Want to make your Invitations stand out from all the other mail your guests receive? The answer is in the Postage and Handling of your invitation.

Prior to sending out your invitations, we suggest visiting your local post office with you a completed invitation and reply card with envelope. When there have them weigh them each item so you’ll know just how much postage you’ll need and you won’t worry about over or underpaying.

Once you know the cost of each invitation, the fun begins! Try to tie your invitations together with unique stamps to match your theme. Listed below are some of our staff favorite shops to purchase stamps:

Verde Studio

Kendall Simmons

Pack and Post (Friendly tip: At Pack and Post they have assorted grab bags so you don't have to add up each stamp to make sure you have you have the right postage amount. However, the only thing is that they do not stick to a theme with the grab bags)

Once you are ready to send out your wedding invites, another option to think about is to request that they be hand-cancelled. Using this method will have the post office hand stamp your invitations, rather than running them through machines and having the bar code at the bottom; it also decreases the chances of damaging your envelopes. To have your invitations Hand cancelled, visit your local post office with all of your completed invitations to request this.

These stylish and FREE Bride and Groom chair signs are an eye-catching wedding decoration. They are available in 3 different color options: gray, brown and black. Add a ribbon or rope to hang them on your chairs. These signs can be downloaded for free on our Printable Template Page.

This Real Wedding Thursday brings us to Alabama for the wedding of Michael and Elizabeth. As you’ll see it truly was a beautiful DIY wedding; from the bright colors to the special touches created by their loved ones to the constant smiles around the venue. A true day filled with Love.

Michael and Elizabeth chose our D-I-Y printing method for the Keep it Simple Save the Dates, Keep it Simple Invitation, Keep it Simple Response cards and Keep it Simple Thank You notes for their wedding stationery.

What was your highlight of the day?
The highlight of our wedding day was probably our first look. It was really special and before the craziness started and guests began to arrive. We were both really excited and seeing each other helped calm our nerves. After seeing Michael, I was so calm and just so ready to marry him!

Is there anything you would have liked to do differently?
ummm no! =) To me, the day was perfect! If I had to do something differently, I would have eaten more food! I didn't get to try all of our food at the reception and our guests said it was all really good (provided by IZ Catering). But I really wouldn't change a thing!

Do you have any advice to couples that are planning their upcoming wedding?
Let your friends and family help you out! Especially if your wedding is mostly DIY. It helps you get all of your projects done faster and it's just more fun. Don't get too stressed out and never lose sight of what the day is all about. Oh, one more thing! Delegate on the wedding day. You are the bride and you should be relaxing and not doing ANY manual labor! I had such great friends and family that did all the heavy lifting on the big day and it made the wedding day the most stress-free day!

Ceremony & Reception Venue Location
The Sonnet House Leeds, Alabama

Photography/Videography by
White Rabbit Studios

Welcome to your next edition of Real Weddings! We are pleased to introduce to you, Nathan and Jennifer. After being friends since 5 years of age, they were finally able to call each other husband and wife on October 5th, 2012 in Burton, OH.

What was your highlight of the day?
There were so many highlights from the day that it is hard to choose just one. I would have to say though the fact of knowing that at the end of the day I was going home with Nathan and there was nothing to worry about was the most relieving feeling. We left the reception, looked at each other and both agreed that that was the best wedding we had ever been to because we are so blessed with incredible family and friends who genuinely care about us. The energy on the dance floor was such pure celebratory dancing and joy. I have never experienced anything like it!

Is there anything you would have liked to do differently?
There is not much of anything that we would have done differently. Our engagement was 6 months long, almost to the day, and during that time we delegated tasks to friends and family who offered to help. I think closer to the wedding day I would have asked for more help and shared my vision with more people so that when I was not present at a certain point others would know exactly what needed to be done. Nathan and I knew exactly what we wanted and found the most thrifty and creative ways to achieve that. We had a great circuit of friends with different connections and creative ideas and pulling from all of those sources made the planning and execution much easier. We had people we trusted completely to carry out our ideas and it was having those wonderful people that made it easier to pull ourselves away from the decorating or organizing. Giving trust over to others was the best thing I could have done.

Do you have any advice to couples that are planning their upcoming wedding?
My advice to those getting married is twofold. First of all, like I mentioned earlier, take people up on their offers to help. Don't just say thanks for the offer and ignore it, doing everything yourself. People offer to help because they want to, and when you truly give over your anxiety about every little detail being perfect you will relieve yourself of so much stress. It will be a beautiful wedding because of the act of love taking place between the two of you, not because of the trendy place settings or the wedding favors. Share your ideas with those closest to you, whether its your parents or bridal party or wedding planner. Sharing your vision with others will ensure that even when you are not present others will carry out the plans the way you want them. Second of all, don't worry about the little things. I know many brides and grooms are very detail oriented and that can be a good thing, but when you are stressing yourself out the week before the wedding about the flavor of frosting on the cake, or having the perfect music playlist for the reception you just have to let it go. Trust that your guests are there for you, not there expecting the best party of their life.

Wedding Location
Ceremony& Reception: Burton Century Village

Photography by
Alicia Wines Photography

Happy November! We would like to kick off the month with the start of our Real Wedding Blog posts. Over the next few months we will be sharing the weddings we have been so lucky to be a part of and hope that there will be some helpful advise from the couples to all those out there planning their own weddings. We hope you enjoy it!

Today we would like to introduce you to Kelly and Andrew, married on September 15th in Atlanta Georgia. Their day was filled with surprises, dancing and most of all love!

Kelly and Andrew used the Back to Nature Invitation and RSVP for their wedding.

What was your highlight of the day?
Andrew had several surprises staged throughout the day. First was a blindfolded kiss before we walked down the aisle. It was Andrew's sneaky plan to steal a kiss before we said our I do's without us actually seeing each other. Second, was a gorgeous set of emerald earrings and diamond necklace, given to me as I was getting ready. Third was our band called me up onto the stage to open a present (again... clueless). Inside the box were personalized his and her tambourines to play with the whole night long, we had which was a blast!

Another favorite for both of us was a private dinner with just the two of us during cocktail hour at the reception. It gave us time to absorb and talk about how special this day was and how overwhelmed we felt that our favorite people in the world were all in one place together :) We could not stop smiling the entire evening!

Is there anything you would have liked to do differently?
Not one thing!

Do you have any advice to couples that are planning their upcoming wedding?

• Plan ahead so you can enjoy and relax as soon as possible (my goal was to be done with all of my big projects by Wednesday the week of the wedding)

• Having a day of coordinator is extremely helpful. Watermark Wedding in Atlanta truly made me feel like a guest at my own wedding. I enjoyed every single second and did not worry about ONE thing at our ceremony and reception. If something went wrong, I had no idea!

• Share the work, communicate, help each other as much as possible, and remember to focus on the marriage not just the wedding!

Wedding Location
Ceremony: Cathedral of Christ the King
Reception: The Peachtree Club (both Atlanta, GA)

Photography by
Altmix Photography

Today we couldn’t be more excited to share our latest Photo Save the Date collaboration with photographer Max Wanger. Here at Love vs Design we’re huge fans of his work, especially his signature photos with lots of negative space. A few months ago we connected with Max to brainstorm about a way to collaborate, using his unique photos and creating Wedding Save the Dates around them.

After several weeks of designing, we came up with 16 clean, simple yet elegant Photo Save the Dates. Customers can use their own photo in these designs, which are available in 5 x 7 cards with backings and 4 x 6 Postcards.

Max Wanger was born and raised in Los Angeles, Honolulu, Berkeley and the here and there of Tokyo. He currently resides in Echo Park, CA with his lovely wife, Margaux, his 2 cats and dog.

Here are a few things we wanted to find out about him:

What’s the top secret formula to your signature photos with lots of negative space?
A good wide angle lens and an eye for composition.

What is the dynamic when shooting photos with your wife Margaux? Do you both focus on shooting different things, like one person shoots details, the other overall interaction or do you mix things up?
We’ve learned to feed off each other really well. We kind of stay out of each other’s way and just by eye contact we can pretty much communicate where to be or what to do. We shoot the same things primarily but with different lenses and perspectives. It’s nice to have a variety of images to deliver.

How did you get into photography? What sparked your interest in becoming a wedding photographer?
I’ve been taking photographs since I was 7 years old. It’s something I’ve always loved doing. I don’t necessarily think of myself as a wedding photographer, rather, a photographer who happens to shoot weddings. When I first started shooting, I saw that there were only a handful of photographers who were doing things differently, who were thinking outside the box. I thought if I could photograph weddings the way I saw them in my head and take more of an editorial approach, it might be worth doing. The most important thing was attracting the right clientele, people who shared a similar point of view.

What do you love the most about your job?
The part I love the most about this job is being able to travel around the world and getting to meet so many amazing people.

How would you describe your photography style? Has it changed much over the years?
Whimsical, off-beat, romantic. I’ve tried to keep it mostly the same over the years, if anything, my approach to processing has become simpler and cleaner.

What is one thing you are still learning to do?
I learn something every time I pick up a camera. That’s the beauty of photography, it’s a constant learning experience.

Do you have any current favorite photographers or artists who may have influenced you to become the artist that you are?
There are many people who have influenced me and continue to influence me, but here are a few off the top of my head: Tim Walker, Rodney Smith, Paolo Pellegrin, Anna Wolf.

Is there anybody or anything you would love to photograph that you haven’t yet?
Bill Murray, Zooey Deschanel, Adele.

Where are your favorite locations to shoot and why?
Hawaii is hard to beat. I also love shooting in Tokyo and New York. The energy and vibrancy in those cities is unmatched.

What was it about Love vs Design that made you decide to collaborate with us?
The look, the feel, the fact that you were trying to do stand out and do your own thing.

You’ve been involved in many weddings. As a photographer, do you have any advice to future brides and grooms?
Let go -- specifically on the day of your wedding. Try to take everything in and enjoy it. Forget about all the little details. It goes by so fast, you want to make sure you soak it all in. And don’t lose track of each other over the course of the night. The last thing you want to do is spend your wedding night separated and apart.

Do you have anything exciting coming up?
Lots of travel, a new wedding brand and hopefully a little bit of sleep (an exciting prospect!)

Enjoy 3 free samples with promo code: lvd3samples. All 16 designs can be found in the Photo Save the Date catalog and Postcard Save the Date catalog.

Max has shot so many fun projects, so make sure to check out his site maxwanger.com

launching very soon...

A lot of sample packages are going out this week. Did you order your free wedding invitation and save the date samples yet?

Hi everyone, Jennifer and Floris here. We haven’t posted much about our own wedding on this blog, so we thought it might be fun to tell you a bit more about our wedding story!

Jennifer and I (Floris) got married on May 17th, 2009 at Marvimon in Los Angeles. I can’t believe it has been more than 3 years already!! We planned our wedding pretty far in advance since we had friends and family fly in from Holland, Guam, Canada and across the US.

At the time of our wedding, Jen was working at Smashbox Cosmetics and I at Volcom. Through our jobs we were able to put together some creative product trades with our wedding vendors (bar tenders, catering, DJ, filmers, etc). This really helped us reduce the overall wedding costs.

One of our dear friends Karen Kostrinsky became a licensed officiant and the three of us wrote our ceremony together. Both of us had prepared some vows so while Jen promised to cook me many nice meals. I promised to take Jen on several trips around the world. The entire ceremony from beginning to end only took about 10 minutes and after the ceremony the party officially started!

We wanted our wedding to be a great time for everyone so we intentionally kept it very informal. We bought a Ping Pong Table on Craigslist, painted it bright yellow and we had a Beer Pong tournament going on all night long!

Building our own photo booth with light boxes, external flashes and a remote control resulted in 500+ hilarious photos as the night progressed. For a backdrop during the party, a few weeks before our wedding, we filmed some clips on our Super 8 cameras around Long Beach. We looped the video on a big screen throughout the evening, while our friend DJ Wade was spinning records late into the night.

Looking back at our wedding it was an amazing day. Yes, we definitely had some things that didn’t go as planned (the music cut out for a few minutes while the groomsmen/bridesmaids walked up, several place cards were mixed around and one of our friends fell through a glass table in the hotel lobby to name a few…), but at the end of the day you roll with the punches and have to laugh about it. We figured as long as there is a lot of food and drinks, all our guests would enjoy themselves!

In the next few months we will be posting more short wedding stories from our customers and readers. If you'd like to share your story, please email us 6-10 photos and let us know what are some of the highlights of your day, what you would have done differently and any advice you would give to couples who are planning their own upcoming wedding?

Thanks for reading our wedding story and we can’t wait to hear yours!

Jennifer and Floris

All photos by Daniel Kiyoi

Having an engagement party is a fun way to share your excitement with your friends and family. We just added 10 new engagement party invitations in a variety of our popular styles.

All available engagement party invitation designs can be found here.