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Wedding Invitations –
“How To Guide”
Disclaimer: I am a recently married
bride (and an avid scrapbooker!) and I decided when we got married that I really wanted to design my own invitations. I've put together this website to help others, as I’ve had numerous people
reach out to me asking for more information. I am hoping that all my hard work & research will help you all to create the invitation of your dreams! Please note that I am in NO WAY
affiliated with the vendors listed below. This is simply my experience that
I’ve had working them them. Thanks!!
Hello Everyone:
Thank you for looking at my invites! They were a lot of
work but I am very proud of how they turned out, and my guests all loved them.
I enjoyed making them a lot. Below is more info & pics
as promised.
The invitations were Pocketfold
invites. Basically I designed them myself, but had them professionally printed
with Thermography (the raised ink). They were also
pre-cut. I put everything else together myself, mounted, assembled, etc. And
then had someone do the calligraphy – it was actually cheaper and easier then
writing them all out myself. (I included a TXT file with all the details that I
had written out already for one of my friends, with vendors I used, etc.)
Invites “How-To”
The 2 fonts I used were "Scriptina"
and "Bernhard Fashion".
1 - I purchased some samples from Cards & Pockets
(see vendor info below) - I checked out their different pocket folds, inserts,
etc. In the end, I ended up purchasing my pocket folds, outside envelopes, RSVP
envelopes, and invitation mat (the big blue square behind the actual invite)
from them. I didn't purchase the printable inserts from them. (I will explain
why in next step)
2 - I shopped around for someone who would take an
original design from ME, and print it with thermography
ink. I ended up getting a decent quote through Prim & Pixie. They were able
to take my original design with fonts & all, and organize it so that
everything would fit perfectly. I got some paper samples from them, and they
had a beautiful heavy weight cream cardstock that I ended up using. I could
have used my own paper, but it would have been more expensive. The way thermography works, they charge you at each pass through
the printer. So, what Prim & Pixie did was take all my inserts and arrange
them on 2 pieces of cardstock, and then once they were printed, they were then
cut for me. This way, I only needed 2 pieces passed through the printers (much
less $$). Having them pre-cut everything for me also saved me a TON of time
& aggravation!
INVITATION DIMENSIONS:
Invitation: 5 5/8” for both Height & Width
Directions:
5 x 5 7/8”
Reception:
5 x 5 1/8”
Accommodations:
5 x 4 5/16”
RSVP:
5 x 3 9/16”
Square
Card Seal (for outside the envelope): 1 3/8” square
3 - I then received all my ingredients and used the products from Cards & Pockets to adhere everything together. They have some great adhesives on that site, that truly do work really well. They are also very reasonable in price. (I would say you could also get away with using an ATG adhesive gun if you have one, very strong and good enough to hold these together). To adhere the ribbon around the invite, I used the adhesive “dots” that you buy in a craft store. I placed it on the ribbon and wrapped the ribbon around, adhering the ends together (I didn’t tie it or use a bow). I then took the small “K & P” square and adhered that OVER the ribbon, where the ends meet. To adhere the square, I simply rolled up the adhesive dots into little balls and stuck them in 2 places on the square. That way when people opened them, it wouldn’t really tear the invite completely, the square sort of just popped right off.
4 - I printed the return addresses on the RSVP envelope
& on the back flap of my large envelopes myself (using inkjet printer –
Bernhard Fashion font). I then brought the large envelopes to Cordially Yours
(see vendor info below), to have them done by Calligrapher. (funny, I didnt see myself doing this but in the end it wasn't all
that pricey and saved me SO much time since I didn't have to write or print
them myself). I only used one outside envelope (I know, sort of goes against
the “etiquette”!!) but because I already in a sense had my invite in the pocketfold, I felt like it would have been silly (more
work, & more $$) to have yet ANOTHER outside envelope. So I simply had one,
that had people’s name & address on it. (wedding
etiquette Gods didn’t strike me down, I survived J )
If you are wondering how I did my own samples, I simply
played around in Microsoft Powerpoint,
and took screenshots, to give them an idea of what I was looking for. Prim
& Pixie girls were great at helping me along with this too. I emailed back
& forth with them and talked over the phone to discuss my overall layout ideas.
VENDORS USED:
Cards & Pockets - www.cardsandpockets.com
Prim & Pixie - www.primandpixie.com - I emailed with
them what I wanted & envisioned, and they worked with me to get it
right.
Cordially Yours - www.cordially-yours.com
- I used this vendor for my Calligraphy and they were SUPER fast, helpful, easy
to work with. – they are a local vendor in
Contacting Me:
If you need to get in touch with me, you can email me at: kbuck092207@gmail.com - please be patient as I don't check this email address all that often and it does take time for me to respond. Thanks!