Wedding DIY - Invitations

So I mentioned in my initial post of this blog that there would also be some items occasional mentioning of DIY for my upcoming wedding. The last few months have been focused on a culminating project - our wedding invitations.

Here is why my fiance and I (and my parents) decided to DIY the invitations: other people charge an obscene amount for invitations printing. Some websites charge approximately $600 (or more) for the number of invitations we required and the additional inserts.

During college, my friend who runs the blog Knit One, Bake Two screen printed all 140 of her invitations as her senior project. She purchased all the paper and then used the school screen press to ink the invitations. It took her several weeks but because she was the laborer, the only cost to her was the ink and the invitations. I knew I would not have the access to the screen printing machine that she had, nor did I have the skill set or means to operate one.

Here's the point of my side story - when we got engaged and it came time to start the DIY wedding invitations, I consulted my friend. She suggested going to the local Paper Source store in our area and find the invitation envelopes, RSVP envelopes, stacks of paper to buy and print on our own, etc. I was amazed at the amount of variety in different size envelopes, thickness of paper, etc. Lucky for me, my friend had essentially given me a how to guide for the store.

So, my mother, my maid of honor and I went to the store and found exactly what we were looking for. We picked up 140 A7 envelopes in "Lake" blue, 140 of the "Emerald" A2 envelopes, and then picked up a stack of 250 sheets of Luxe paper. It took a lot of sorting to figure out what we really wanted and we spent approximately 2 hours in the store.

Another detail we added when we were at Paper Source came from the Clearance section. We picked up several stacks of these great business size cards that say, "You are seated at:" and leaving enough room to write on and the back side is blank. There is already a plan in the works on how to use this.

The last detail I needed for the paper side of the invitation was a paper pocketfold which I found when searching online. Cards and Pockets is a great online tool for people who want to design their own invitation. I admit, I could have had them do the invitation from start to finish but I wasn't sure on the paper yet and I had already purchased the paper I wanted to use. So, I elected to simply order some of their sample pocketfolds in different colors and shapes so we could figure out what we wanted. When we actually did order them, we picked up 140 of the Harvest Vertigo Pocketfolds. The people at Cards and Pockets were great and even provided the inside measurements for the best inserts and main invitation piece.

With all the main pieces assembled, I probably designed about 15 drafts of the wedding invitation main piece. Nothing was quiet what Mr. Fiance and I were looking for. We found the type face we liked and made the proper sizing arrangements BUT we could not get the image background to be what we wanted. I emailed draft number 15 to my graphic design friend and she came back with the suggestion - try the Library of Congress and search the archives for the image we wanted. BINGO! We found exactly what we were looking for.

After careful changing of the color scheme to match the shades of blue and green we are using for the wedding, the invitation was complete. All the pieces finally came together. I took my paper and the electronic file off to the local FedEx Office and was so excited to get them printed until I was told they wouldn't take the Paper Source Luxe paper. It was, "too much like construction paper" and they turned my business away. Before I left, I asked who in the area would print with this type of paper. They suggested Minuteman Press which is a less popular printing store.

Well, I took my paper over there and they said, "Really? They said they couldn't do it? That seems stupid. Its just a little thicker than normal printer paper. We can do it no problem!" Whoo! We ended up paying even less money for the invitations than if FedEx Office had done it. BONUS.

At last, we had all the pieces and prints we needed! So Mr. Fiance and I slowly went to work on pieces. Mr. Fiance helped put the return stamp on the RSVP envelope. Then I added a touch to the backside of the envelope - a stamp that looks like postage marks with Color Box Harbor ink.

 

The two big pictures are of all the RSVP envelopes stamped (x2) and stacked together as the ink dries. I am afraid it might take some time for them to dry so that's why they aren't restacked as 140.  The reason why the ink is taking so long to dry is because the envelopes have a metallic coating which means anything added might be smeared.

This piece might seem time consuming but if you just pop in your favorite TV series on DVD or find it on Netflix, you could probably finish something like this in 1.5 (42 minute) episodes. And yes, you can do the ink stamping without someone there and not feel like you have gone crazy or that it will never end.

The paper side of the invitations though is another story. My mother wanted to help with the cutting of the invitation pieces after they came back from Minuteman Press, so she made a day of it before she came up for Christmas. She and I sat and watched some of our favorite Christmas movies - sans the original b&W version of Miracle on 34th St - and went to town with our paper trimmers and the 4 different invitation pieces.

4 x140 =  560 pieces of paper

560 x 4 (cuts per piece of paper) = 2240 

2240 is the number of times we sliced that day. Low and behold, it only took us about 1.5 Christmas movies and some great conversation to be done. I would not have liked to do that part of the project by myself. If you decide to cut your own invitations, do so with at least one other person, if not your entire bridal party. 

What were the four pieces I keep talking about? 1) Main invitation piece 2) Directions and Important Information regarding the hotels for our wedding 3) Registry information 4) RSVP card. 

While I was waiting for the ink to dry on the RSVP envelopes, I decided I would be super organized and stacked all the insert type pieces (everything but the main invitation piece) together....

 

which seemed like a great idea until I realized I had forgotten I was going to try something with the RSVP cards. My brilliant mind realized after I had completed the complicated stacking pictured above that I intended to number the RSVP cards on the back with a black light pen. 

Why is she numbering the RSVP cards? Well, I have heard enough horror stories from people that when the RSVP cards come back, people have not written the names in of who is coming. Since Mr. Fiance and I are doing assigned tables (but not assigned seats) we need to know who is coming in order to accomplish just that.

Still, I left the stacks as they were but simply removed the RSVP card as I put them in the Harvest Vertigo Pocketfolds from Cards & Pockets. So, all 140 invitations are stuffed with the directions and the registries at the moment. 

At this point, Mr. Fiance and I are pretty sure that this stamp is the one we are adding to the top fold of the pocketfold. We've been flip flopping on a few different ones, including one that says, "It is not the destination, but the journey." That particular one seems to fit with our geography theme but we like the one pictured above because it seems more wedding-ish. We might pick it because its the one the parents on both sides seem to like more. We might also pick it because its a lot cleaner looking than the other one which has the letters kind of floating around and wiggly. The cleaner look matches the inside of the invitation more... oh heck, yes this is the one we are going with. Why I am trying to justify it in writing is silly.

So today, my MOH (maid of honor) is coming up to help glue/stick in the main invitation piece. Thus, this post will likely be updated later this evening with pictures of the final invitation and us in the assembly process.

Anyone think I am crazy with all this DIY stuff yet? Just wait until you see what Mr. Fiance helped out with last night...