confetti.co.uk print centre

How to create: Save the Date Wedding Invites Evening Invites Civil Partnerships Double Ceremony Special Occasion Invites Acceptance Thank You your step-by-step guide

This guide has been created to help you use the online

confetti.co.uk print centre In this guide, we will be creating a Save the Date insert as an example of how to use the print centre to create your own personalised and professional-looking stationery from the comfort of your own home. The same process can be used for each card type, or occasion that you wish to create stationery for, be it your wedding invitations or a special anniversary, christenings or just a thank you. You will use the same methods listed in this guide for all card types when changing fonts and colours, and adding personal touches. This really is a basic step-by-step guide to using our templates and creating your very own piece of stationery. Hopefully, if you’ve never used the Print Centre (or computers) that much in the past, you can still create your own professional-looking prints. We would advise that this guide should and can be used in conjunction with our Print Centre FAQ’s These can be found at the Print Centre area of the website www.confetti.co.uk/printcentre

Downloading the template Select the correct template for your occasion and preferred design. In this example, we will be creating a Save the Date card using the following template - Style No. 1 Mini square. Left-click on the selected template and you will be prompted to choose whether to open or save –

As you will be making amendments, you should choose to Save the file to a suitable location for you to use it at a later date (and saving any changes you will make), such as My Documents or Desktop. This is also easier in general, as it appears as a normal Word™ document for editing etc. which you will be more familiar with. Once the document has been opened, the details can be amended, as well as fonts and colours, as with any normal Word™ document.

Amending the template The template can be amended simply by over-typing the details for Name, Date and Venue. This can be done easily by highlighting and over-typing the existing names, date and venue details with yours, or deleting each part in turn and entering your details.

You can add the details as you wish them to appear. If you wanted surnames etc. simply add them in.

The next step is to edit the font to match your look – Highlight all of the wording and choose your font from the drop-down menu, and select the appropriate size if you wish to change this too. Text appearance will vary in the templates set size on changing of the font – you may also wish to change the font size for legibility in this case.

And if you wish to make certain details larger, remember that it needs to fit one page, so you may need to amend the spacing –

Now that you have amended the font, you can choose to re-align the template if you wish to embellish it with trim(s) down either side, or prefer that layout. Simply highlight the wording again, and select the appropriate alignment for your needs from the toolbar (see below) –

To change the colour to match your theme, again simply highlight all of the text select the font colour from the drop-down options –

You can also customise your colour if the standard options are not appropriate – Select more colours, then Standard (if suitable) or Custom (create a colour)

If you have a certain object that stands out in your theme, such as a symbol or image, you could also add this to your stationery. For a flourish, you can find some suitable ones in Word™. You will find these using the Menu tabs - Insert, Symbol and Windings and/or Webdings depending on the type of symbol that you’d like to add.

This creates an extra detail that can also be added in conjunction with confetti trims, available online or in-store.

If you have an image that you wish to use on your stationery, you can also add this but, it is a little more difficult. Step one – Click at the top of the template and insert your image.

You will have to resize the image until it is a suitable size to fit onto the template. Simply use the blocks on one of the corners, click and drag to re-size the image, or double-click on the image and select the ‘size’ tab to amend to a new (or specific) size.

Also, you can add a border style image to the left-hand side and align text to the right for a different style. If you wish to add a left-hand border, this is a little more difficult in this case, and involves creating an additional text box for the table details. To do this you will need to follow the instructions – Draw your new text box to the same size as the template –

and ensure that it is clear and has no border (see below for where to check/change)–

Cut your existing text and paste it into your new text box and align this to the righthand side.

Now ensure that you click on the main part of the page, and align the page to the left. You can now insert your border image –

You may need to move the image and resize so it fits the template. You can check whether it fits onto the insert by checking the print preview, and you should ALWAYS print a test page first ensuring that you cut the test paper to the exact size of the insert to ensure that your text and image both fit onto the insert –

When using our border or design inserts, you will need to align and space the wording correctly, and we advise that when printing your test page, that you draw on the location of the design or border, so that you can ensure that your text is in the correct place.

Printing the insert Now that you have chosen your font, alignment and colour, you should have the template ready and customised for you to print your test page (NB – always print a test page first, and cut the paper being tested to the same size as the insert being used – unfortunately we cannot amend each template to match all printers and therefore you may have to make some slight adjustments) We would advise that you may wish to save your template after making all of your amendments, should you wish to come back and print at a later time.

Print your test page and check that it appears how you wish it to look (colour, font, size, alignment).

If this is suitable, ensure that you remember which way to feed your insert into your printer should you wish to print on border/design cards etc. so that the wording is printed onto the correct side. Also, ensure that the printer’s paper feeder is tightened to hold your inserts so that they do not move whilst feeding into the printer. You’re now ready to print onto your inserts. Depending on how many inserts you are printing, and your printer, we would advise that you may wish to add further inserts to the printer as you go along, rather than put them all in at once. You should now have created and printed your own card/insert for your special occasion, which, in this case, was a Save the Date card.

Extra Touches For the different types of occasions and styles, you may want to add something applicable to your event. You can do this with our wide range of trims when adding your inserts to your outers, and why not even embellish your insert. You can also do this when printing. Here are a few ideas by occasion/type – Save the Date – Why not theme it to the time of year – add gold tones and rich oranges and browns for an autumnal wedding date - or classic red, white and green for a Christmas celebration? Insert an image of a calendar page for your chosen month – make it fun to note your special date Get creative and make it easy to attach the Save the Date to a notice board etc., so that when your guests receive it, they can store it somewhere safe, and effectively so they know where it is and more importantly, they won’t forget! Wedding and Evening Invites/Civil Partnerships – If you are able to obtain an image of your venue, why not add this to the invitation? Small or large – the image will set a tone

Add a personal touch with a photo of the happy couple as children or adults – a great way to add fun and personality to your invites – this can be small or even create the backdrop for your entire invitation If you’re from a particular region/country, why not add symbols of this to your invitation adding a flavour of your upbringing and a touch of tradition (in a more modern way) – it could be images or simply colours and the style of font! Use hobbies and your favourite places and things as inspirations for adding touches to your stationery to make it more personal Why not theme it to the time of year – add golds and rich oranges and browns for an autumnal wedding date, or classic rich burgundy and gold for a winter wedding? Select florals for Spring and enjoy the wonder of nature, sun and seaside during the summer.

Weddings Abroad – The perfect way to personalise your inserts – try and find images of the country/city where you are getting married. For a Vegas wedding, you can be inspired by Elvis, the Strip, Casinos, and Wedding Chapels. For a beach wedding, seaside images and specific venue pictures will quickly set the tone, and for Italian weddings, why not add some flavour with images of your city – Marrying in Rome? – try the Spanish Steps, the Trevi Fountain, the Duomo… Go understated by just using colours from your country of choice – be it blues and sunshine yellows for a Mediterranean wedding, or black and red to the match the famous ‘Welcome to Las Vegas’ signs. Double Ceremony – Add images of the parents and the child for a family feel Add a personal touch of footprints and fingerprints from the family – these can be added after printing if preferred If you have a family crest, this may be perfect for such a family-orientated ceremony Special Occasions – Anniversary Depending on which anniversary you are celebrating – let this shine through in the design – add images and trims to fit the theme Birthday If you’re creating these on someone’s behalf – add embarrassing childhood photos by scanning them in, or take some new ones… For children’s parties, why not make the invitation more interactive and add a picture of their favourite things/party theme to be coloured in and made into a party badge? For a ‘retro’ feel or ‘sweet sixteen’ why not print your insert and attach some sweets … Christening Add your first baby photo for a personal touch Baby footprints or imagery will instantly add something

Emphasize the name you’ve chosen by selecting a suitable font, enlarging it, and using different colours to make it stand out Engagement Why not photograph the ring and add this to your invite – or maybe someone even snapped the happy moment when he was down on one knee? If you or your partner popped the question in a particular place, use this as a theme to be added with colours etc. Acceptance Add your personal theme touches to this card so that it stands out to be returned Thank You Add your personal theme touches to this card so that it reminds your guests of your special day/occasion Make sure that you add a message that is more personal than just a ‘thank you’ – thank guests for specific gifts that they purchased, or for something in particular that they did for you etc. – why not even add images of the gifts if you can

Here are some examples of invitations: