Weddingbee

Ok, so I wasn’t planning to post up my invitation designs until they actually went out in the mail, but then I realized that 98% of my guests have no idea that this site exists. (Well, my bridesmaids know about WB, but they don’t have time to read it, darn law/optometry school! haha ) But with the excitement of my monograms, I decided that it is time to unveil my invites! When Mr. E saw these, he said, “Wow, it’s starting to feel REAL now!”

I love the dark red, the fancy cezanne font, and the flourish. Also note the little fleur de lis along the top and double happiness symbols along the bottom, which incorporate my French/Asian theme!

And here is my matching (almost finalized) RSVP card with monogram.

(Truly Smitten designs)

In terms of printing, I’m planning to do something a bit unconventional. While I adore the look and feel of letterpress, it is just way out of my budget. Sooo… I am going to get these printed with Overnight Prints, which I heard about on Weddingbee a while back. I’ve ordered some samples from them and their quality seems to be great (*knock on wood*). The cardstock is super thick, and the colors are really vibrant, which is what drew me to this decision. Instead of traditional white, I wanted something with color; therefore, the invite will be printed as a 5.5″ x 8.5″ postcard, with the map/directions (still in the works) on the back side. There won’t be any mailing addresses on there, so it won’t actually look like a postcard.

The RSVP will be printed as a 4″ x 6″ postcard size, but I will be sending them with envelopes instead. I considered doing an actual postcard, but then I remembered that Mr. E’s parents’ guests often send checks with their RSVPs. I’m also planning to print out little business cards with our website address on one side and an engagement photo on the other.

But I am wondering, how should I enclose all of these? I was thinking of a simple vellum bellyband, but that seems rather boring. My other thought is to use a vellum envelope (I love vellum!), but I’m wondering if it will get beaten up in the mail? I guess I could always do a vellum inner envelope, and a regular outter envelope, but that really drives up the cost. I also considered pocketfolds, but 5.5″ x 8.5″ is an unusual size so I only found one website that carried it (not to mention pocketfolds can get expensive and I’m not up to making my own).

Another consideration is that we will have guests who don’t read English very well. So we have to design an insert with the Chinese translation, and I just want to print it on simple ivory cardstock. Would this look tacky? Mr. E also thinks that we should translate the RSVP card into Chinese as well, otherwise we may get back some unpleasant responses due to miscommunication. I definitely want them to read and understand the line, “We have reserved ____ seat(s) in your honor.”

Any thoughts/suggestions about any of these issues?

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