Purple and Pearls

I though it only right that my last DIY post before the wedding was the project that has been the biggest challenge.  The Chrysler Building Order of Services.

It started out as another one of my “wouldn’t it be cool if we could just…” ideas and ended up with bruised fingers and last minute trips to Hobby Craft.

So without further ado – the finished article

I’m glad I stuck with my initial idea because I’m really pleased with how they look but boy am I glad they;re finished!!

I have to show you these photographs.  Our friend Ian, a very talented photographer surprised me this morning with a link on my Facebook wall to some photos he had taken of our invitations!

I absolutely love these shots – such a lovely little keepsake of all our hard work.

These are just a few of the utterly gorgeous photographs Ian has taken, you can view them all via this slideshow

Thank you so much Ian!

Evening Invites are all signed, sealed and ready to be delivered.

They follow on the theme from our day invitations.

I wanted to add a separate sheet which had details of accommodation and the RSVP date and details, so I created a belly band to keep the sheets together.

The main invite has been printed in the same Ivory pearlised paper I’ve used everywhere and backed onto thick mauve pearlised card to give it some weight.  The guest information sheet has been printed on mauve paper and sits at the back of the invite tucked into the belly band.

I’m really pleased with the way they look, Mom and I spent Sunday addressing most of them so they are now ready to be posted and handed out.

We’re still waiting for a few RSVP’s from our day invitations but our deadline date is this weekend, So I won’t be nagging people just yet!

Right from the word go I knew I wanted to make my own invitations.  For years I’d been making my own occasion cards and my job as a graphic designer made me feel like I was up to the job.

Let me tell you, it wasn’t plain sailing.  I struggled with my own standards and felt like our guests would be expecting something wondrous.  I put a lot of pressure on myself to create an invitation that wowed people.

With the number of brides undertaking the task of making their own invitations on the increase, I thought I’d share a few tips and words of wisdom I’ve picked up along the long road of DIY.

• You can never start early enough.

Seriously, I started my invitations over 18 months ago.  Sure I haven’t worked on them continuously but giving myself enough time to work on them has meant they haven’t been rushed and I’m happy with the way they have gone out.

• Trial and error

I created around 5 different versions of our invitation.  I designed, changed my mind, started again, tweeked and tweeked some more until I was happy.  I thought I was happy with the first design I came up with.  Looked at it again a week later and didn’t like it.  This goes hand in hand with my first point.  Start early and make sure you are 100% happy with your design before you place an order for 100 sheets of A4.

• Create a mock up

Sure you can picture it in your head but until you see it in the flesh, sitting in front of you you’ll never know how it will really look.  It will also give you the opportunity to see how easy your idea is to make.  Doing a mock up will show you the best way to create the vision you have in your head.  Before you place a bulk order buy a few test pieces first.  You’ll be able to see the quality of the product you’re ordering too.

• Ask for help

If you’re lucky like me before you even open your mouth to ask for help you’re bridesmaids, Mom, aunts, friends and various other members of family will have offered their sticking/cutting/folding services.  My advice to you… take it!  I had the idea of sticking flat-backed pearls on to our invitations.  Thinking I had already taken up too much of my bridesmaids time, I decided to tackle the pearls myself.  No word of a lie it took me 20 minutes to finish 3 invitations.  It was at that point that I decided to stop being so silly and take them up on their offer of help and within an hour or so all of the invitations were sitting pretty adorned with beautiful pearls.

• Spell check…. now do it again.

Before printing anything off, run a spell check.  Once you’ve printed a copy, read through it again.  Now ask someone else to check it for you.  I can’t tell you how many times I have studied our invitations for errors but there, 4 days before we were due to send out our invitations, staring at me in the face was a spelling mistake.

• Always make more than you need

When you order your supplies make sure you order over what you will need, it takes away some of the pressure of messing up – which is inevitable!  If you do make a mistake that can’t be rectified at least you have more card/ribbon/embellishments to start over.  It’s also nice to be able to keep one for yourself too.  My other reason for making more invitations than I need is in case somebody from our day guest list declines.  That way we can look at our lists again and see who we can invite to the day to keep the numbers up.

• Number your RSVP’s

This was actually Suzie’s idea.  We didn’t write the names of our guests on our RSVP cards but have left a space for them to name of the people attending.  It’s bound to happen, so if anyone forgets to write on their name we have marked the back with a number which relates to the guest on a separate list allowing us to avoid any who-is-this-from-panics.

I have really, really enjoyed creating our invitations and I’m very proud of them.  Yes it’s been a lot of hard work and I’ve had quite a few strops and why-did-I-ever-start-this moments but I wouldn’t change a thing.  The feed back from our guests has been amazing!  So far everyone seems to really appreciate the time and effort we’ve put into them – so it really does make it all worth while.

My last tip for you would be to enjoy it.  If you do decide to make your own invitations you will be taking on a big task but as long as you give yourself enough time, have plenty of help and keep it simple you’ll have a blast and your guests really will appreciative this little bit of artwork you’ve put your heart in to.

A post I have been waiting to write for a long time!  Last night with the help of my Mom and two fabulous bridesmaids Suzie and Hayley the invitations were finished, address, and sealed.  Hooray!

The beginning of the end was last Thursday, even though we hit a stumbling block we were still able to address all of the invitations ready to be posted.

Waiting for the ink to dry meant we had to lie all of the invites out flat… they sort of took over the entire room!

Hayley made the majority of the belly bands last week and finished them off last night

We double and triple checked all of the invites to make sure they were perfect.  I decided to include a small self addressed envelope for our guests to be able to post back their RSVP’s.

Suzie also suggested we number the RSVP’s against a list of our guests in case somebody forgets to put their name on.  That way I’ll be able to cross reference the number to the list and know who has replied.

We set up a wonderful little production line.  I numbered all the RSVP’s, Suzie added the RSVP envelope and double checked all the information sheets were included in the pocket fold, Mom (nicest handwriting!) addressed all of the envelopes and Hayley slid the belly band around the invite and sealed the envelope.

So, here they are finished, completed, done and dusted!  I’m really pleased with how they look, after months of worrying and fretting I can safely say I’m happy with them.  I just hope everyone else likes them!

(Unfortunately the pictures have come out a little dark, by the time we had finished these bad boys it was getting pretty late!  Sorry!)

I want to say a massive, gushy thank you to Suzie, Hayley and Mommy.  You’ve all been super duper fabulous in helping me finish (and start) these invitations and also for putting up with my flaps when things didn’t quite go to plan.

Love you all immensely - you’re the best!

Spell check.

Twice, three times…. and then again!

Last night we sat down to finish off the invitations, everything was going well until  “Laura… How do you spell ceremony?”

Me:  ”Not like that…. B*$%*^£$!”

Despite all of us going over the invites time and time again we still managed to miss the incorrect spelling.  I think sometimes you can look at something too much and we’ve obviously all just overlooked it.

Fortunately the spelling error is on the guest information sheet so it’s easy to change.  I’ve had to print off extra sheets to swap with the incorrect ones.  Still a bummer as I really wanted to get the invites out by the weekend.

We did however write out all the gift list cards

and create (most) of the belly bands to hold the pocketfolds together

and even address the invites.

I’m going to wait until they are all finished to show you the completed invitation.    Sorry!

Ceromony…? Ceramony…? Ceremony…!

On Friday night Suzie sought refuge at our house to escape the football mania happening at her flat – not that she got it – my Mom, Dad and neighbour were all shouting abuse at the T.V!

She helped me roughly cut out 88 Chrysler Building shaped Order of Services’.

The more fiddly bits need smaller scissors to get into the tiny corners so we cut around as best as we could until we’re able to tackle them again with craft or nail scissors.

It’s going to be a tedious job and I have to apologise to Suzie for the bruise she discovered the next morning for snipping too much!  I’ll compensate you in haribo, tea and hugs next time

I have to admit, they’re looking rather good and I’m pleased I stayed with my original idea, despite it being a pain in the bum to do!

Thursday night Hayley and her tweezers (Thank you!) came round to help me stick my teeny tiny flat backed pearls on to our invites.

I had previously attempted to do this on my own, worried that I was asking too much of my bridesmaids.  I soon gave up and shouted for help when I found it took me 20 minutes to finish 3 invitations…!

It was an incredibly fiddly job, but with 3 of us all working hard it hardly took any time at all.

I am totally in love with the finished result!

I need to figure out now what I want to do with the outside.  Then, the invites should all be ready to start sending out in just over a months time!

How was your weekend?

We had a very lazy weekend, which was very much needed!  Yesterday afternoon me and my Mom spent an hour or so trimming the day invitations and sticking them to the inside of the pocket folds.

The next step is to cut out the hotel information, directions and RSVP’s that slot in to the pocket fold,  glue tiny flat backed pearls in to the swirl design, and then create the band that goes around the outside.

The other evening when Suzie and Hayley came round to help make up our wedding invitations we made a little video.