That’s what Taylor saw when she opened her box from Shutterfly – blurry Save The Dates.
People constantly say that big invitation stores like Shutterfly, Vistaprint, or others are sooo much easier, cheaper, faster, you name it.
That’s not always the case. In fact, I’ve had to rescue brides from big-box store stationery gone wrong more than once!
A Sad But True Shutterfly Experience
Here to tell her story today is Taylor. Now a newlywed, Taylor reflected on her experience ordering save the dates from Shutterfly and how she saved neither time nor money with the supposedly “affordable” option.
“After I got engaged, I had no idea where to even begin with wedding planning. BUT I knew I needed to get save the dates out ASAP. Since my family and friends would be traveling from California to Oklahoma, I wanted to get our save the dates out soon so they could start booking flights and hotels.
“I looked into a few options and went with Shutterfly. The design looked good online, but I paid for the option to have a graphic designer look them over just to be sure. “
“I was so excited when I got them from the mail. I tore open the box, but was completely and utterly disappointed.”
“The quality of the picture was awful. Our faces were blurry and there was some kind of shimmer gloss that made everything extremely difficult to read, which wasn’t on the online description.”
“I wasn’t sure what I paid extra for a ‘graphic designer’ to do.”
“I called my mom to talk about options. She’s a customer service expert and was able to get our money back for them, but I was still left without Save The Dates.”
“Where to turn? Lightbulb. Julia Rush with Lively Letter Co.! I graduated college with Julia, we attended the same church, and I also worked with her on graphic design projects for my job. I couldn’t believe I didn’t think of her in the first place!”
“The best experience I had in planning my wedding, was working with Julia!”
“She worked with my vision and made the whole process seamless. When it came time to put the invitations together, Julia had my fiancé and me over to her house to help us put everything together. Then, when our plans completely changed due to COVID, Julia STILL reached out and asked how she could help. What company is going to give you that personal experience? I can’t think of one. I will continue to recommend Lively Letter Co., knowing Julia will treat all of her clients the same way she treated me.”
Here’s the custom design we created for Taylor:
Now I don’t want to just discourage you from using the big invitation stores, I want to empower you with the knowledge to choose the best option for Y-O-U. If you know what to be aware of when you order invitations online, you can avoid having a bad experience with online invitations like Taylor did.
What commonly goes wrong with big-box invitation stores
- You can’t see or feel the paper that they use. This is HUGE. A major facet of quality invitations is the tactile experience. You may just end up with a glossy finish like Taylor did, without even knowing or wanting it.
- Stationery doesn’t print exactly how it looks on screen. Taylor’s photo looked fine on the preview screen, but printed blurry. Colors also commonly print darker than they appear on screen.
- The “graphic designer” didn’t ensure that the Save The Dates turned out well. Taylor paid extra for an “expert” eye, but her cards still turned out poorly.
- Hold Music. When something goes wrong, you’re stuck on a customer service line.
How stationery designers prevent those mistakes
- We’re happy to send you paper samples before we print to ensure that you’ll love the look and feel.
- Since we know the requirements for photos to print in high-resolution, we’ll tell you before we print if the photo will turn out blurry. Knowing that colors print darker than they appear on screen, we tweak the colors to match your color swatch when printed.
- We actually are actual experts — like for real. We do whatever it takes to ensure your stationery turns out well.
- Just a phone call away with an actual person — no hold music here!
- More customization. Taylor’s Shutterfly save the dates only had one spot for location, but her wedding actually had venues in two different cities. We were able to give her a custom option that showed both locations of her wedding and reception.
- We walk you through each step so you’re never left guessing.
We’re not saying that you’re destined to have a terrible time with these big invitation stores, but just understand that they’re not always as cheap or easy as they seem. If you’re someone who values quality products and easy communication, we know you’ll love working with a stationery designer.
You get what you pay for. Friends don’t let friends buy bad invitations.
Get in touch to see how easy invitations can be.
