DIY Wedding Invitations

Because I'm kind of a lunatic, I decided it would be a good idea to make our wedding invitations myself.

Our save-the-date postcards were pretty simple.  They looked like this on the front:  

And this on the back:  

I made them by scanning a vintage postcard of North Hero, VT (our wedding location) into our computer.  (Funny Story: My parents have the same postcard framed on the wall of their Vermont cabin and I didn't even know it until I visited in June.) I added the lines, "Meet us at the Lake" using a font called "Vacation Postcard"  through Adobe's Photoshop Elements, 

The back of the postcards were made by using a template from Wedding Chicks.  They have several free save-the-date and invitation bundles.  You just plug in your information and viola!  Easy, cute, and free.

Once the save the dates were mailed, I turned my attention to the invitations.  They were a bit of a project.  

Seeing these amazing inviations from Nothing but Bonfires is what started the madness.

"I can do that!" I thought.  Well....sorta.  Ours weren't nearly as professional looking, but I was happy with how they turned out!

The invitation itself is, again,  a freebie template courtesy of  Wedding Chicks.   It's a really great resource if you're thinking of your own DIY wedding.

The website allows you to choose from a variety of colors, but I ended up tweaking things further through Adobe's Photoshop Elements to match my GUAVA color palette.

Using the Wedding Chicks' template as a starting place, I made two RSVP cards.  One was for the wedding itself, and the other was for the welcome dinner the night before.  I changed the colors slightly once more.  I also created a polka dot background instead of the retro pattern the freebie provides because I had polka dots on my wedding dress.  Finally, I added some extra text to provide my guests with all the information they needed.

The last piece of the invitation package was a schedule of events for the weekend.    

Once everything was designed, I used my home printer and some white card stock to get everything printed.  This created some temporary frustration on my part because colors on a computer monitor look very different from the printed product.  The exact shade of guava I wanted on the monitor was coming out really dark through the printer.  

My solution was to build a color palette on PSE.  I made a grid of varying shades of pinks and peaches then printed it out.  That way, I could get a better idea of what the colors would actually look like on the invitations.

After adjusting the colors a final time, my printer got the workout of its inky life.

Meanwhile, I turned my attention to the pocket envelopes I ordered from Paper and More.  They looked a little too white, so I line the inside flap of each envelope with patterned paper.  I bought a pack of paper on sale at Michael's.

Then we set up an invitation-building headquarters in our living room for my Maid of Honor, Amy, and I to get to work.  Snacks were provided.  Obviously.

 We had to cut the different parts of the invitation to size.  Then we had to cut all the card stock to size.  I'm pretty sure I cleaned every Michael's within a twenty-mile radius out of guava-colored card stock.

Then we had to mount the invitations to the card stock.

What I'm really trying to say is that this was a long-ass process of measuring, cutting and gluing.

 Luckily, we had Dawson to keep us company.  Joey and Pacey for life!!!  Woot!  

 Finally, when all the parts were glued and cut, we organized an assembly line for envelope stuffing.  

When everything was properly stuffed, the invitations looked like this:

 We closed the pocket envelopes with a piece of guava ribbon and a sticker.  I designed the stickers on PSE and printed them on some Avery labels from Staples.  They feature a silhouette of the state of Vermont with a heart in the upper corner near where we got married, our initials, and our wedding date.

Finally, after about two and half days of nothing but blood, sweat and Dawson-flavored tears, the invitations were ready to go.  We slapped on some fancy Martha Stewart address labels and stuck them  in the mail.   

And yes, I did invite the president.  And no, he did not come.