, take a minute and put cost somewhere lower on the list. Yes, it is important that you establish a reasonable budget for your project, so you don't over-spend. But working with someone who catches your vision, hears and respects you are more important than cost. I don't believe that you want to pay rock bottom prices for design when the person you are working with just isn't getting you, isn't responsible, doesn't keep their word, and just plain doesn't respect you. I would personally be happy with expanding my budget a bit and cut back in some other areas, just to work with a designer who treats me well.

If you feel you've found someone who you will be able to work with and is within your budget. Yay! I wish you all the best.

If you dropped by to read this post because you are looking for a designer. Head over to my portfolio and see if the work I've done in the past works with your style. Then contact me. If you have any questions at all, I'd love to hear them and help you out.

Drop a comment below to let me know if this was helpful information, or if there is something you would love to hear about in the future.

Welcome

Welcome! I'm so excited about the opportunity to serve you. I plan to release a new blog post every week or two. So stop by soon to see the latest!