The inspiration behind the aesthetic vision for our wedding included the following factors: 1) my favorite colors - the primary hues of buttercup yellow, cherry red, and French blue; 2) my most favored era, the 1940s; 3) books, since the Mister, as a pastor, and I, as a teacher, both love literary tomes; 4) my preference for all things detail-oriented and handmade; and 5) the aim to align to a lowest possible budget. Therefore, thanks to Photoshop, accumulated crafting supplies, and hours of labor while my students were on winter break last year, our wedding invitations came to life.
I've a deep-seated infatuation with vintage air mail envelopes and knew I sorely wanted them incorporated into our invitations, so I purchased plain, cream-colored greeting card-sized envelopes from here and designed the envelopes on Photoshop with a vintage air mail border and stamps to print. We also stamped each envelope with a customized rubber cancelled postage stamp that had our names, wedding date, and location on it, which we ordered from this sweet seller. I also wanted hand calligraphed addressing on the invitations, but knew we couldn't afford it because calligraphers are amazingly legit. I loftily attempted doing it on my own, but failed miserably, as evidenced by scores of envelopes ending up in the trash. Let's just say that calligraphy is not at all my strength. Lovely calligraphy typography saved the day, and I ended up printing the addressing on our envelopes, which worked out splendidly.
The invitation suite comprised of five pieces that were tied together with red & white baker's twine ordered from here. I designed the main invitation card on Photoshop with a nostalgically refined flair using an array of free fonts downloaded from here that I printed on recycled taupe cardstock ordered from here, and rounded the corners with this.
The primary invitation card was then wrapped with a yellowed page from a 19th-century French novel that I acquired for a mere buckaroo during one of our jaunts to the Mister's favorite bookshop.
To additionally incorporate our love for literary prowess, I designed the RSVP card as a library card using typewriter typography that I printed on cream-colored cardstock ordered from here. To make it seem a smidgen more authentic, I stamped each card with our wedding date, the RSVP deadline, and the maximum number of guests invited per invitation suite. To save paper and additional stamps, we decided to have guests RSVP on our wedding website instead of via snail mail. I stuck the RSVP library card within a postage stamped library pocket that we ordered from here. The final piece of the invitation suite was a mini doily ordered from here, that I stamped with "you're invited" and our wedding date using a custom stamp set bought from here.
Crafting our wedding invitations was unequivocally a labor of love. When I first showed a sample to my then future momma-in-law, she said, "Wow, that's a lot of details." I replied excitedly, "Yup, they are so fun to make." Well, the first ten suites were bushels of fun. By the time I finished the last one for a 275-person guestlist though, they were, let's say, less fun. My arms were aching from wearing out the paper cutter. My eyes were glazed over from stamping at the right angle. My fingers were sore from attempting to tie perfect bows. Putting together our invitations was a humbling experience that taught me I could not possibly craft everything for the wedding on my own. Was it worth it though? Oh, absolutely!Have an especially splendid weekend, guys and dolls. I am utterly relieved because today marks my students' last day of school (finally, a finale!), which implicates a stretch of a summer holiday for me. I'll be prepping for and helping to execute a dear friend's bridal shower and bachelorette jaunt this weekend, so it shall be oodles of ladylike loveliness. 'Til Monday comes once more, enjoy all that is in store!
In case you missed prior posts on the Joyous Day:
+ save the date & engagement photographs
Girls, you need to put this on pinterest!
ReplyDeleteHAHAHA ALEX! You are so funny.
ReplyDeleteI just jumped to this post from your Christmas Card one and I'm so so impressed! You are pretty much the most creative person I've seen - and that's saying something with all those DIY blogs out there! This looks professional, girl :)
ReplyDeleteIt's a hilarious read and nearly had me spitting out my coffee on my laptop when I read it! Thanks for making my day! Don't forget to visit our cheap essay writing service when you are in need of a fully-fledged paper!
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