I used Adobe PhotoShop to do the design work for all of our paper products, including our Save-the-Dates and our invitations. Apparently, PhotoShop is mostly for editing pictures and not really meant as an invitation design suite--something about lines versus pixels (No worries, I don't get it either...). Still, PhotoShop was the tool I had, so it was the tool I used. And I have to say, our invitations came out lovely!
After the Goodlaffs chose a shape, it was time to work on the design. In perusing invitation designs, both Mr. Goodlaff and I wanted a card that conveyed the type of wedding we were going for (fun, classy, fresh), without being too stuffy. I knew I wanted to keep the invites in the same theme as our Save the Dates, so the easiest thing was to carry over the fonts and colors that we used on our postcards and incorporate them into the new product. I ended up using Jane Austen, Swinging, and Nymphette, all from dafont.com, plus Daun Pehn for the print portions, and we sent all the files to our local Auburn Printers to get them printed.
Can I just take a moment to say how incredibly awesome it is to have a printer that will work with you? We ended up having a total of four printed pieces: the 5.75" by 5.75" card with the invitation itself; the 1.5" by 1.5" monogram for the front; the RSVP postcard; and the 4" by 4" information/directions card. Auburn Printers was able to cut all of our pieces to size, which easily saved us a day's worth of work (at least).
Assembly began one Saturday morning/afternoon, with much fanfare, and ended with one of us sustaining a few injuries.
First we (Mr. Goodlaff) used spray glue to adhere the invitation wording to the card.
We let that dry for a while, and then it was time to add the ribbon monogram to the front of the card. On the inside, the ribbon functions in lieu of a pocket. Mr. Goodlaff cut the ribbon, and I glued the monogram down. Soon, I had stacks upon stacks of monograms.
I glued the monograms down while Mr. Goodlaff affixed the postage, then it was time to stuff!
We assigned each guest a number and wrote that number on the bottom left corner of the RSVP card, just in case anyone forgot to write their name in (This totally happened! Any of you brides out there that have yet to do your RSVP's--do this! It will save you a ton of headaches).
Finally, the invites were ready to put in the envelopes.
And done!
Mr. Goodlaff and I spent a few days putting the invites together, and then it was off to the post office. Originally I was told that the postage would be .88 cents, but after double checking that on mailing day, I was told each one would need 17 more cents, for a total of $1.05 each. Moral of the story: always double check the postage before you mail. Had we sent them out without doing that step, every single one of those invites would have come back with a big "Returned for Postage" stamped on there. I wasn't thrilled about having to pay the extra postage, but I was sure glad I checked before I dropped them in the mailbox.
And that concludes our behind-the-scenes tour!
Did you have any snafus when DIY-ing your wedding invites?
They look so great!! You did an amazing job designing them. Looks like you had lots of fun!
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