How To Make A Custom Snap Filter For Your Wedding

It's mid-July, so you know what that means: it's wedding season. Though at 23, I'm a little young to be flooded with save-the-dates just yet, there's no escaping the flood of engagement, wedding, and baby announcements on social media. From adorable barn ceremonies to nuptials on a sprawling vineyard, the options for making your special day unique and beautiful seem to be limitless. Though it's important to enjoy the moment when you're at a wedding, as Millennials, we'd be lying if we said we didn't want to document the fun on social media. And what better way to commemorate the day than with a custom wedding Snapchat filter?

I spoke to Jenny Forrest, founder of OverMoment.com, a site for making custom Snapchat filters for special events, to get some tips for making a cute, unique filter for your big day. "Snapchat filters are the 2016 version of the Photo Booth," she tells Bustle. "They are a fun and memorable way to engage your guests, without breaking the bank."

So what do you need to know before creating your own custom filter?

1. What It Costs

If you're on a strict budget, you can choose to personalize one of their pre-designed templates for $19.99, or better yet, get one made-to-order for $69.99. The only additional cost? Submitting the filter to Snapchat for approval — which can be as little as $5, but varies according to venue size.

2. It Must Follow These Snapchat Guidelines

No rule-breaking allowed: The filter has to follow a few basic rules, like no hashtags, logos, or photos. What you and your guests choose to put inside the filter on the big day is totally up to you, though. (A fair warning: open bar + Snapchat = often questionable photos.)

3. It Can Be A DIY Project

Though companies like Over Moment can help you to create a filter that complements the vibe of your big day, it can also be something you do yourself (or have a close friend do on your behalf). Anyone with graphic design chops can take a stab at making this into a fun, pre-wedding DIY project (which sounds a lot better than some of the other, more stressful aspects of planning a wedding).

4. They're More Popular Than You Think

"With all the weddings and parties I’ve attended this year (#humblebrag), I’ve come to realize that custom filters are becoming the norm," Forrest says. "At one wedding, a girl asked me if the couple had a custom filter before she asked if they had a guest book! With the growing need for high quality filters, combined with the growth of Snapchat and the explosion of wedding spending, I figured this was a perfect opportunity to showcase my design chops. The company name says it all — a filter is something that goes ‘Over’ your special ‘Moment’."

5. Design Tips

Forrest's biggest pieces of advice when customizing your filter? Keep it consistent with your party's color scheme, and leave some room for the photo to shine through — make it utilize the top and bottom of the screen, but don't have it be overwhelmingly large. Other than that, you can do whatever your heart desires to create a fun filter for your wedding guests to use on your big day.

Having your own filter for your wedding is a certain way to make sure your guests (and all their friends on social media) remember the day fondly. When I first saw a friend using one of these in his Snapchat story a few weeks ago, I have to admit I thought it was pretty cute, in spite of my general apathy about weddings as a whole. It made it easier for me, a total stranger, to imagine the love the couple shared, and I could see how much fun everyone had using the filter (even if it was laid over a video of everyone drunkenly dancing at the reception). So if you're a bride-or-groom-to-be, a custom Snapchat filter is definitely something to consider.

Images: Fotolia; Courtesy of Over Moment (2)