Weddingbee boards

*This is kind of long, so I apologize and thank you in advance for your two cents*

When I got engaged I knew 12 months to plan a wedding was a long time, so I wanted to get a lot of things done early and started with invitations. I planned on semi-DIYing to save money.

Two months into the planning I met with a woman who designs print-ready invites. She's reputable in the city, so we met, we clicked, and she said she'd make some mock up invites for me to look at. One month later I hadn't heard from her, so I emailed her. I heard nothing. A couple weeks later I hadn't heard anything so I e-mailed her again. Nothing. It's like she dropped off the face of the planet.

I gave up on her and went to my cousin. He's a freelance graphic designer and he'd made my graduation invitations and they looked fantastic. He hadn't created any wedding invites, but I had total faith in him. I gave him everything he needed: dimensions, some wording for the inserts (I"m doing pocketfold invites and I've already ordered the pocketfolds and paper), font styles I liked, the color scheme I wanted and designs I liked. This was back in July. I told him I needed something by the end of August.

.....Did I get anythign by the end of August? no. We went to Las Vegas at the end of August (he went with us, because we were celebrating his sister's birthday) and he should me a monogram he came up with THAT morning. That's the only thing he had done. I told him TO HIS FACE right then that if he didn't think he could do it that he could just tell me and there'd be no hard feelings and i'd find someone else. He said he could do it so I extended the deadline and told him I needed a design by September 15.

On the 16th I sent him an e-mail asking him to e-mail me what he had. I heard nothing. On the 19th I texted him to see if he had anything. I heard nothing. Today I called him and told him I needed to see something TODAY. Have I heard from him? No.

*Side note: I'm moving at the beginning of October across the country and wanted these finished before I left - and he knows this.*

I'm beyond pissed and whenever I bring it up at home my dad tells me to just give my cousin more time because he doesn't want to make drama with the famliy. I don't know how much more time to give him. I also don't know what else to do because I've tried all forms of communication: called him, texted, and e-mailed him. I should also mention that I am paying him, so it's not like this is a free job for him; we discussed payment back in July.

What do I do??? (and PLEASE spare me the advice to go back in time and not have a family member help me. This is the last time I'm asking for his help.)

Thank you all for your input, I really appreciate it and it helps me feel less like a crazy bride! Last night I called him and after I hadn't heard from him I texted him two hours later; again, I heard nothing. In the voice mail I told him I needed to hear from him ASAP and know what's going on.

This morning there was nothing in my inbox from him, so I sent him an email and he wrote back an hour later. The gist I got from his e-mail is that he hasn't started working on them, but said he would by Saturday or Sunday and he'd try to get me designs before then. I'm going to e-mail him back and tell him not to worry about it. Yes, he was giving me a family discount, but right now it's not worth it. (I didn't pay him anythign up front—thank goodness— so I'm not out any money!)

 I'm pretty computer savy, but unfortunately all I know how to do is type on Word, designing is a whole different realm that I wouldn't even know where to begin. I may look into some of the places you suggested above.

Thanks for helping me get through this little wedding hiccup!

Awww I'm sorry you had to go through that.  When we first started planning for the wedding, we were strongly advised to avoid working with family vendors.  If it makes you feel better, I've also been told that you don't always save a whole lot on DIY invites.  You have plenty of time, good luck!