What Should You Look For In Your Wedding Card Designer? 12 Points To Ponder!
BY The WMG Bride | 23 Jul, 2015 | 5 min read
It’s time to send the invites out! While your invitation card and design hint at your wedding style, so does the printing process you choose—most notably, it conveys your personality on paper! To do that, you need an impeccable wedding card designer who will do it perfectly for you. These are the things that a good wedding card designer must have!
Digitally savvy and printer-friendly: In the era of save-the-dates and e-invites, you need your wedding card designer to know print as well as digital design well. You don’t want to be the one running to your printer each time a colour bleeds.
WMG tip: Ask if they can create a beautiful logo for you to go on the card and on the rest of stationary
Ability to create a theme: A good designer will tie together your wedding favors, your card colors and your wedding vision to create a theme out of it. Example: a beautiful floral print card would look great with tea and biscotti to create an english, vintage theme. A good designer pays attention to these details WMG tip: Decide your favors based on the weather more than anything, and build your card around them
Knows his or her colours: While all know the usual, you want your designer to go for the not so obvious colour pairing. The colours that will go well with the couple’s personalities as well as the styling of the design. You must look for someone who already has a good eye and has a behance page to boot. WMG tip: Unusual color combinations like navy with salmon, or mint with marsala are beautiful Extra's offered with the card: There are a bunch of things to ask for when you order your card- will the designer provide name tags with the card (These go on the envelope and is something the designer should throw in). Will the card designer also offer a box that matches or thank you notes and other stationary? WMG tip: Always get name tags printed to go with the card
Delivery timelines: You don’t want to send out your invites too late especially for a destination wedding. Make sure your card designer is the one who delivers on time and keeps enough buffer for any changes that maybe required. Also, look for someone who takes criticism well and is able to offer solutions to problems that crop up. Wmg tip: Order your card atleast 70 days before the wedding. It will take about 2 weeks to design, 4 weeks to make and another 4 weeks to distribute
Understands your religion: In India, religion is a BIG thing especially during weddings! Many cards depict religious art or carry holy images or small miniature idols of the revered deities like Ganpati or Lord Ram. A devout Muslim may want to have a Mughal look for a Nikaah invite, a Christian bride might just be looking for something that works well in white. It’s important he/ she understands what works and what doesn’t - according to your religious leanings. Suits your budget: We are sure after that gorgeous invite for Shahid’s wedding came out, we all wanted Ravish Kapoor to design our invitation cards! What one needs to understand is that the designer should suit your budget. After all, you don’t want to spend your honeymoon budget on your wedding card!
Good references: Personalities and styles differ, so make sure you find the right match. We recommend starting with referrals from friends, your wedding planner, or other wedding pros. There are many options, so check all your resources from independent designers to custom studios. You may find that your ideal designer is at your neighbourhood stationery store or on the other side of the country. Thankfully being able to email jpeg proofs of designs helps make this a smooth transaction, no matter the distance between you and the professional you've selected. WMG tip: Dont be afraid to ask for references of other clients and whatsapp them for their experiences Patient & friendly: This is the most important trait a designer should possess as he or she is going to deal with a variety of brides and families. He may have to co-ordinate with your favour-vendor as well as incorporate a family sigil in the card at the same time. Patience is something they need in abundance!
Is tuned into your personal style: This one's for those who want a certain theme or a certain idea of a personality creeping into the card. If you're bohemian, you might want someone who knows his peace signs with his hippie prints. If you're on the classier scale, you might want someone who understands the importance of a cursive font.
Knows his paper: Designing a card is one thing. But finding the paper that meets the design is another. Many a wonderful design is lost because the paper is too thick or too thin or just cheap. So ask your designer questions on which stationery goes with your design and discuss new ideas on paper.
Follows wedding trends: okay, so not everyone who can design can be a wedding card designer. You need to know designs that are popular, trends that keep coming back and themes that are floating in the air. Mostly, the designer also needs to know what pairings make for a good invite as wedding favours. Basically you need to know which wedding favours suit your card - whether it's tea, chocolates or even gift articles. Wedding cards are the first step towards your wedding day. Make sure you enjoy this whole journey with a smile! - Apoorva Pagar
Ability to create a theme: A good designer will tie together your wedding favors, your card colors and your wedding vision to create a theme out of it. Example: a beautiful floral print card would look great with tea and biscotti to create an english, vintage theme. A good designer pays attention to these details WMG tip: Decide your favors based on the weather more than anything, and build your card around them
Knows his or her colours: While all know the usual, you want your designer to go for the not so obvious colour pairing. The colours that will go well with the couple’s personalities as well as the styling of the design. You must look for someone who already has a good eye and has a behance page to boot. WMG tip: Unusual color combinations like navy with salmon, or mint with marsala are beautiful Extra's offered with the card: There are a bunch of things to ask for when you order your card- will the designer provide name tags with the card (These go on the envelope and is something the designer should throw in). Will the card designer also offer a box that matches or thank you notes and other stationary? WMG tip: Always get name tags printed to go with the card
Delivery timelines: You don’t want to send out your invites too late especially for a destination wedding. Make sure your card designer is the one who delivers on time and keeps enough buffer for any changes that maybe required. Also, look for someone who takes criticism well and is able to offer solutions to problems that crop up. Wmg tip: Order your card atleast 70 days before the wedding. It will take about 2 weeks to design, 4 weeks to make and another 4 weeks to distribute
Understands your religion: In India, religion is a BIG thing especially during weddings! Many cards depict religious art or carry holy images or small miniature idols of the revered deities like Ganpati or Lord Ram. A devout Muslim may want to have a Mughal look for a Nikaah invite, a Christian bride might just be looking for something that works well in white. It’s important he/ she understands what works and what doesn’t - according to your religious leanings. Suits your budget: We are sure after that gorgeous invite for Shahid’s wedding came out, we all wanted Ravish Kapoor to design our invitation cards! What one needs to understand is that the designer should suit your budget. After all, you don’t want to spend your honeymoon budget on your wedding card!
Good references: Personalities and styles differ, so make sure you find the right match. We recommend starting with referrals from friends, your wedding planner, or other wedding pros. There are many options, so check all your resources from independent designers to custom studios. You may find that your ideal designer is at your neighbourhood stationery store or on the other side of the country. Thankfully being able to email jpeg proofs of designs helps make this a smooth transaction, no matter the distance between you and the professional you've selected. WMG tip: Dont be afraid to ask for references of other clients and whatsapp them for their experiences Patient & friendly: This is the most important trait a designer should possess as he or she is going to deal with a variety of brides and families. He may have to co-ordinate with your favour-vendor as well as incorporate a family sigil in the card at the same time. Patience is something they need in abundance!
Is tuned into your personal style: This one's for those who want a certain theme or a certain idea of a personality creeping into the card. If you're bohemian, you might want someone who knows his peace signs with his hippie prints. If you're on the classier scale, you might want someone who understands the importance of a cursive font.
Knows his paper: Designing a card is one thing. But finding the paper that meets the design is another. Many a wonderful design is lost because the paper is too thick or too thin or just cheap. So ask your designer questions on which stationery goes with your design and discuss new ideas on paper.
Follows wedding trends: okay, so not everyone who can design can be a wedding card designer. You need to know designs that are popular, trends that keep coming back and themes that are floating in the air. Mostly, the designer also needs to know what pairings make for a good invite as wedding favours. Basically you need to know which wedding favours suit your card - whether it's tea, chocolates or even gift articles. Wedding cards are the first step towards your wedding day. Make sure you enjoy this whole journey with a smile! - Apoorva Pagar