---
title: How It Works: Ordering a Custom Love Map
description: Order, send your 5–8 milestones, approve a draft within 3 days, then download print-ready files. The full process, including revisions and what to send.
canonical: https://paperanniversarygift.com/how-it-works/
last-updated: 2026-09-08
---

# How it works

Order, send your 5–8 milestones, approve a draft within 3 days, then download print-ready files. The full process, including revisions and what to send.

## 1. Order

Buy the map on Etsy and add your two names in the personalisation box. Nothing is drawn until we have your story, so ordering first simply reserves your slot in the queue.

## 2. Send your story

Message your five to eight milestones in order, each with the event, the real place name and the date. This is the part worth getting right, because the map is built around the sequence. Describe anything distinctive, and send the wording of a personal note if you want one.

## 3. Approve the draft

A draft usually comes back within 3 days. You get one round of changes on it, covering corrections and small details, so send everything at once. The print-ready files follow, usually 4 to 5 days after ordering.

## What to send

Each milestone needs three things: the event, the real place name, and the date.

- Name the real place. "The Alma Pub, Crystal Palace" becomes its own
  illustration; "where we met" becomes a generic building.
- Send them in the order they happened. The composition is built around the
  sequence, so the order cannot change later.
- Describe anything distinctive in a line of words. Photographs are not needed
  or requested.
- Group to save space: several trips become one stop, for example "Traveling the
  world: 2021 to 2022, France, Italy and Mexico".

Full template: https://paperanniversarygift.com/brief-template.txt

## How many milestones

5–8 milestones. Eight is the maximum, not a target. Fewer,
better-chosen stops read better than a crowded map, and choosing which eight
matter is the useful question. Ideas taken from real maps: https://paperanniversarygift.com/love-map-milestone-ideas/

## Revisions

One revision round on the draft: corrections and small details.

The reason the scope is narrow is worth knowing, because it changes how you
write the brief: the map is a timeline and the whole drawing is arranged around
the specific sequence of stops. Adding or dropping a stop is not a tweak, it is
a different map. So the flow has to be right in the first brief.

## Timings

| Stage | When |
| --- | --- |
| First draft | within 3 days |
| Print-ready files | 4–5 days after ordering |
| Delivery method | Digital download, made to order |

### How long does it take?

A first draft usually arrives within 3 days, and most orders are finished within 4–5 days. That is the whole timeline rather than a production stage: because you receive a file, nothing is added on top of it for shipping. Reviewers frequently describe it arriving faster than that, and rush requests are sometimes possible, but plan around 4–5 days.

### Do I see it before it is finished?

Yes. A draft comes to you before the final files, and you get one round of changes on it: wording, dates, spellings, and small additions or removals of detail. Send everything in one reply rather than in pieces, since it is a single round. The sequence of stops is fixed at that point, so that part needs to be right when you send your brief.

### How many revisions do I get?

One round, and it covers corrections and small details: wording, dates, spellings, and small additions or removals within the stops you already have. It does not cover adding or removing a milestone. The map is a timeline, so the whole composition is built around the exact sequence of stops, which means a new stop is a different map rather than a tweak. That is why the flow matters most in your first brief: decide the five to eight stops and their order before you send them, and the draft comes back close to finished.

### What do you need from me?

Your two names, the title you want, and five to eight milestones in the order they happened, each with the event, the real place name and the date. A line describing anything distinctive about a place, pet or vehicle you want on the map. And the wording of a personal note, if you want one. Get the list and its order right at this stage, because that is what the composition is built around.

### Will it look exactly like the examples?

It will be in the same style, but no two maps are identical, because no two stories are. Some maps are sparse and doodle-like, others are dense with detailed architecture. Browse the examples and say which end of that range you prefer when you order, telling us up front is the surest way to get what you are picturing.

---

Source: https://paperanniversarygift.com/how-it-works/
Updated: 2026-09-08