Invites

Invitations were sent out almost a month ago, yet I haven't blogged about them. There were just so many details to them I hardly know where to begin.

I designed the invitations, rsvp, and maps using Microsoft publisher. The layout I "borrowed" (read as stole) from another bee (august15bride), but it was so different and perfect I had to. Without my families help, I would not have been able to put these all together. They cut, folded, stamped, and helped me create the vision I had for these. All materials were bought though paper and more, the paper mill store, vista print, and Micheal's.

Let's start from the beginning. When one of our guests opens up their envelope (5.25x7.25" in sand) the first thing they will see is...


The green paper (called a belly band. Don't ask why.) was 11x2 inches. We used the sand card stock behind it to measure and make folds for 2", 5", and 4" pieces to the belly band. I knew that I wanted something to go on the belly bands, but my original idea didn't work out. I bought a paper punch a while back. I didn't have a solid use for it, but I randomly brought it with me to make the invites. MOH made the paper punch suggestion, and it ended up being the perfect solution. The card stock behind the belly band was 5x7 inches.

Removing the belly band and opening the top flap would get you this (ignore little metal statues that are holding down the paper).
The picture had to be photo shopped because there was graffiti on the logs, but it was perfect for our invites (after the graffiti was gone of course!). The stamp at the bottom says, "forever and always." I knew I wanted something at the bottom, and making the Bmaids emboss 100 forever and always were just the ticket.

After opening the bottom flap (15x7 inches after flaps are opened) guests saw this,
The actual invite,
I got the cake fountain design from a coin purse that had a similar design. I recreated it. Although, my design is a lot simpler and has multiple colors. I used the auto shapes-line-curve tool in publisher to create the curved lines. I made one that was perfect and then copied and pasted the other fountains to make them identical. The size was about 4.5x6.5" with the green background being .25" between the invite and outer card stock. I used french script for the font, and the invites were cut and printed at Kinko's. Getting the bigger items cut at Kinko's saved us a lot of time and heartache.

The insides
For the rsvp (3.5x5.5"), I wanted it to have the same feel as the invite, but I wanted it to be more simple. The circle colors are in the same order as the cake fountains. For the circles, I used the arch tool in publisher.

The map (4x5")
I followed the instructions for making your own map, and I goggle searched clip art for all the Seattle destinations on the map. I got the map printed through vista print during one of their promotions when all you have to pay for is shipping.

Everything (plus little metal men)
I'm so happy with how they turned out. They go so well with our wedding vibe, and I'm really glad that my family and Bmaids were able to help me put them together.