Invitation Compilation

Determining that I was not very interested in cleaning the house yesterday, I instead decided to spend some time cutting, gluing, inserting, sticking, folding, and generally preparing our wedding invitations to be mailed. Although the traditional timeline for a mailed invitation is somewhere between 2-3 months prior to the wedding date, destination weddings have their own little set of rules - most of which are made up as you go along. In an effort to ensure that any and all people who would be interested in attending our wedding will have ample time to procure well-priced flights and room reservations, we will be sending our invitations out 5 months in advance of our wedding date (I think that puts us at March 8th for a mail date).

Here are a few pictures of the finished product - including the packing list that we'll place inside the belly band behind the invitation. I'm very pleased with how it came out - and after 3 hours with a tweezer and those sticky rhinestones...I wasn't certain I would be able to say that! I am also happy to report that we will be e-mailing invitations where possible, to cut down on our use of paper, envelopes, etc. and generally assist the environment. It's a small effort but every little bit can count.

Invitations and Wrap-around Labels

Our invitations arrived! And we like them! Hooray!

Ok enough excitement. Let's talk about the fact that I have horrible, terrible, not-to-be-trusted penmanship. And the fact that the FI actually addressed all of the Save the Dates because of this fact. In essence, I am either going to have to pay someone to address our invitations, or break down and figure out a way to print them onto a label that does not appear cheap, pointless, or lazy. I came across the idea of wraparound address labels (somewhere on Martha Stewart's site I believe) and thought, what a great plan! Purposeful yet elegant. Only problem was, all of the do-it-yourselfers were gluing these babies onto their envelopes...too risky for me. With my luck, I would choose the wrong glue and they would all fall off before reaching their final destinations.

So upon a whim, I did some Google searching, and sure enough stumbled across some print-your-own stickers that are 8'' x 2'' and positively perfect for this DIY project! (It says the labels are for water bottles...shhh...). Here are a few visuals of this crazy project, with just plain old paper where the stickers will be, to give you an idea. I'm very excited to add this to the 'belly band' idea (burlap paper around the center of the invitation, not the metallic stuff you see in the pic, tied with raffia) and think it will soup up our otherwise plain invites.

Invitation: Final?

With some discussion and compromise, I believe we have found a winner. Although I have said that about a hundred times before, this time it just has to be done. I'm having trouble ignoring the signs (hello, the invitation is currently 40% off and the perfect combination of classy and modern whimsical...), and indeed, it does fit most specifications that I have carried from website to website. I'll post it here and of course, update when it is actually ordered (dum dum da dum).

UPDATE: We ordered these invitations from EInvite.com last week (40% off, $57.95 incl. shipping for 80 invitations and envelopes). They should arrive later this week, at which time I'll post a full review.

The Invitation Search

It continues! As I mentioned in previous posts, I am oh-so-tormented by the choice between thick, elegant, letterpress(read: expensive) invitations, and the do-it-myself design that is fully customizable(read: inexpensive). I love beautiful artful things, and thick heavy paper, a gorgeous font, and perhaps a small image evoke actual warm fuzzy feelings - weird, right? Obviously not, since brides and grooms are actually willing to pay an average of $700 for the full stationery set that accompanies the typical wedding (invitations, envelopes, response and reception cards, inner envelopes...the list goes on).

I have reined myself in to not spending more than $200 total on all of the elements that go into the invitation (sans postage of course). I am fairly certain that response cards are unnecessary; we will ask guests to visit the website or call to RSVP. And reception cards are similarly not helpful, when obviously the reception will be at the resort, as will the ceremony (so if anyone gets lost between the beach and the pool, they have larger problems that a reception card could not possibly fix...). Here are a few of my all-time favorite options, although I am truly no closer to a decision than I was 6 months ago. *sigh* Which is your favorite?

Budget Customized Stationery

As most of you know (and some may not), I am a crazy-obsessed-online-bargain-shopper. I blame the fact that I am trained as a researcher, but truly, I have a difficult time spending hard-earned money on a product that I know (or believe) can be bought anywhere for less. While this principle does not always apply, I do try to examine and often exhaust my options before making a final purchasing decision.


One Example: I tried on wedding gowns at 3 different salons over a 2-month period, including one stop at the Brides Against Breast Cancer charity event in Denver. With the wedding so far away, I didn't feel pressured to buy anything during those visits. However, when we decided to have our wedding in Mexico, I looked back through the hordes of photos we took at each salon and found the dress that I loved, but felt was too 'beachy' for our original wedding idea (Hollywood Movie Premiere). In a random chance of luck, I found said dress on Ebay. It isn't overly romantic to buy one's dress from Ebay, seller of all things (including used underwear...ew...) but it was 50% cheaper than I found at the local store. It was my size, my color, and just so happened to be located at a bridal salon in Arizona - where we still have many friends. I emailed the seller, asked if my friend could come and look at the dress - they said yes, and she did - it was in perfect condition, a floor sample they wanted to sell - they pressed the dress, boxed it ever so carefully (including the optional straps and extra buttons), and sent it to me in just 4 days time. A completely insane experience, but am I glad I got this dress for 50% off? Hecks yess.


In a similar fashion, when it was time to send out Save the Dates (STDs), I chose to work with my ever-reliable holiday card printing source - Vistaprint.com. They made our 60 cards and 60 magnets for only $30, and did a great job. Until a few days ago, I was dead set against using them for our formal invitations, mainly because they do not carry thick enough cardstock/paper to suit my requirements for the wedding invitations that I thought I needed. The past few days have brought some reflection to this notion, and I have started to change my mind about using Vistaprint for our invitations. Not only can I make the invitation exactly what I want (with some limitations, paper weight and font choices being two of them), they will cost a fraction of what other 'wedding invitation' printers charge. And after all, a wedding invitation is an announcement of your wedding - something that most people will eventually throw in the trash (save for moms and other sentimental friends). Most couples have wedding websites, and have used Save the Dates to announce their big days, minimizing the traditional purpose of the wedding invitation. Plus, if I can spend $80 as opposed to $280, why wouldn't I put the money toward something that is part of the experience in the day itself, such as a live band, cooler OOT bag gifts for the guests, or even part of another night for the honeymoon? I suppose it's a matter of priorities, and I feel mine changing somewhat constantly since this whole thing started. I'm torn between "I will have no regrets and will have what I want" and "It's just one day!" Has anyone else experienced this, and if so, what did you do to sort it out?


Here is an example of an invitation I made on Vistaprint - see the "Coral" invitations below from whiteaisle.com for a comparison (and about 3 times the cost).

Found: Very Elegant Destination Invitations

Some days I feel like I keep up on certain wedding-related blogs all for naught. Other days, like today, I'm SO PLEASED that I take some time to read about what other brides are doing with their destination weddings. This is true today because I may have found our invitations. (I know! So exciting!) I started out the invitation search by doing the usual Google searches for 'destination wedding invitation', or 'topical wedding invitation,' and although I found a few that I do like, all of the samples I have ordered so far have been...less than impressive upon arrival. To quote the FI (fiancee), "I could make these myself." That is never a good impression when you are looking at spending over $100 for paper products that ultimately will be discarded (except for by the Moms, no doubt). Today then, I finally found invitations that I am *crossing fingers* hoping will be the invitations to end all other invitations. They are by White Aisle and they are, to be frank, FABulous. I love how chic and simple they are, while still conveying the obvious message that one is having a tropical destination wedding. You can change the colors of both the text and the image to your liking, and of course you can mess around with the fonts as well. You can even choose the size of the card! Here are my three favorite designs from this lovely merchant - I will post another entry as soon as I receive a sample in the mail. These three are called (from left to right) "Mexico," "Miami," and "Coral." Give me your thoughts in a Comment (just click below).