Meet Melissa Arey | Owner & Designer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Melissa Arey and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Melissa, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
Starting my own business was actually not something I had planned! Being an art major, I enjoyed graphic design and had a full time job as a graphic designer. It wasn’t until after planning my own wedding and all the paper details, did I realize how much I enjoyed wedding planning and wedding stationery! I remember thinking at one point during the wedding planning process how fun it would be to do for a living. And then during our wedding reception came my first request for rehearsal dinner invitations, which led to more wedding requests, and led to a dream in my heart and to me starting to believe that I COULD actually do this for a living!

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I’ve always thought what set me apart from others is the quality and the attention to detail, such as the embellishments that I assemble by hand. I also enjoy and insist doing a lot of the production myself, versus outsourcing, mainly because I am a perfectionist by nature and have to make sure everything is done perfectly! I started my business doing wedding stationery, which will always have my heart due to all of the many pieces and details that can be brought to life, but as I have begun my journey into motherhood, I have really been enjoying birth announcements and specially themed birthday invitations!

While I do think everything worked out in its own perfect timing, for me, it was a very slow process. I was working hard, burning myself out for years trying to get to a spot where I felt comfortable quitting my full time job and designing invitations for a living, it wasn’t until I slowed down, and got a better process overall in place, that I was able to actually work less (not burning myself out), and be able to enjoy the work more AND able to balance a personal life at the same time.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Well I will say I would not make the best tour guide, BUT the few places you must visit in Cincinnati are Graeters, for ice cream and donuts, Skyline for some spaghetti chili and cheese coneys, Larosas for pizza, and Montgomery Inn for ribs! We also have an incredible zoo, the Cincinnati Zoo, and if you’re interested in amusement parks, definitely check out Kings Island! Depending on the time of year, I’d also recommend hitting up a Cincinnati Reds baseball game, a Cincinnati Bengals football game or an FC Cincinnati soccer game!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My shoutouts are all friends and family! Biggest shout-out being my husband for always believing in me, supporting me, encouraging me, sitting with me while I worked, helping when he could, and sacrificing several years of our social lives at the very beginning of our marriage as I worked a full-time job and then came come and worked the rest of the evenings and weekends on invitations! My family always supported me, my coworker and friend, Holly, helped me with getting a pricing sheet together for all of my in person meetings, and another coworker and friend, Lori, helped me with proof reading my entire first website!!

Website: www.helloinvite.com

Instagram: helloinvitedesign

Image Credits
headshot: brooke townsend photography stationery: melissa arey newborn photos: krystal franke photography