Assembly Line

Ok, so now that all the cutting and the printing has been completed, I can now show you the final, finished product! And one that I am so super proud of.  In fact, I really regret not putting something on the back of them along the lines of "DIY by the Bride" just so I could get a little credit for the hours of hard work I put into making these.

Ok, enough blabbering - onto the reveal!!

Because my Map & Directions card was double sided and sized larger than the pocket would accommodate, I had to fold it in half.  I once again used the boning knife for this, and then gently folded the card at the crease that was made.  This worked perfectly, and the ink from the printer didn't smudge at all!

Front of Folded Map & Directions Card / Personal Picture

Inside of Folded Map & Directions Card / Personal Picture

The next part was to assemble everything.  I glued the white invite card to the orange one using a spray adhesive, and then glued both pieces together to the pocketfold.

Invitation Glued to Pocketfold / Personal Picture

Following that, I started stuffing the pocket part of the pocketfolds.  The Map & Directions card went in first since it was the tallest piece.  

Map & Directions Card in Pocketfold / Personal Picture

Next was the Accommodations Card.

Accommodations Card / Personal Picture

Accommodations Card in Pocketfold / Personal Picture

Lastly, was the RSVP Card. I did two different versions, as we had a few people that were not given a +1, so for them, I made a singular form of the RSVP Card.

RSVP Cards / Personal Picture

  

RSVP Card under Envelope Fold / Personal Picture

RSVP Card in Pocketfold / Personal Picture

And lastly, the closed Pocketfold.  Please ignore the really long fingernail. I decided not to use anything to keep them shut, as it would have added extra weight to the envelope, and I was already at where I wanted to be - $0.65 exactly!

Closed Pocketfold Invitation / Personal Picture

I am so so proud of these, and actually wouldn't mind making more! I had a lot of fun with these, and hopefully I'll be able to help a friend or family member make theirs at some point!

Anyone else DIY their invites and love it?!

Paper Trimming

Now that I know our guests, even those far, far away, have received our invites, I can now do our reveal!!!

Since I'm terrible at going to the post office, I ended up mailing out the envelopes to my mom to address way later than I had originally planned.  To be fair, though, at one point I was waiting for some extras to arrive from Cards & Pockets first, but that shouldn't have delayed me three weeks months.

After I finally got all the envelopes, RSVPs included, out to my mom, I started working on the invitations and the other cards for the pocketfolds.

Things actually went a lot smoother than I thought that they would, especially after reading some horror stories from other brides about DIY invitations.  First, I spent a lot of time cutting out the paper.  Since I ordered scrapbook paper, all of the sheets were 12"x12".  And while you think that caused a lot of extra work, the great thing about it was that I was able to make multiples out of every sheet.  For the RSVPs, I was able to make 8 RSVP cards from every 12"x12" sheet of paper.  So, the $1.09 per sheet cost, ended up actually only being about $0.14 per RSVP card, not including the cost of ink, which I will not be considering in my invitation assembly, as I already had the cartridges for my printer and did not need to purchase replacements.  I'll do a full cost breakdown at the end of this post - back to cutting.

To help figure out how much paper I needed, I made some diagrams to figure out the number of cards I could make from each 12"x12" page. For each type of card, I made a grid. For the orange invitation cards, I only did 12x12, with each square representing 1". For the other cards, I did 24x24, with each square representing 1/2".

Orange Invitation Paper Diagram - 1" Grid / Personal Picture

RSVP Card Paper Diagram - 1/2" Grid / Personal Picture

Accommodations Card Paper Diagram - 1/2" Grid / Personal Picture

Map & Directions Card Paper Diagram / Personal Picture

As you can see above, I could fit a lot of cards on one piece of paper. And, for the Map & Directions Paper, since it was just plain white paper, I was able to get some 3.5"x5" cards out of the same page, which is the exact size I needed for the white part of the Invitation. It worked out perfectly!

I purchased a paper cutter since I knew that I would be making the invitations for the wedding, and I have to tell you, if you plan to do a lot with paper for something, definitely purchase a cutter.  It will be well worth the money.  The one that I purchased was by Fiskars, and while I was at it, I also purchased some replacement blades.

Fiskars 12" Personal Paper Trimmer / Image via Scrapbook.com

This was an absolute life saver.  Because I cut a lot of paper.  I made a total of 56 invitations, all of which consisted of an invitation (two pieces of paper), an RSVP card, an Accommodations card, and a Map & Directions card.  So, each pocketfold had five pieces of paper in it.  That's a whole lot of cutting.  

So, first, I marked out the paper where it needed to be cut.  Because my paper was double-sided, I made sure I was marking on the opposite side I was going to use.  If you have the ability to, use a boning knife to mark your paper instead of a pencil - it will save you time and look better.  

Marking the RSVP paper / Personal Picture

Then, after marking all my paper, I went through two blades on my paper trimmer cutting them all out.  Once they were all cut, extras included, I ran some test prints through my printer. Everything was working fine, so I set them all up to print, but hand-fed each individual sheet of paper to prevent misfeeds and paper jams.  That was the most time consuming part, especially since I couldn't really print in front of the television with other people because the sound was so annoying.  

I'll get to the assembly portion of the DIY Invites in the following post. But, I just wanted to share my cost breakdown with you here:

Orange Leaf Print Invitation Paper @ $1.01/sheet with 4 Invites/sheet = $0.25/Invite

White Invitation Plain Paper @ $4.29/25 sheets using only 2/3 of paper = $0.10/Invite

Yellow Grid RSVP Paper @ $1.09/sheet with 8 RSVPs/sheet = $0.14/RSVP

Green Swirl Accommodation Card Paper @ $0.96/sheet with 6 Cards/sheet = $0.16/Card

White Map & Directions Card Plain Paper @ $4.29/25 sheets using only 1/3 of paper = $0.05/Card

Total Paper Cost = $0.70/Invitation Suite*

I'd say that's a pretty darn good number, wouldn't you?

*Number does not include Pocketfold, Invitation Envelope, RSVP Envelope, or Postage.  If you include those, the total cost comes out to $3.20/Invitation Suite. Still a pretty good number!

Love, Love, Love Our Friends!

Our friends are seriously the best.

This may not be as hilarious to you as it is to FI and I, but this is SO awesome.  We somehow received all three of these RSVPs in the same day, all from the same circle of friends, AND also from three different states: Massachusetts, Kentucky, and Indiana.

Awesomest Friends Ever! / Personal Picture

And in case you can't read it in the picture:

RSVP 1 - "I require 2 jagerbombs served w/each course."

RSVP 2 - "I will require yeast-fermented malt flavored with hops in drink form."

RSVP 3 - "I require your most expensive thing stuffed with your second most expensive thing."

The awesomest! 

And I don't even care if that's a word or not.

Don't Keep Me Waiting

Well, our invites officially went out on Saturday, as you may have seen in the fanciest drop-off ever!

And, we officially got our first RSVPs back in the mail today! 3 of them!!!

Woot!! PS - What a ridiculous amount of editing... / Personal Picture

So excited, in case you couldn't tell.

And to top it off, all 3 were YES's! Which means that we officially have 6 people coming to our wedding.  Only 98 more people to hear from.

Don't keep me waiting for those, wedding guests!

Fanciest Drop-off Ever!

We finally finished putting together the invites last night, and we just dropped them off at the post office!!  I am writing this post from the car, as we are on our way to a friend of ours' formal wedding, so I have dubbed this the fanciest drop off of wedding invites ever.

The woman at the post office gave me this really strange look as I dropped off a box of invites in a floor-length formal dress (that I made, btw!) and my hair all done up.

Invites separated by tissue paper to prevent ink smear and envelope glue stickiness / Crappy Personal Cell Picture

Invites with no tissue paper - Love the stamps! / Crappy Personal Cell Picture

But, the fact of the matter is that they are finally out of our hands! A few days later than I had originally planned, but that's my fault for not sending the envelopes to my mom for addressing on a reasonable timeframe.

I can't wait to start getting RSVPs! And I really hope that the guests enjoy them, as they were a labor of love.

After I know that our guests have received them, I'll do a reveal! Stay tuned!!!

What You'll be Reading

FI and I are in an interesting scenario with our wedding invitations.  Because we are hosting the wedding, our parents names will not be listed on the invitations.  This means that traditional invitation wording will not make sense to use in our situation.

Mr. and Mrs. Amanda's Parents 

request the honor of your presence at the marriage of their daughter 

Amanda Middle 

to 

Dylan Middle 

son of 

Mr. and Mrs. Dylan's Parents 

Saturday, the sixth of October 

two thousand twelve 

at five o'clock in the evening 

Roger Williams Botanical Center

Providence, RI

FI and I are also not getting married in a religious ceremony, so all of the wording that has some religious affiliation would also not make sense to use.

We wanted to find something that wasn't too overused, but at the same time, wasn't too mushy, awkward, dorky, or weird - I know, I'm using such technical terms, aren't I?

I ended up finding our wording at Invitation Consultants, but before I reveal what we have chosen, I wanted to show you what we did not choose.

Just like a page out of a fairy tale the storybook romance comes true... 

Amanda Middle Lastname 

and 

Dylan Middle Lastname 

request the honor of your presence 

on Saturday, the sixth of October 

two thousand twelve 

at five o'clock in the evening 

Roger Williams Botanical Center

Providence, RI

This one was not chosen because we are not in a fairy tale, and I am NOT a princess, and do not want to be called one on my wedding day.  //End Rant

Or...

From the first 'tee' 

we knew we 'wood' spend 

the 'course' of our lives together 

We, 

Amanda Middle Lastname

and 

Dylan Middle Lastname

‘wood’ love ‘fore’ you to join us at our wedding 

Saturday, the sixth of October 

two thousand twelve 

at five o'clock in the evening 

Roger Williams Botanical Center

Providence, RI

Golf has nothing to do with our relationship, and I'm not exactly sure I would want the word "wood" in quotes on my wedding invitation. Especially with our group of friends. That would never fly.

So yeah, those are SO not us.  But, if they are you, by all means, please use them on your invitations. 

Here is the slightly modified one I think we have decided to use:

Because you have shared in our lives 

by your friendship and love, we 

Amanda Middle Lastname

and 

Dylan Middle Lastname 

invite you to share 

the beginning of our new life together 

on our wedding day

Saturday, the sixth of October

two thousand twelve

at five o'clock

Roger Williams Botanical Center

Providence, RI

So, what are your thoughts? Is this too cheesy? Does the wording make sense? Can you actually picture this on a wedding invitation?

More Paper Samples

Well, you've already seen the first part of our invitation suite, but what about the rest?  We have decided to do pocketfolds, and while these may not be unique anymore, they are beautiful and easy to put together.  Since this is completely a DIY operation, I needed to decide what to do about paper for the other elements of the suite: response card, accommodations, and directions/map cards.

I did not want to go the traditional route of having everything be on a solid color paper, so I decided to go look at more scrapbook paper since it seems to be thick enough and big enough for me to get multiple of each size card out of one sheet.

In staying with our color palette, I decided to use green and yellow paper for the response card and accommodations card, but since there will be a map printed on the backside of the directions card, that I would just stick with white.

After ordering a ton of different paper samples, we have decided to go with these two:

Bo Bunny Press Double-Dot Paper - Kiwi Green / Image via Scrapbook.com

Doodlebug Design Petite Prints Collection - Dot Grid Bumblebee / Image via Scrapbook.com

Since these are the only pictures of the paper on the website, they don't really show you exactly what we'll be using.  The green paper has a swirly green look to it on the side they only show the corner of, and that's actually the side we will be using, not the one with the dots.  And for the yellow paper, we will be using the side with the grid. We felt that while the dots on both of the papers would make it match, it made it look a little too young, and actually reminded me of a baby shower, which I really didn't want to make our wedding invitations feel like.

So the paper is on it's way, and I'll take more pictures when it comes time to create everything, because I know you will all want to see the whole DIY process.

Anyone else using scrapbook paper or patterned paper for their DIY invitation suites?

Envelopes & Pocketfolds

When I first started populating my Google Reader with blogs, one of the first ones on there was Road to the Aisle.  Heather was a new blogger, documenting her journey through wedding planning and DIY projects.  Her blog, which was retired after the recaps of her wedding in 2009, is still popular among DIY brides all over message board communities.

I am taking more than a few ideas from her blog, as she seems to have great taste!  One of things that I am doing is pocketfold invitations.  I love the look of these and the simplicity of keeping everything together in one place.  The difference, is that I will not be making the pocketfolds, but I will be making the cards to fit inside.  I have so many other DIY projects on my plate, and while making these would likely save me money, I figured that I could find a good deal online.

I came across Cards & Pockets and they had great prices, so I ordered a few samples, and they were shipped off to me.  They arrived in the mail a few days later and looked great!  The paper that I chose had a slight sheen to it, like it was almost metallic, but was sturdy and folded very neatly.  I tested the interior pocket to make sure it would fit a lot of thick paper in it, and then I was sold.

Signature Pocketfold Size Chart / Image via Cards & Pockets

I hopped back onto the site and added the correct number of pocketfolds, the matching envelopes, and the RSVP card envelopes I needed for the invites to my shopping cart, added a coupon (never shop without coups!), and then hit the little submit order button.

Wanna see what I ordered?

A7 European Flap Envelope in Onyx / Image via Cards & Pockets

RSVP European Flap Envelope in Onyx / Image via Cards & Pockets

Signature Pocketfold in Onyx / Image via Cards & Pockets

I can't wait to choose the rest of the paper and then start putting together these invitation suites!

I Love Paper

I have known that I've wanted to make my own invites and paper products for the wedding since I came across my first wedding blog.  The blogger made her own invites and programs, and essentially everything paper, and I knew that being the bargain hunter that I am, that's what I was going to do.  Cost saving and crafty is right up my alley.  


So, I began looking for paper, and fell in love with letterpress. OMG, letterpress is gorgeous!

Images from PostScript Brooklyn via Paper Crave

Images from Satsuki Shibuya and Zakka Nouveau via Paper Crave 

But the price-tag!!! Oh, the price-tag.... Since I haven't mentioned this yet, FI and I are paying for the wedding ourselves. This means that while we are comfortable splurging for some things that will make a big impact on the wedding day, there are some things that will need to be sacrificed in order to keep costs reasonable.  Unfortunately, letterpress invitations are one of those sacrifices.  I did not come to this conclusion lightly, however, as I did attempt to create my own letterpress and fail miserably.  I might tell/show you that one at some point. But it's really eh...


Back to letterpress and it not happening... Since that was now out of the question, I decided to do some research on paper that I could use to create my own invitation suite.  I searched the usual paper sites and found some beautiful papers, but I wanted something different. I didn't want a plain colored paper with some sort of pattern inked on. I wanted something with a pattern already so that it would stand out.  Then, I came upon scrapbook paper, and thought that it was interesting and could be potential wedding invite paper.


Then I saw it. The paper. The beautiful orange paper with a pattern that is perfect for our wedding.  Gorgeous 12"x12" sheets of orange leaf print paper that match our theme perfectly. 

Bo Bunny Press Forever Fall Collection - Impression

And I ordered it. A lot of it. Too much of it, actually. Because I counted wrong. But that's alright, because it's beautiful and I can definitely find something else to make out of the extra sheets.


Any ideas on what else I can use the paper for? Wedding or Non-wedding related?