Happy Cinco de Mayo! It is our 2 year (legal) wedding anniversary today! What better day to spill all the details of our watercolor crest monogram wedding invitation?! Yes, I needed to make sure we could remember the date. So, we chose a day very close to our hearts. The only day per year it is acceptable to drink tequila on a Wednesday, wear a fake mustache, and eat your weight in fajitas.
Even though we got married what feels like forever ago (see all wedding blog posts here), I haven’t shared our full watercolor crest monogram wedding invitations yet. Until now. First reason, I didn’t want strangers showing up at the wedding. Afterward, I just held all wedding everything close to me. My friend Megan Schick calls it the “post wedding blues”. The bridal showers, bachelorette party, elopement, and reception was such a precious time that I subconsciously thought if I post photos and write blog posts….the magic would officially be over.
Finally Answering Your Crest Questions
My blues have passed though lol so it’s time to show off these gorgeous invites!!
You guys have asked dozens of questions about our custom watercolor crest. Who designed it? Would you recommend them? How much? How do I print them?
Today, I am answering all those questions and some lessons we learned along the wedding invitation journey. 🙃
We Took a Gamble…
Leave it to Ruthie to scour the internet for the perfect graphic designer to assemble our wedding crest. At first, we disagreed on the concept. I wanted a Palm Beach/pink tropical vibe with flamingos and palm trees. She wanted a fairytale theme. A lot of people in my family refer to Mike as “Hallmark Mike” lol.
Eventually, Ruthie talked some sense into me and we decided on a monogram crest. She was off and running to find the best artist for the job!
LanaDreams is the Etsy Shop that thoughtfully hand-painted our monogram crest. Back in early 2019 when we were designing, she didn’t have many reviews. Now, she has hundreds of 5 star reviews!!
Our Crest Details
Mariana (owner of LanaDreams) used the mountain in Alaska that we got married on as inspiration for the inset photo. Blue hydrangeas, king proteas, pink roses, eucalyptus, and blue thistle were out wedding flowers. I didn’t take Mike’s last name, so we omitted a third initial completely. I am awestruck at how she nailed this!!
A Word of Advice
You can purchase the exact listing here! It was $200 for the crest vector. I thought it was a great investment as you can have the crest made framed on the counter or wall, made into a tea towel or pillowcase…the options are endless (see photos below)! 😊
When purchasing an artist’s listing. Make sure you will receive a .jpg, .png and .pdf format, 300 dpi, RGB. This will allow you to use the monogram SO many ways. Especially the .png because it has crisp lines and a transparent background!
DIY Wedding Crest
If you are on a strict budget, you can DIY a watercolor crest yourself. I have the software tools and the crests are only $10-20. However, paying extra money to not stress about making it myself was well worth it.
Purchase the Romantic Watercolor Crests here. A complete set of crests and clipart here. And a gorgeous duogram set here.
Tips for Printing Wedding Invitations
We used Basic Invite for the wedding invitations. The Minted invites are cute, but it was easier to retrofit our monogram on a Basic Invite template. They are monogram specialists. By a long stretch, they have the largest array of colors to choose from. The process to print was very simple! Choose your basic design, add any extra details, upload an excel spreadsheet (use their template!) with your guests name….and DONE!
Whoever you choose to work with should have experience printing and they can recommend how you should proceed. If you do not use LanaDreams, the process may be different.
Check out my “Wedding” Instagram Story Highlights for more details! 📸
Here are all the ways to use your monogram crest! I fully plan on adding more of our crest to our new house!
Thanks for reading.
xx, Chelsea
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