Wedding Invites

Who knew there was so much thought behind one piece of paper?

Let me preface by saying that I am considered a DIY (do-it-yourself) bride and a lot of things with the wedding have been designed by me and created by myself and my wonderful bridesmaids. (I'll have an overall wedding post soon)

So this project is the wedding invitations.

Purpose: Inform guests they are invited to your wedding, and provide the when and where (and I guess who, ha ha) details.

Plan: Pocketfolds! See pic:

So this is the basis of the pocketfold invitation. I have 99 of these made so far. (One fell to its death along the way) The invite itself goes on the purple part. Other pertinent information goes in the pocket (hence pocketfold!) on the right. This pertinent information includes the RSVP card, directions, accommodation information, etc. Then it folds up nice and pretty with a ribbon around it.

Basically I just wanted to make things as complicated as possible. Actually, the plan was to save money on the invites, which is definitely the case. So far the invite pictured above is about $0.20 per invite. Most invites (just the simple piece of paper mind you) are AT LEAST $1.00 a piece. Do anything fancy and you end up at $3.00 a pop. So I decided to gear up the creative side :)

I loved the pocketfold idea because it is compact, shows more thought (either through effort or money) and holds a lot of information. So I spent the last month completing the pocketfolds. Phew! First I had to figure them out. I found a couple of templates online, found one that was easiest using a 12x12 paper and then adjusted it to my desires. The steps to complete it were as follows: 1) Mark where to cut, 2) Cut out invite, 3) Fold 4) Cut edges and pocket 5) Glue down pocket and 6) Glue down purple paper. It's a great activity every weekend while watching football.

The hardest part though has definitely been designing the invitation. I had seen a lot of ideas I liked online at various invitation sites, but none that I loved. I started out working in Word, but that it so limiting. So then I borrowed my sisters Print Shop, which I haven't used in years! I really like the old version better (from what I remember) but it definitely did the job. I "borrowed" some images online and fit them to my needs. And voila! I would show you, but I think they may be a secret for a little bit. Especially in case something changes.

The other hard part with the invites--the wording. Ugh. Seriously, why do people have to make their last names so difficult? Dylan's parents have different last names since his mom kept her maiden name (another blog on names in a bit). But I have to keep their two full names on one line (plus the Mr. and the Mrs. plus an "and"), or they are considered divorced according to invitation etiquette. It has all worked out by now. I have not asked my mom what she wants to go by, as she has her maiden and married name legally, but she better be alright with the same name as my dad. My luck though, probably not.

Well I am on track for my invites according to my master timeline for the wedding. Unfortunately everything else is a little delayed. You think I would care a bit more since I had another wedding nightmare this weekend that involved me not planning the wedding well enough. But the puppy and Dylan are more fun to hang out with :)