Invitations, Invitations, Invitations

During all of this wedding planning I have found somethings to come easy (time of year, venue, colors, bridesmaids dresses, my dress) and other things I have obessed over (favors, centerpieces, guest book, decorations). But there is nothing that I have obessed over more than my invitations.

There has just been something about those little suckers that has been driving me crazy...yet I can't seem to help myself. I know that I was being absolutely idiotic about it all...but I still couldn't help myself. Until now.

I couldn't find anything that I liked in one place (or that I could afford for that matter) so I went looking in all different places. I coordinated colors, I coordinated papers, and I coordinated printing...well actually Griff handled that part : )...and they finally graced my sister's kitchen table for assembly a few days before the Fair started. Talk about poor timing.

My sisters and I were sure that we could completely do this ourselves and we began trying printing them all at home (which I wouldn't recommend if you have purchased the paper from a specialty store). We finally realized it wasn't going to work when in swooped my knight in shining armor who suggested that he take them to Staples for a little professional TLC.

Wow was that the right choice to make. The next night we began cutting and gluing only to realize that we had a lot of work ahead of us.

Sure it might be a lot of work when you are doing something like 110 invitations all by hand but it's been a labor of love and I can't wait to see what people think!

Here's a little sneak peek : )

Lindsay and I cut all 4 pieces for each invitation.

Lauren mounted each invite onto a piece of green paper.

A little preview of the finished product!

Since the "party", lots has gotten done. Griff's mom, sisters and Marci helped with assembly and do a little gluing. Griff helped with stamps and assembly and they are ALMOST done....and they look pretty darn good if I do say so myself : )

The 2 Month Deliberation

Never thought that you would take 2 months to deliberate over a piece of paper? Wait till you start trying to decide on wedding invitations! I mean seriously, why has it taken me 2 MONTHS to decide on an invitation? Actually, scratch that - I haven't even decided yet...

Embarassing? No. Obsessive? I'm starting to think so but I feel that I have good reason. Mainly the invitation has to match the "feel" of the wedding. The colors have to go with my theme - green, brown and a touch of orange all encompassing that barn/fall wedding that I'm going for here - my wording, my size choice, and most of all my price range.

Ahh the price range...doesn't everything revolve around the price when you're on a budget?

Griff tells the funny story of a friend of his who's getting married and the conversation that he had with his fiancee about invitations. She called to say that she found the invitations and when he asked how much it would cost, she cooly replied "Oh just $900". He told her that unless someone was personally going to the doors of each of their wedding guests to do a song and dance, they wouldn't be looking else where. But $900 isn't even that terrible. Some people will spend upwards of $2000 on wedding invites...oh but not me!

At first I was on the DIY kick..."I'm going to sit down and design these babies myself, print them on the printer in my house, and hand address them." Until I realized how much work that really is. See being a perfectionist, nothing would have been easy in that scenario. I would have agonized and obessed over the littlest things. And to top it off, not having the correct computer software would have driven me insane.

So I moved onto the "semi-DIY" invitation option..."I'll find a graphic desinger who would design the invite and then send me the files so that I can print them and assemble the invites." This is where my love of Etsy came into the picture again. Sifting through the invites for hours, I found a few contestants and fell in love with one in particular. For $50 she would send me the files to my customized invite, RSVP card and reception card...the rest was on my plate. Perfect!

Then I found a site that would send me the paper, envelopes and pocketfolds in my colors for a VERY LOW price...even more perfect! Until I was perusing their site and found the winner of a DIY contest and fell in love with her invitation...just great.

Back to square one I go and the deliberation over the piece of paper continues.

Etsy Obsessed

I'm often jealous of people who have artistic talent. Sure I have talent when I really put my mind to something, but there are just some people who can take that needle and thread and create a masterpiece or hop on their computer and produce an amazing picture.

Today, I am no longer jealous of those people, but grateful. Griff and I have been trying to find ways to cut costs for this wedding as I mentioned with the Save the Date cards. If you haven't taken a look at Etsy.com, go...now. I promise you won't be sorry.

This website is chock-ful of great handmade things including invitations, signs, favors, and accessories. And the great thing is, it's not just for people who are getting married. You can find handmade clothing, handbags, and much, much more.

One of my favorite finds the other day was the handmade tutus from this talented artist.

Since we don't have  a flower girl and there is no way I could get my nephews into one of these, I kept searching.
So what did I find? A graphic designer who will create a PDF or JPEG file for your invitations, reception cards, and RSVPs so that you can print them yourself. The suite runs at about $40. She'll even create files for your table numbers, menus, programs and anything else that you can think of to go along with the motif that you have chosen.

If these Save the Dates come out half decent, I could have the invites print the same way and walk away with gorgeous invites for a fraction of the cost.

Now you see why I'm obsessed?