(Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you use one to make a purchase, I may receive a small commission at no cost to you. In addition, I received free product in exchange for my review of this product. All opinions here are my own.)
I’ve gotten to be a broken record on one point on this blog: PRINT YOUR PHOTOS! Frame prints for the walls of your home, order a wedding album, create family photo books… enjoy your photos in real life and not just on a screen! I don’t shut up about it, I know. But today I’m putting the spotlight on yet another tangible use of portraits: graduation announcements! These things have really come a long way since I graduated from high school 17 (!) years ago. These days grads send out beautiful graduation party invitations with photos… so much more exciting than the cookie-cutter formal invites we all had back in the day. The internet is full of invitation templates for graduation, so the possibilities could be a bit overwhelming. Which is probably why a couple parents of my senior portrait clients recently asked me for a recommendation on where to order announcements. I wish I had learned about Basic Invite a little earlier, because they are now my FAVORITE!
I already told you how much I loved Jonas’s birth announcements (which I received free in exchange for my review of them), but while I was at it, I designed some sample custom invitations for graduation using my recent senior portrait clients’ photos, and I LOVE them so much!!! There were SO many designs to choose from—I’m so glad they let me choose six of them to play with! I chose a combination of vertical and horizontal designs. I mostly went with designs that used one photo on the front, but I chose one four-photo design for Lorelei’s photos. Every element could be moved around, removed, resized… even fonts could be changed!
One of the best parts about Basic Invite is the almost limitless selection of colors—over 180 options! On the announcement below, I played around with the brushstroke border and the “graduate” lettering until it was just right. The yellow border was pink to begin with, and the lettering was shiny gold. Those colors didn’t work at all with this photo of Miya, but I loved the design, so I switched it up, and I love how the new colors coordinate with her ensemble!
Same thing with this one. The word “graduate” was pink, and the black part was white. That definitely did not work for this photo of Amelia, but click click click… perfect! Not only are there tons of colors to use on the announcement itself… you can also choose from 40 envelope colors! How cool is that?!
As if I hadn’t had enough fun designing the front side of these graduation announcements… there were tons of options for the BACK, too! One photo, multiple photos, message from the grad plus photos, invitation to a graduation party, info about the graduate plus a photo…. whatever you want!
A major perk of getting these samples is that I got to try out all five papers!
I wasn’t a huge fan of the premium shimmer paper (though I might be with a different photo, perhaps?) but I loved all the other papers. The sturdiness of the double-thick matte was quite impressive, but my overall favorite one was the luxe velvet paper, which I used for the below announcement featuring Autum. (And yes, I picked that lavender color to match her shirt, too!) :)
I know it’s hard to tell much about the papers from these photos, but the good news is that from now on, my clients (YOU!) can see and touch all these samples in real life! As a Basic Invite partner, I’m looking forward to helping my clients choose and design stationery that puts their photos to good, practical use—beautifully, of course. (And I don’t just mean seniors! Basic Invite also offers save the dates, wedding invitations, party invitations, holiday cards… you name it!) And if you’re reading this, you’re entitled to 20% off ANY of that! Thanks, Basic Invite!
