He knows I’m crazy, but he really didn’t expect me to use the full extent of that lack of reasonable thought towards the wedding… but when I asked him his opinion on box tops, he finally knew that I had lost it.
When Mr. GB and I had first discussed invitations, we didn’t think too much about what was going to go on around it, or on it really. Once we booked Good On Paper to do our letterpressing designs, I thought “oh, this will be simple”. Then I remember that I’m entirely unsatisfied with anything that is easy and live to make my life as difficult as possible. This is partially in an effort to coerce pity-back rubs out of Mr. GB, but also some kind of involuntary desire to make my brain twitch with agony.
This is how I came to want box invitations. I saw these two inspirations images online, and I had to have it.
from brides.com
And so Mr. GB and I went in search of candy and medication for me. We settled on some round watermelon sours that didn’t look melty - some of these are going to Japan and Korea, so they’re going to need to last. We cut acetate squares to put between the candy and the invitations themselves for the ones we’re sending. Err… saving on postage by hand delivering to those who are local.
But I couldn’t possibly be happy with plain box tops, could I? That little vein in my temple was beating and pulsing and I had to do yet another stupid DIY project despite the amount of cursing that would ensue.
We goccoed the box tops with two designs because I’m indecisive, tied them with that oh so adorable martha stewart craft baker’s twine, and put on our tags. -close up-
I would have photos of all this happening, but a mosquito bit my ass, an unknown deviant bit my nose, I burned my forehead with a curling iron, and I have some weird allergic.. scratch thing on my eyebrow. I look like someone came and beat me with the ugly stick in the face, so I haven’t left the house out of fear of a mob pitchforking me back to the tower a la Quasimodo. How I miss when humanity didn’t think I was hideous.
so, so cute! I love them!
Where did you find the boxes?
those are sooo cute!
I love your invites and the boxes! Very cute!
*drool* those look awesome! i want some watermelon sours now.
was it easy to the gocco a box top? i always thought you could only gocco a flat surface.
Oh my gosh… they look amazing! I saw the second boxed invite and vowed that I would one day get me one of those… hahaha… I love them. Love how the gocco turned out. 
wow, that looks great! i’m just finishing up my box invitations too… such a process huh?
how will you be sending yours to korea and japan? i need to send mine to the philippines and i’m afraid of what the postage will cost. as it is, my local ones are costing 1.64 each. :\
Awesome! Where did you get the boxes?
OMG. The invitations are fabulous!!
Your posts are hilarious. I like how you have a sense of humor about all of the wedding craziness. And the invitations are great.
Miss Gummi Bear, you’re the funniest and most stylishly creative bee ever! These invites are absolute perfection
Wow. I hate you. I want those. bad.
Those are so perfect! Like HamiHarri, I wish I was invited so I could receive one of those amazing invites!
Fantastic job!
wow these are amazing! i’ve never seen anything like that before!
Yum!
Boxes! You can just search for kraft boxes and you’ll find all kinds - we were specifically looking for a 5×6″ box because I arbitrarily decided that this was the perfect size and would not settle for something more standard. I suggest avoiding this insanity, it lessens your options. 
Anyway! We got ours from http://www.800giftbox.com
I here there is a wholesale packaging store in SF that will let you take home samples, but we didn’t go… lazy.
those are so freaking fabulous! i’m glad you put in the thought, time and effort to do something you’re happy with!
your wedding is going to be bee-utiful!!
love ‘em!!
Wow, I’d be afraid of the postage on those babies but they are cool.
This might be a dumb question, but you can’t actually mail them like that with the twine and tags, can you? I am pretty sure you’ll be wrapping these up inside of some other type of packaging to put them in the mail (packaging which I’m sure will also be fabulously spectacular!!), but if not, please enlighten me!
Lmao….You are very fabulous. I saw those invites before with the lemon heads in them. Love, love, love your invitations….
I LOVE THEM!!
You’re hilarious, Miss GB. I’d love to receive one of those invites.
If you have any extras, send me one! They look great and people will know the time and care you put into them.
Wow! What a great job you did! So… I hate to ask, but I’m assuming the total cost of invites ended up around $2k (if the paper alone was $1.5K) ??
the boxes weren’t expensive, and neither was the candy considering we had to buy 35lbs of it. I’m not sure how much everything ended up being, but we had less than 60 invites total.
you can gocco on boxes with a gocco stamp kit! It basically makes the screen stick firmly onto a pad with a handle that you can use like a rubber stamp!
I do have extras, lots and lots of extras. but postage is brutal! hand delivery for the win!
Too funny!
Beautiful job! I was shocked until I read that you had less than 60 to make; I guess that makes it much more realistic. We sent out close to 400 invites and I was thinking in those terms… that would’ve been insanE! Your guests will love them and appreciate the candy… i know i would! Super cute!
your invitations are awesome!! btw
how much was postage for your box invitation?
If you could please comment on Brooke’s question.
Also, here I am sweltering in the heat & humidity back east, so I wonder about the candy getting sticky? Maybe shrinkwrap on the package would prevent?
Brooke/Moi: You cannot send with the twine like that, I put the whole thing in normal shipping boxes with excelsior shreddings.
Well, we’re in california where humidity is nil! 
So humidity wise, it seems ok. As for sticky, I put that acetate layer in so even if it did melt, it’d just stick to the acetate and not get on the invitations. I don’t think any of the ones staying within California will have a problem, and of course, we’re EMSing and priority sending anything out of state/country.
super cute! i love the letterpress design!
Amazing! That is the cutest invite I’ve ever seen.
wow.
Oh, yes, postage. the weight of each invitation is around 9oz. ouch. So we’re hand delivering the ones local to us (which is more than half), driving a handful to Sacramento where my mother will pass them to family and friends there, and the rest we’re shutting our eyes tightly and giving in to sending them. We thought about driving to SoCal, but the postage to all our invitees down there is a lot less than gas or flight, so mail it is.
[...] first being our invites, which still cause Mr. Gummi Bear to sigh audibly whenever I mention it… the second being the [...]
Now I am trying to make these invite for my wedding and I am going to get the boxes first and then pick the paper to fit in them! Can you tell me exactly which boxes you got off the 800giftbox site-was it the oatmeal craft gift boxes or the reg kraft? And I know you said you wanted 5′6 but I cant find that size on the site 
please let me know if you still have that info!!!! Thanks- love love love love your invites!
[...] with Conversation Hearts candy, tied them with twine, and shipped them off. The whole thing is a complete ripoff of Mrs. Gummibear’s invitations. And guess what? My invitations will be too. I laugh in the face of [...]
Love it!!! I am been in search of these boxes Forever!!! I almost gave up!!! Thank you!!! You have taken me out of my invitation slump!!!
Mrs. Gummi Bear, San Francisco
Age and Occupation: 25, Japanese Importer/Illustrator
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 24, Game Developer/Programmer
Engagement Date: April 15, 2006
Wedding Date: October 13, 2007
Blogging Since: June 19, 2007
Venue: Organic farm an hour from San Francisco
About Me: I live for anthropologie, design blogs, sweets, japanese zakka, and vintage goods. We just bought our first home together and live with our two puppies and cat - it's a strange mixture of vintage, high-tech (we have 7 computers and 21 video game systems in all), and a whole lot of fur. Our wedding tries to embody the Japanese idea of "slow life", which is truly taking the time to enjoy food, company, and your environment!
WOW! They looks awesome! I would LOVE to recieve one of those