Q. How long does it take to design and print a WeddingMaps.com wedding map?

A. We receive requests for rush maps where the maps are needed in a very few days as well as orders which are weeks and months out. It is our goal to accommodate all clients. Normally, when we receive an order it is assigned out to a designer in a timeframe which corresponds with the client's designated requirements.  Most of our orders are given to a designer within one to two weeks of receipt and the orders are shipped one to two weeks later.  Sometimes the client is not aware of our services until the last minute or they contact us in frustration after attempting to design the map. We are set up to react for these clients to help them during most of the year.  Otherwise, the time frame varies depending on our schedule and how many rush maps are received. Please call ahead if your map is a rush during the spring and summer busy schedule.

Q. How much will it cost me for my WeddingMaps.com wedding map?

A. Current pricing is $198 for the design fee including 100 free maps.  We are a graphics design company and our business focus is on the design of the maps. The 100 maps or camera ready artwork or an electronic file, four custom locations, as many edits as you need, and always proofs for you are included with the design fee. The free maps are given to our clients so they do not try to copy the maps themselves that, on an office copier, just does not work. We are in the design business, not the printing business.  WeddingMaps.com does not offer a take it or leave it map. We will work with you until your map is exactly what you want. 

Each additional location is $10. Generic locations such as a downtown, airports and landmark shopping malls etc. are included at no charge. Custom size maps (sizes other than 8 1/2 X 5 1/2 - half page) are an additional $10 in total. Additional maps are $25 per 100 maps prorated at 25 cents each (if you need 135 maps, you pay for 135, not 200). This includes your choice of several wonderful white or off-white (ivory, ecru, cream) papers. We offer a fabulous vellum paper at an additional charge of $25 per 100. Written directions are an additional $25. Multi-sided printing is an additional $25 per side.  A rush fee map is $40 additional.  Please call ahead for rush map arrangements.

For further pricing infomation, please refer to the pricing link on the left of each of our web pages.

Q. What is the ordering process? Where do I get the order form, the font selection form and the icon selection form?

A. Our system revolves around an Order Form that we call the Information Summary. It is a comprehensive listing of information about your locations including addresses, phone numbers, reserve-by-dates and reservation numbers. It also includes other thought provoking questions about map size, paper, font, locations out of town guests may be drive from and mailing information. There are also two other forms that complete the process, the font selection form and the icon selection form. Selecting the icons is a way that the couple can personalize their map to their own look and theme and is fun for many clients.

The order form can be opened in Adobe Acrobat Reader and filled out on your computer or can be filled out by hand if you wish.  Or, you can fill it out on the computer, print it and complete it by hand.   NOTE:  Because of limitations in the design of Adobe Acrobat Reader, the Order Form can be filled out and printed but it cannot be saved or emailed. If you have access to Adobe Acrobat (the writer) you can save the completed form and it can be emailed to order2@weddingmaps.com.

Once you have the form filled out it asks that you telephone the weddingmaps.com office before you fax or mail it. We find that it will save you some time if we can talk about your map order personally and up-front rather than waiting to contact you after we receive the order. We recommend that you measure your invitation and make your map just slightly smaller than that, say 1/8 or .125 inches smaller. That way your map can be placed behind the invitation. The invitation will be the first document that your guest will see when they open your envelope. Yet, by retaining the same proportions and approximate size of the invitation, the map will appear part of the invitation package. If you are comfortable with your map size you can bypass the call to weddingmaps.com.

Q. What can I do to speed up and simplify the process?

A. Most delays in the design process are caused by two situations: slow follow-up on edits on the part of the client (you are very, very busy right now) and changes in routes between locations. Please help both of us by responding as quickly as possible to your edits. But, more importantly, if you are a non Twin Cities client, as 85% of our clients are, you know your area better than we do. We do have maps of every highway, street and subdivision in the USA. But, we do not know about neighborhoods that you may not want your guests to travel, highway construction, alternate routes through parkways, no left turn signs, concrete barriers or one-ways that may have recently changed. If you take a few minutes and obtain a simple gas station map of your area and highlight the routes that you want on your map and the locations of your events it will speed up the design process and lower your time involvement significantly.  Or, if you have some sketches of your area or your efforts to draw the map yourself, please include them with your order.  This will start us out on the streets and highways that you feel the guests should be traveling.  Any hand holding you can give us up-front will simplify the editing process for you.

Q. How do I submit the order form to weddingmap.com?

A. Most orders are faxed to 763.559.1196.  US Postal Service mailing instructions are at the top of the Information Summary Order Form.

Q. When and how should we mail our invitations?

A. We highly recommend that you place your map behind your invitation in your eveleope. This will let your guest see the invitaion before they look at the map. At this time your invitation is your primary focus. You want them to "wow" at the invitation, not the map.

Your invitation envelope is hand addressed and must be hand sorted by a postal worker. Because of this we recommend that your invitation be mailed on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday. Sorting mail is not a particulary challenging task and it is important to remained focused while doing this. We are all a bit brain dead on Mondays. Fridays many people are thinking about the weekend and it is difficult to concentrate. Saturdays are always a relaxed, wish I was not here kind of day.

Q.  You are asking for my credit card information.  How secure is that data in your offices?

A.  Your personal information is very secure with WeddingMaps.com.  Your order form is kept in our office and not entered into any of our computers.   We are considered a very low fraud risk client by our credit card processing provider.  We do not need to obtain from you the three-digit security code from the back of your card, your billing address or the name of the cardholder.  Without your physical card and/or that information it would be very difficult for anyone to use just your account number and expiration date fraudulently.  In all of our years of business WeddingMaps.com has never been associated with an instance of credit card fraud.  To allow time to resolve credit issues and to reserve a position on our design schedule your credit card is charged for the refundable deposit amount upon receipt of the order.

Q.  Do we need written directions with our map?

A.  That’s a question we hear often.  If you are not sure what you want, we suggest that you wait until the map is near completion in the editing process.  Then, take a look at it to determine if you need to add them.  Most of the time the answer is no. Generally the women like the written directions and the guys prefer the lines of the map.

We recommend that the client draft the written directions.  You know your home city better than we do.  Often there are landmarks or other unique locations referenced in the directions.  There is no standard format for written directions.  They can be in paragraph format, bullet points, numbered etc.  Composition can be complete sentences or incomplete sentences, with or without punctuation.  This is your preference.  And, by allowing us to do a copy/past, your editing review time is reduced.  Our experience shows that when we draft the written directions the client needs to spend extra time explaining to us how they need to be changed so we can re-type them and then go around again.

Please review the pricing section for the additional cost of adding written direction before you make your decision.

Q. What is the process after I mail in my order?

A. Upon receipt at weddingmap.com 's office your order will be logged, reviewed and assigned to a designer. The designer will contact you and discuss your timing, suggestions and other thoughts. This is a great time to communicate your feelings about overall design, icons etc. The editing process will involve proofs, edits and redoes one-on-one between you and your designer. Your suggestions will be welcome by the designer. It is often difficult for you to communicate up-front how you want your map to look before you see a proof. Then your thought process starts to mold the map to exactly how you want it designed. Most of the time, edits involve new ideas about landmarks, added or removed information or new thoughts from you.  You will like how our customer focused design service allows you to become involved in the design of your map and attain some authorship to it! You decide how much!!  Here is a link to a typical, on-line proof of a real map (with the identity changed, thank you on our exclusive mapproof.com web site)   http://mapproof.com/sample proof/

Q. OK, the designer and I have come to closure on my map, now what?

A. After you have become comfortable with your final design you should call back to our office so you can finalize the number of maps, the paper choice and your shipping requirements. Typically, maps are shipped within two business days (or faster) via Priority Mail or FedEx, depending on your requirements. An invoice will be included with your maps itemizing any charges over the basic package deposit that you sent with your order. If you have any questions about your invoice, please call us.  We do not charge you for any items that are not clearly laid out in the pricing area of our web site.

Q. Your brochure and web site talk about maps for the Rehearsal/Groom's dinner. What, exactly do you mean?

A. This is a commonly asked question. Often, weddings have events to which only some guests/relatives are invited. This might be a rehearsal dinner, Sunday brunch or gift opening, golf outing or Friday afternoon at the spa. We recommend a master map, so to speak, be designed which includes all locations, the ceremony, reception, hotels/motels etc. as well as the rehearsal dinner, brunch, etc. This map can be given to those guests who are invited to these events and allows them to travel from the hotel to the ceremony to the rehearsal dinner and back to the hotel. The rehearsal dinner etc. can be lifted off of the master map for those guests that will not attend those events. Sometimes, more than two versions of the map are required. WeddingMaps.com does not charge for more than one version of the master map but all locations are included in overall location charge.

Q. How do I view my proof with my designer?

A. Normally your proof will be posted online, on your own secret web page.  Your proof can also be faxed or mailed to you or sent to you via email. The final printed copies are always better than a fax or an internet presentation

Q. Whoa, that's a lot of information. How do I get a brochure and the forms?

It's easy.  On our web site there is an Ordering Your Map link to a page that will easily carry you through the process.