Wedding Designing your own letterpress?

[Future Mrs Polka Dot]

Hi guys,

I apologize if this is a very basic question, but I have limited creativity/DIY experience

I found a great company who can make very affordable invites, but I need to provide the layout/design myself through a pdf or some other form.

My question is...how on earth do I design a layout? What program should I use? I have an idea of how I want them to look, just from browsing around the web, but I don''t know how to actually lay this out! Where do I even find the "motifs" or graphics that I want to add?

Thanks for everyone''s help...I would greatly apprecaite any insight, as I am quite obviously lost here

 

[Mandarine]

Breath...

To design the actual layout you will need to know the size you want the envelopes to be...and whether you want any inserts, etc.

For the design elements...I would start with istockphoto.com (that''s where I got my damask). Just start doing a search for different things you think you like and take a look at some of the illustrations. There are also a lot of digital scrapbooking sites that offer "digital scrapbooking paper" that would make for beautiful backgrounds. I would just do some searches in google.

It sounds like you sort of have an idea of what you want it to look like...but it never hurts to browse other sites for inspiration. You can check out weddingbee.com...those girls are super crafty!!!! (just do a search on diy or invites). You can also search paperdivas.com or whiteasile.com).

I used Publisher to make my layout because Publisher offers some nice tools to size things correctly. All the design software is gret for this too (photoshop, illustrator, etc). If you don''t have any of those then I would use Powerpoint or Word.

I hope that helps...

M~

 

[jcrow]

i designed my own invites and had them letterpressed. i designed them in illustrator (the graphic) and indesign (the layout). i provided the printer all of the files including fonts and any pictures/graphics used. most printers should accept indesign, illustrator and quark files, but you may want to double-check what they accept. they may also be able to provide a template for you. if not, you want to decide on what size envelope you want. you'll need to figure out if you want it flat or to fold. you'll also need to decide on what color/colors you want to use - this is usually pms colors - and make sure that that's the color you stick to in the design. it's a lot of work.

oh and you may have to be careful with word and powerpoint because those aren't design programs really, so some printers don't accept files done in those programs.

 

[jfus]

Ohhh can you share who can do the letterpress affordably?? I am VERY interested

I have also used elements from istockphoto.com to create my save the dates, and will use simliar elements in my invites.

 

[Future Mrs Polka Dot]

Thank you guys so much for the tips! I wonder if I can just find someone to design them for me for a small fee...this all sounds quite crafty and beyond my creative abilities! I''m so impressed with everyone who does so much DIY!

Here is the affordable letterpress place I found: http://mercuriobrothers.com/letterpress

 

[jfus]

Thanks Mrs..

Check out my save the dates..It''s a mock up I posted on here.. I am in the midst of constructing them..

I have a personal website as well.. mostly corporate work up there but I do graphic design for a living..

check it out.. you can contact me via the website

whatsthefus.com

 

[cara]

I did this and used Illustrator for everything. If you are doing a booklet like jcrow a layout program would also help. It took a bit of learning, but it was worth it in the end! Illustrator can put registration marks on the printouts (for lining up the plates and paper later during printing), and do color separation (if you are doing two color). Also, I turned all the fonts to "outlines" at the last minute, so that the printer could print them even if he didn''t own the font.

I looked at mercurio bros but ended up using wildflower letterpress as they were cheaper for what I wanted. Wildflower was also willing to work faster given my timeline, but they might need a little more handholding than mercurio which seems like a bigger operation.

 

[jfus]

Thanks for the link. I am def. going to check both of them out. I am sooooo about the letterpress now. I think my STD design carried over into an invite would look amazing as a 2 color letterpress...

No I am not full of myself haha.. Just excited about my design