Short answer: give yourself a couple of months, and know that our production minimum is three weeks from the day your design is locked — not from the day you first get in touch. Those are two different clocks, and confusing them is the single most common way wedding orders get tight. Here's how to work backwards from your date so yours doesn't.

The clock starts at "locked," not "hello"

A locked design means the names are spelled right, the date is final, the artwork is approved, and nobody is still weighing two fonts. Our three-week production minimum starts there, because that's when we can actually cut material. The stretch between first inquiry and locked design is where quotes, proofs, and revisions live — bespoke pieces include three design revisions, and couples routinely use all three. That conversation can move fast when you're decisive, but it's real time, and it happens before the three weeks, not inside them.

This matters most for engraved work because of what engraving is: the mark is cut into the material itself, not printed on top. It can't peel, fade, or wash off — which also means it can't be corrected. A locked design is what makes that permanence a feature.

A working timeline

| How far out | What to have in motion | | --- | --- | | 3+ months | Book-style invitations and other bespoke book work | | ~2 months | Guest books, book-stack guest books, table numbers, décor pieces | | ~1 month | Coasters and place cards — if the design is settled |

Invitations sit at the front because they have their own downstream deadline: they need to be in mailboxes well before the wedding, so the design conversation has to start earliest. If you're considering our book-style invitations, the $25 material sample is a sensible first move — it answers most questions before the design work begins.

Guest books and table numbers land in the middle. They're display pieces with fixed content (your names, your date), so they can usually lock early and comfortably clear the three-week minimum with margin.

Coasters and place cards can run closest to the date — but only when the design is genuinely settled. Which brings us to the exceptions.

What adds time

Bespoke book work. Anything built from scratch — invitations, luxury book-stack guest books — involves more design rounds than a coaster with preset artwork. Budget the front end generously.

Strong themes. If your coasters, place cards, table numbers, and guest book all need to carry one cohesive look, the design phase is shared across every piece. Lock the theme first; the individual items follow quickly after.

Anything keyed to your guest list. Place cards and seating-chart pieces can't lock until the guest list does, and guest lists have a way of shifting until the last RSVP. Since an engraved name can't be edited, a late change means a new piece, not a reprint. If your list is still moving a month out, tell us — we'd rather plan for it than race it.

Big quantities. Orders above 200 pieces are welcome; we schedule them as production batches, which works best with calendar room rather than against a deadline.

Deposits and the calendar

A 50% deposit at signing is what puts your order on the schedule — the timeline conversation isn't real until then. The balance is due one week before delivery or pickup. We're a one-person studio in Loveland, which means the calendar you're booking into is a genuine, finite thing: reserving your slot early is worth more than any amount of urgency later. We ship anywhere in the US, and Front Range couples can pick up locally.

Can you rush it?

Sometimes. It depends entirely on what's already on the calendar the week you ask, so we'll never promise it in advance — but we'll always tell you straight whether it's possible. The honest version of rush service is asking early, not paying more.

If you have a date, we can build the timeline backwards from it in one conversation. Get in touch with your wedding date and what you're considering, and we'll tell you exactly when each piece needs to lock.