Wedding Blog
Even though I truly adore looking at pretty invitations, it’s never been a huge care of mine. While I do know that the invitation sets the tone of the wedding, I’ve always imagined a very plain invitation with very little “flair” (to use an Office Space reference). Then I had an idea - what if I get a plain ecru card and somehow spice it up?
There are a few things I’m considering - one is either having a stamp at the top of the invite, much like this acorn stamp from shop.com. With a nice deep brownish red, I think it would look okay.
Another idea I had was to punch some leaves at the top of the invite, with a colored card stock base added to the plain invitation. Sure, I’d probably have to trim the original invitation before affixing the base (so it’s the right size), but even my DIY-impaired self can do that. Anyway, these stamps by Martha Stewart Crafts are great. The punched hole is one inch tall, so it’s perfect. In my head I’m seeing a grouping of three of these oak leaves, maybe lined with a gold shimmer powder or something. I dunno. Can you tell I’m thinking too much about this?
Okay, the stamp is here:
Or… maybe two oak leaves with a maple Leaf punched in the middle:
Or… just one leaf? What do you think? Miss Bluebell had the idea of using ecru card stock, with dark writing (brown?) and a vellum overlay. I like vellum. 
So… I’m glad I have a few options to choose from.
For those of you thinking of invitations, are you going to DIY them, semi-DIY them, have them designed or off-the rack (out of the catalog) them?
In an aside - how early are we supposed to order invitations? I can’t even bring myself to look at the various magazine timelines.
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That sounds really cute Miss Kiwi! Really good ideas considering you didn’t want much “flair” to begin with. 
I’m excited to see the end product!
i’m semi DIY-ing. i designed them myself, will print them myself, and assemble them myself. however, i did have a print shop do the cutting and bought the backing already pre-cut/scored/drilled. so i guess almost full DIY.
per the timeline my coordinator gave me, i should have them printed and ready to assemble my april 21. oops. then they should be assembled and ready to mail by june 1. mailed out by june 8. reply date of july 6. my wedding is in early august.
I completely DIYed my invites. I used a 5×7 black cardstock base with a 4×6 black and white engagement photo (I used myphotopipe.com and got 200 prints for under $40) glue-dotted to the cardstock. Then I did a 5×7 vellum overlay with the invite printed on it (using the laser printer at my mom’s office) and tied the two pieces together with red ribbon. We have gotten so many compliments already; people don’t believe that I made them myself. And we spent about 1/4 of what it would have cost us had we had them professionally done.
This is from chad_n_jared’s knotbio
When do I mail invitations? What is my R.S.V.P. DATE?
Answer: Too much time is better than too little. Here’s the formula since each wedding is different…
1. First, figure your response date. What is the first date you need a final count? Some caterers/bakers need a week, but you may need one much earlier for favors, chair covers or any other need that requires a specific number of guests attending.
2. Back up 7-10 days. This is your r.s.v.p. (respond by) date. If you’re doing A/B list, this is your B list response date. To find your A list response date, find your mailing dates below then back up about 5 days before your B list mailing date. This is your A list response date.
3. To find your mailing date, choose one of the options:
NO A/B list
-If you DID save the dates, back up 4 weeks (6 weeks for international)
-If you DID NOT do save the dates, back up 6 weeks (10 weeks international)
YES A/B list
-If you DID save the dates, back up 4 weeks, this is your B list date. Back up an additional 4 weeks, this is your A list date.
-If you DID NOT do save the dates, back up 6 weeks, this is your B list date. Back up an additional 4 weeks, this is your A list date.
When do I order invitations?
Answer: First, use the formula above to figure your response and mailing dates.
1. Decide which company you want to use and ask them what their normal delivery time is. Double that and back up to that date.
2. Figure 1 day for every 10 invitations to address. Back up to that date. This is the very last date you should order. It probably wouldn’t hurt to order anytime in the month before the last date.
Lots of math is involved :)…in short I would recommend getting started in June or July….
I got a “print-it-yourself” (and assemble-it-yourself) kit from Michael’s. We changed the ribbon and added DIY map and hotel cards.
I love the leaf cut-outs!
I love the look of a organic line of tiny glass beads along the top of an invite. Just lay down a bead of aileene’s glue and shake on the beads, then when dry, shake off the excess. It adds sparkle and a nice personal touch.
You could also do a flatbacked swarovski crystal in a fall color. Or a dried flower. There are “skeleton” leaves out there (try a craft store) that are just the veins of the leaves (very delicate and pretty) that come in different colors, you could wrap the invite in some softly colored vellum, place the leaf on top and then tie together with a ribbon.
I think going the non paper craft route gives a more personalized flair to your invites and makes them more unique.
I ordered my invites but am DIY-ing my programs. I am not crafty and was originally thinking about stamping my programs. A sales person at the stationary store suggested that instead of stamping I emboss sanddollars on the front of my programs (tropical theme). Embossing is relatively easy even for a novice such as myself. It makes the images look polished and three-dimensional. To emboss you stamp an image on a piece of paper, sprinkle powder over the stamped image, and apply heat using an embossing tool (which costs about $20). It only takes a few seconds and looks really pretty.
I am really liking MSCraft’s stamps too. I really like the lace floral. I might get that for menu cards and place cards.
I esp. love acorns. The leaf stamps are really cute too and just the right touch. I am not a fan of the rubber stamps. But if you do plan on DIYing the whole thing anyway, you can always stamp one really good one and scan it in and use it on all your invites so you dont want to stamp each one but just print it along with the text.
My MOH printed her invites on vellum using orange and brown ink. The backing was ecru paper with leaves/flowers in it. I did her text for her.
Print-it-yourself option from Michael’s. Not doing anything different to them. Popping them in my trusty HP and calling it a success. Of all the weddings I’ve been to, I’ve only ever kept one invitation and no envelopes. To me, it’s just not worth extra money to do anything fancy, because the only people that will notice will be like-minded b2bs.
For what it cost me for 150 sets (invite, envelope, response card and envelope) and basic ol’ stamps, I’m able to put more money into a more special part of my wedding - the candy buffet!
Your Leaf idea is very cute! We bought our invitations found a really cheap shop( we are on a tight budget) BUT what I did to dress them up is design a cute insert card and we did include vellum envelopes w/ some accents..and honestly they were a hit! so yes either DIY or semi-DIY and your guests will notice=)Don’t get me wrong very elegant invitations are great if you can afford them or have weeks to DIY, but if you are limited on time and money like me, you will find your middle ground.
The kind of invites we wanted could not be done on a DIY-basis.
I like the punch; would look “crisper” than a stamp. Maybe tie in your final decision on other wedding stationery (rehearsal dinner invite, TY notes, placecards, program, menu, or whatever you end up using).
We got pocketfolds and envelopes from mygatsby, and did everything else ourselves. Some was printed and cut at kinko’s (oh, the horror!), but anything with color went through this really neat local printer I’ve surely driven past a thousand times without noticing. The actual printed part of the invitation, which I expected to be about 75 cents to a dollar each, were 22 cents.
One thing we did that might fit in with your plans was to get one clear print of each rubber stamp involved (there are three), and scan it. This is enabling us to have that image as a motif on lots of unstampable things, like, say, our website. We can also scale it, change its color, etc.
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Mrs. Kiwi, Los Angeles
Age and Occupation in 06: 27, Bookkeeper
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 27, P.E. Teach/Coach @ private schools in LA
Engagement Date: March 31, 2006
Wedding Date: November 3, 2007
Venue: Radisson Hotel
About Me: I'm a bookkeeper who failed high school algebra. I'm currently living in Los Angeles, literally a street over from where I grew up with Mr. Kiwi, my honey of three years. We have a jumbo mini-dachshund (seriously, he's huuuuge), and we're planning an autumn themed wedding on a shoestring, paid for by ourselves. The wedding date is my late grandma's birthday, I needed her there somehow, and that seemed like the best way for us. I can't believe I'm a Bee! I couldn't be more proud!
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