Hello blogettes! It has been a while again, I know. And I give you the same excuse every time...I'm CRAZY busy at the moment. However, I think that my priorities have shifted over the past several months and that could be the reason I have not taken the time to blog as of recent. Which is not to say that I do not miss it. Blogging to me is such a great creative outlet and a time for me to reflect on the events and simple pleasures of my life. It is my "ME" time and I so desperately need it on a regular basis. I am hoping that after all the wedding hoop-la is finished (one month to go as of today!), I will be back to my regular "me" time.
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I did want to pop in and give you a glimpse of our invites that went out last month. I was so pleased with them, but I would be lying if I didn't say I put a lot of work into them. I had a vision of what I wanted and I was able to have that vision come to life with a little mixture of professional printing and a little DIY blood, sweat and tears...
I knew I wanted...no, needed black and white striped lined envelopes after seeing this post from one of my favorite blogs. It seemed easy enough, so I went ahead and purchased this envelope liner template pack from Paper Source. I found a black and white stripe pattern that I downloaded from this etsy shop, which Bill's dad printed from a lazer printer on nice, heavier stock paper.
I had a little over 200 envelopes to line (including the reply enelopes) and it took me several weeks to finish, but I was happy with the result. It just gives them something extra and ties the colors together.
The design concept was inspired by this invite I came across on minted.com. I loved the simplicity of the bold, black calligraphy font on the ivory stock. I wanted our invites to have a classic, yet elegant feel. I purchased the Carolyna Pro Black font and I'm so glad I did! I am using it for all of the signage and paper products for the wedding to tie the look together. I am planning on printing all the programs, signage and thank you notes at each place setting myself. That reminds me, I better get started!
We had the invites designed and printed at Peabody Papers here in Grandview, OH. They were wonderful to work with! The process was so much easier than expected. And the turn around time was quick! We decided to add a graphic map on the Details card at the last minute to help visualize the locations of the wedding, reception and hotel for out of town guests.
The main colors for the wedding will be black, gold and ivory. The florals are soft pinks and a few black magic roses with some seeded eucalyptus thrown in for a seasonal flair. I wanted to include some of the pink color in the invites to soften it a bit. I found these 'blossom' colored envelopes, which were on sale at the time, from Paper Source. The color was a perfect match for the black and white striped liners.
The mom of a friend of mine addressed all of our envelopes with her beautiful calligraphy script. I found some pretty pink floral stamps from zazzle.com that complimented the pink envelopes perfectly. I bought my mom and dad a custom return address stamp for their anniversary; which just so happened to be the perfect timing to stamp the wedding invites...funny, right?!
I added some black/white striped and gold/white striped washi tape on the enclosure to add a little more 'pop'.
And there you have it! So glad to have these out! We have most of our RSVPs back. Now time to figure out table seating arrangements, which from what I've heard should be a barrel of fun!
Happy Wedding Wednesday!
