Pinterest/Design Help

lovelyheather

So I saw this on Pinterest, showed it to FI, and decided it was a fun idea.  Now I need to work on actually getting started on it.



I work at a university library and the lib computers seem to have basically every design program available.  So last night I played around in Illustrator and came up with this design.



It is a pretty good start (I think), but it definitely needs some work with spacing, centering, adding better margins, etc.  This was just a trial run.  Thoughts?  How do I make fancy borders that aren't just rectangles (like the one in the pinterest pic)? Do I just draw them using the line tools?  How do I add fancy flourishes?  I am a total newb at this.

Also, does anyone have any tips/resources for using Illustrator?  Would I be better off using MS Publisher or something else?  If I am going to take the time to learn a program, I'd like to learn the best program.  Will I be able to learn enough to design our own STD, invites, etc or is this a terrible idea?

tuarceatha

Cute, are those your colors??

H is a web designer and did all of our paper stuffs and the wedding website. It can be very time consuming and stressful, but I imagine one could say the same thing for having to select such stuffs from the resources available for purchase. How many months do you have left?

There are a lot of free downloads for the little designy lines and shapes, I can ask him to suggest some to recommend to you. Though others on here may know other ways to recreate the Pin you found.

lovelyheather

Thanks, Jen!  We still have over a year, so hopefully that will be enough time.  Yes, those are our colors, navy and bright pink/a range of pinks.

Peaseblossom55

I have no idea on how to do the designing element or anything but that is such a cute idea!!!!

tuarceatha

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/special-topic-wedding-boards_not-engaged-yet_pinterestdesign-help?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Special%20Topic%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:136Discussion:2f476d8a-e0bc-4656-afc7-37cf0ada4089Post:25942d8a-f4bd-4d2b-ba28-2d2c82bd467b">Re: Pinterest/Design Help</a>:
[QUOTE]Thanks, Jen!  We still have over a year, so hopefully that will be enough time.  Yes, those are our colors, navy and bright pink/a range of pinks.
Posted by lovelyheather[/QUOTE]

Cute colors! I really wanted navy and magenta when we first started looking at colors, but realized those two colors worked really well for me and not H so much. (Our colors ended up being grey and various shades of purple.)

 

Elle1036

Cute!

I second Jen -- you should probably be able to find a border like that for free somewhere.  Alternatively, since the one in your inspiration pic is all right angles, it would also be reasonably easy to draw using the line and shape tools.

Yet another alternative:  check out vectorstock.com and see if they have any you like.  They're for purchase, not free downloads, but I still have some credit left on the site from when I did my invitations, so I can get it for you if you see something you want.

msuprincess04

Why does it say "required" shouldn't it be "requested"? Or am I missing a reference?

lovelyheather

I don't know, I just copied what was used in the example.  I think FI plans asking the groomsman and then presenting them with card/envelope assuming they say yes.  

I might change it to requested.  It sounds nicer (and less demand-y).