How to Personalise Your Order, and What the Proof Actually Shows

Ordering something personalised is different to ordering something off a shelf. You type the names, pick the colours, upload the photos, and then wait to find out whether what you pictured is what turns up. That gap is where the worry sits.

So here is how it works at our end, from the fields on the product page to the proof landing in your inbox. We make everything by hand here in Hessle, and nothing goes near the printer until you have seen it and said yes.

The personalisation fields live on the product page

Every design has its own fields, sitting under the price and size options. Fill them in before you add to basket. They are the brief.

Some are short. A wedding favour scratch card asks for a title, the wedding date and the prize type. Others need more. Our Family Fist Bump Print asks how many children's hands you want (one to five), which skin tone option (A, B, C, D or greyscale), whether you want pet paws adding, and which paw shape from the reference list.

That last one surprises people, but it is the difference between a print that looks like your family and one that looks like a family.

Required fields, optional fields, and the little grey text

Anything marked required has to be filled in before the site will let you check out. Optional fields really are optional, and a blank one is a choice we will honour rather than a mistake we will chase.

Worth reading, though: the small grey help text under a field. It is there because that particular thing has tripped somebody up before. Some real examples from our product pages:

• Sub-title on the daddy and me prints: "Optional smaller line under the title."

• Name of team: "Include the kit version (Home/Away/Third) so we get the colours right."

• Names and numbers: "One person per line, in the format: Name - Number."

• Hairstyle code: the codes come from our hairstyle guide, where M is men, B is boys and G is girls.

• Skin tones: light, medium, tan or dark, or describe it in your own words and we will match it on the proof.

If something does not fit any of the boxes, put it in the personalisation notes box. We read those.

Photos: what actually helps us

Around thirty designs take a photo upload, from one portrait on a newborn print up to ten on the heart collage. The Family Photo Collage Print takes up to nine.

The count in the field label is the number the layout is built for. "Upload Photos (3 photos needed)" means three, not two with a gap. If you only have two you love, tell us before you order and we will look at rebalancing the design.

The rest is unglamorous. Well lit beats artfully filtered, and the original from your camera roll beats a screenshot of it. A photo sent over WhatsApp has usually been squashed on the way.

Colour choices, and one that catches people out

On the foiled range you pick a foil colour from thirty two options, from Gold Metallic and Silver Holographic to Rainbow Glass and Copper Glitter. Card colour is white, black or navy. Scratch stickers are silver or gold, plus holographic on the wedding favours.

The one to think about: dark foils on a dark card do not stand out. Black Glitter on navy technically exists, and you will barely see it. If you want contrast, go for a metallic or a holographic. On our Personalised Disney Foiled Ticket (from £10) the whole point is the reveal, so contrast beats the shade you like best in isolation.

Frame colours are black, white or grey. That is the full list. The front is 1.2mm acrylic or styrene rather than glass, which matters if the print is going in a nursery or a child's room.

Quantities on the scratch cards

Wedding favours work differently. On the Eucalyptus wedding favour scratch card (from 60p a card) you tell us how many winning cards and how many losing cards, as two separate numbers.

People sometimes enter their guest count in both boxes and end up with double the cards. Winners plus losers should add up to your table count. Think about the split first, because five winners across a hundred and twenty guests feels very different to twenty.

Then we send you a proof

Once the order is in, we design it and email you a proof, usually within one to three working days.

You can ask for changes and there is no extra charge before approval. Change a name, move a line, swap a foil, see it in the other card colour. Nothing gets printed until you say go. If we cannot read something in a photo, or the names and numbers do not line up with the hairstyle codes, this is when we ask rather than guess.

Same process whether you spent 60p on a favour or thirty pounds on a mounted A3. It is the main practical reason to buy direct from a small studio rather than through a marketplace.

After you approve

Most orders are dispatched within one to three working days of you approving the proof, and we will tell you if something is likely to take longer. UK orders go Royal Mail Tracked with a link by email. We ship most items worldwide, and customs charges on those are paid by you on arrival.

Printing, foiling, framing and packing all happen here, by us. The foiling in particular is a one sheet at a time job, which is why the foiled range is priced the way it is.

If it is not on the site at all

Plenty of our designs started as somebody emailing to ask whether a thing was possible. A specific pub, a verse nobody else picks, a logo for a small shop, a drawing your six year old did that deserves a frame.

There is a custom design page with the process on it, and the contact form is where to start. Send the occasion, the names, the dates and any style references, and we come back with a proof and a price.

Two honest caveats

Personalised items cannot be returned for change of mind. That is the trade off for something made specifically for you, and it is why we proof everything first. Check the spelling carefully, especially unusual names, because approving the proof is the moment it becomes final.

If something arrives damaged or faulty, get in touch with photos within 30 days and we will sort a replacement or a refund.

More of the common questions are on our FAQs page, the photo print guide shows how the details land on a finished piece, and you can browse the family prints, the foiled tickets or the wedding favour scratch cards to see the fields in practice.