By Jenna Miller

Let’s face it. The days of loopy fonts, borders of greenery, and #couplegoals pictures on the front of your wedding invites have come and gone—OK, to be more accurate, they’ve overstayed their welcome.

Instead, some nearlyweds are opting for invitations designs as unique as they are, forgoing photos all together and hiring an illustrator to create custom-made cartoons of themselves and others personalized sketches on their stationery.

After all, an invitation suite is the first impression of how you’re making your big day your way—this Kaleigh Wiese, the talented illustrator and founder Méldeen, knows best.

Here’s her three tips to totally personalize and up your RSVP game.

Build a relationship with your artist

It all starts with asking a lot of questions about the wedding. For Wiese, this helps gather an image of what your venue is like, what you as a couple are like, and what the ceremony and reception will be like. From there, she starts designing.

“We try to create and suite that really reflects them,” Wiese says.

To make your papers hyper-personal, inquire with your illustrator about seeing how the design is coming along midway, so you have input on nailing the final product. Think: Little things like whether or not your cat’s ears are spaced a part perfectly or whether your dog’s collar is the right shade of red. (Yes, you can put your beloved pets on your cards!)

Dive deep into the design

Once the illustrations are finalized, the decision-making is all about those tangible components—color palette, size, style, whether you want a 1D, 2D, or 3D cardstock, pretty much anything else the recipient will touch.

“Don’t be afraid of color and trust your artist,” Wiese says.

The illustration will be special no matter what, so now it’s your chance to be creative with what the card will feel like in your hands. Utilize things like texture and color to make your invitation not only look different but feel different. Print on a thicker, handmade paper instead of a smooth, glossy paper, or add texture to your invitation by placing an overlay made to look like lace over your card.

Stay away from trends

Finally, think of those parts of your wedding that make it your wedding. And include those in the design, things like details from the venue such as church tiles, a big red door leading to a reception hall, or even a picture of your signature cocktail.

And when in doubt, Wiese says, just look around.

“Think about the artwork you buy for your home. And what you both really like.”