I am a DIY girl all the way and of course I had to design my own invitations and RSVP cards.  I have a nautical themed wedding and here is what I've come up with.  I think it's classy and fun at the same time.  The pink gives it that little bit of "Pop" that I need and I'll also be placing a rhinestone/crystal in the center of the compass rose design.



How I did it:
I first created the Compass Rose design in Adobe Illustrator.  I chose this program because for printing text and images, lines come out crisp and clear.  This is because Illustrator uses vector vs. photoshop using pixels.

I had already ordered my envelopes.  Make sure before you order to check what sizes the post office will mail.  Too small and they might not send it.  I measured a size card that would fit nicely inside my envelopes.  I will be printing from a inkjet printer on watercolor paper to give it a nice letterpress look.

To stop unwanted guests from coming, I have added a "we have reserved X seats in your honor"  That way said guest knows exactly how many people they are allowed to bring in case the invitation envelope itself wasn't enough ;)

I recently went to a wedding where they did not put a check box for not attending.  I think it's important because otherwise you have people going "what do I do if I don't want to go?" and they would just abandon the idea of responding altogether.

Menu selections:  I love the animal images and wanted something better than a silouhette.  To upgrade my images I did google searches for the animals I wanted as illustrations, dumped it into photoshop and fixed any image issues and fiddled with colors.  Then I brought the image into illustrator and changed it into a vector.  This way I get crisp clean lines no matter how big or small the image gets.

I would love to post a tutorial soon for all the photoshop savvy people out there that want animal images for their RSVP cards.  Stay tuned for a post as soon as I am able. :)