To help build a better design, you can take the logo that is going to be in the email (logo from the ministry or activity), select a couple colors from the logo and use those colors to create some border colors, headers, and different nuance within the email itself. I found a whole host of color pickers that could help you do that here: http://www.downloadsoftware4free.com/?keyword=color+picker&action=keyword
Jeremy
Jackson