Okay, so the invitations are out, and I’ve even received a few phone calls from people who wanted to tell me how much they liked them! How awesome! I can’t wait to get the RSVPs back. In the meantime, now that most people have received them (hopefully), I’m going to share them with you!
This is the whole package. I had a custom rubber stamp made with our return address on it at Berkeley Rubber Stamp and Engraving Company ($15). I then used a clear VersaMark stamp pad and clear embossing powder and embossed our address on the envelope flaps. The ribbon is silk, made from recycled parachutes. The one pictured here is blue, but originally all of the ribbons were a beautiful purple (sadly I ran out and had to get a different color!)
Here’s the letterpressed front! I am really happy about the quality of it. Although I had a bad experience with their customer service, I have to say, the quality from Mercurio Brothers is very good.
Here’s a close-up of us in letterpress!
Now, getting into the meat of things. The invitation is an accordion. The accordion itself was made using large sheets of pool-colored cover weight paper from Paper Source. The last panel is affixed to one A7 luxe cream flat cards, and the front part of the accordion is sandwiched between one A7 luxe cream flat card and the letterpressed front. I printed the panels out on luxe cream text weight paper, straight from my ink jet printer. I had the RSVP postcards printed at Prints Made Easy. If you’re going to have people write on the front of your postcards, they shouldn’t be glossy, and Vista Print only has the glossy option, which is why I didn’t use them. The quality from Prints Made Easy was great.
A close-up of the details panel. We had a lot of information to share with our guests, mostly regarding the trolley/transportation situation.
The tips panel–this is where I shared information about our block of rooms and website. I also reminded people who might not be familiar with San Francisco to pack a jacket, because it’s cold here in the summer!
Directions…pretty straightforward.
The RSVP postcard is affixed to the accordion using a removeable glue dot. I found those at Walgreens. I am slightly worried that people won’t pull off the sticky dot and the RSVPs will get lost in the mail, but (yikes!) we will see. Hopefully our guests will think about that.
This is my attempt to limit the write-in guests. We’ll see if it works! I have a place where I wrote in how many seats we reserved for them. I wrote in their names on the RSVP because we had no inner envelope.
The back of the RSVP postcard…I’m trying to collect the out-of-town info so that distributing the OOT bags will be easier. I also put a little place for people to leave us a note (I love notes! I hope we get good ones!). And, last but not least, I had it addressed to “the future Mr. and Ms. Olsher-Ng,” because we’re all modern and stuff. 
So that’s it!! This has by far been my favorite part of the planning process. So fun!
WOW! I am so impressed! Your guests are lucky to receive such a work of art! Fabulous job cream puff
i love it…. ! it’s so beautiful and very modern!
Really diggin’ the uniqueness of the invites! May I ask what your break down in cost was?
OH MY GAAAAAAAAAAAW - drop dead amazingling fabulouso. i am sOOOOOOOOOOO jealous!
what font is it are you using for tips, details (those headers)? LOVE IT! smoochies it muchies.
creampuff, you are awesomess!
whuuuut????
W-O-W….
i am sooo impressed! this is a serious invitation. i love all the panels, details, its sooo fabulastic!
you should be very proud of yourself! your hard work has paid off in spades…. 
It’s not often you see something so unique and yet so classic at the same time. These are amazing!
holy goat cheese! those just blew my socks off. i want your invites! they are beyond amazing
Oh wow I love your invitations! Please write a follow-up post with cost breakdown. I’d love to see if I can do something similar. They’re beautiful!
Um I love these so much I want to eat them!
You’re having your reception at the Green Room?! That’s awesome..my firm had our Christmas party there 2 years ago and it was really nice especially going out on the balcony!
(oh and ps..I love your invitations too!;-)
Oh my gosh, I LOVE these! Amazing job Miss CP! The colors came out so gorgeous. I would be so ecstatic if my invitations looked this awesome! Two questions for you - where did you get the recycled silk ribbons? And did you have a calligrapher do your names, or did you do that yourself?
Thanks so much you guys!! That means a LOT to me!! I hope that my guests appreciate them too. They were a LOT of work!!!
Okay. So for a cost breakdown, Daisy (I got a 40% discount at Paper Source, though, so this isn’t what I paid):
Pool-colored outside envelopes. A7 size, 80 of them. $4.25 for 10.
$34 total
Accordions
Pool cover sheets: 26 in x 20 in. 3 for every sheet (each accordion is 20 x 6.75)
24 sheets of pool cover paper (for 72 accordions) is
$24 total
Ribbon close. 22 inches for each invitation.
1 1/2 inch ribbon. 10 yards for $7.95
360 inches in every spool. 16 invites for every spool. 5 spools for 80 invites.
$39.95 for 5 spools
Letterpressing. 75 5×7 invitations, two color on somerset natural white paper.
$344 for Letterpressing
150 extra blank 5×7 (A7) cards in Luxe Cream. 25 per pack for $5.75, 6 packs.
$34.50 total
Luxe cream paper for 3 panels per invitation (225 total). Each panel measures 6.75 x 4.75. Create 4.25 x 6.25 — 2 per sheet. 120 sheets. 12 packs of luxe cream 160g text at $3.75 each.
$45 total.
RSVP Postcards via Prints Made Easy
$40 for RSVP Postcards
Zots, 4 packs (large)
$4.30 each.
$17.20 total.
Stamp from Berkeley Rubber Stamp:
$15
Total without discount: $593
What I paid: $452.
As you can see, the majority of the cost was the letterpress!
wow those are the cutest wedding invites i’ve ever seen! you are so thoughtful of your guests’ needs. i’m curious to find out how much Mercurio Bro letterpress printing costs.
@Miss Dolce–I got the recycled ribbon at Paper Source.
Oh, and that font– so our names aren’t a font. I found some calligraphy I loved online and imitated it! Adobe Illustrator can be very helpful for fixing my poor imitation!
Those are, without a doubt, the best wedding invitation that I have ever seen. I love them!
Awesome! These look fantastic … are you some sort of illustrator or something? Your skills definitely show through!
So gorgeous! Especially love the RSVP card idea!
Wow those are amazing! I am SUPER Jealous!
These are amazing! I would have some trouble sending away that pretty RSVP card - it’s so perfect!
OMG - these turned out amazingly GORGEOUS! I love them. Like, literally have a special place in my heart for them.
omg! amazing with the invites, and i’m sooo impressed by your calligraphy imitation. It looks wonderful!
I love, love, love your invites! What an inspiration! I especially love that the illustration of you two is letterpressed in the invite. Goregous!
Beautiful! Whimsical! Unique! You should consider this as a side job!!!!
You’re very talented. Thanks for sharing! I have a quick-y question: What type of printer did you use for your info cards? I see that the post card was from Prints Made Easy. thanks
wow. i did RSVP postcards too and even did the whole ‘putting number of seats reserved’ on them
but i totally forgot about individual’s and dinner choices….man. now i will have to contact those that don’t write in who’s is who’s!
these have to be the prettiest invitations i have seen. very creative and really really gorgeous. does paper-source sell that large paper you used for the accordian on their website?
WOW! These are the best invitations that I have ever laid eyes on! Will you design mine?;)
Hi,
I love reading your posts, they are my favorite. I am getting married in SF in November. I LOVE LOVE LOVE your invitations more than I can say. Would you be willing to share templates and designs? I would even pay you!!
Mary
How incredibly charming are these invitations?!! Your personality really comes through in them. Great job!
You are a ROCK STAR. Those are awesome! I love everything about them, except that I didn’t get one. Great job!
So so so so UH-mazing!!! I love how your theme and personality is everywhere. I think I just LOVE your invitations.
These just screeeeaaammm FUN, FUN, FUN!!! Love them!!
WOWWWWW!!!! So jealous! Those are amazing!!!
AHHH-Mazing!!!!!
so fab! what a wonderful and personal project. i’m sure you guests will see you when they open the invite. love it!
I am in absolute awe! They look amazing!!!!!!
Your invitations are REALLY amazing! I’m going to do RSVP postcards, too and I just love the way you announced the reserved number of seats…gonna have to emulate yours!
oh.
mah.
gah.
these are to die for. i’m so worried my invites are totally drab and boring now haha!
i love your cute little details everywhere, it’s so sweet.
they’re GORGEOUS! love everything about these–especially great use of two color letter press–I love that the design & text overlap…
So you illustrated the font for your names… what about the headers like “Details”? I love that D, and I want that as a font! Is it a font?
Absolutely lovely. The colors, the design - just brilliant. Your guests are going to freak out!!
Those are awesome. I’m jealous. You can tell you put a LOT of work into those.
Also, may I ask how you pronounce your fiance’s last name?
I have to ditto everyone else’s awe! These are spectacular! I am in love with every last detail. I espcially love the pops of color and the illustration on the RSVP…..your hard work definitely paid off!! Congrats!
I LOVE your RSVP cards…and well, the entire package too!!!!
Those are awe-inspiring… I am totally mesmerized by pic #2 of the letterpress!!
hello, my yelp friend! beautiful beautiful beautiful! super fun too … looks like it’ll be a great wedding! how were the mercurio brothers in terms of pricing? a friend of mine (also located in the east bay) is pricing letterpress and it has been out of her budget. any tips would be great!
i’m gonna go ahead and say these are my most favorite invitations i’ve ever seen. ever. in my life. ever. i mean it.
creative. beautiful. fun. omg. what an AWESOME way to get your guests pumped for the big day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Awesome as usual, ms. Cream Puff!
Hey Mary #34…you actually CAN pay her to do your invites!! She did mine a few months ago and my guests are STILL talking about them. She’s awesome! Check out http://www.stinkerpants.com
how wonderful! it’s funny - we just submitted our letterpress order to mercurio brothers last night. i was going to call and check up on it today, but travel took longer than expected, so we’ll call tomorrow. relieved to know the quality is so good!
WOW!
I knew it! You’re an illustrator! Stunning and fun.
WOW, they look gorgeous! Also, I noticed that we are getting married on the SAME DAY in SF!! I will be getting married at a place that you reviewed (not so favorably) on Yelp (Casa). Very cool and congrats!
Loooove them! They are so you and your guests will appreciate every bit of the thought you put into them!
to echo everrrrrrrrrryone else -
GORGEOUS! creative! i’m inspired.
amazing…but you aready knew that.
quick question…how did the knot get through the mail? any issues?
Did you still have to use the heat gun to emboss the address, even after using the stamp pad? Was it easy to read?
Again, absolutely beautiful work.
Thank you again for the heads up/warning about Mercurio Bros - I called today and they had not even seen the order. They went to look it up and couldn’t find it. *sigh* Just as I resent it, they found the original email, but had I not called, I would have had no clue. The guy on the phone was nice and also very glad I had called. Now we’ve got our fingers crossed that they will stick to the 5 week estimated print time…
Miss Cream Puff - you saved us from some serious invite headaches. Not only that, but have now started our official Paper Source addiction. We went in and purchased all our envelope making supplies and are now just looking for an excuse to head back. Perhaps for some of that recycled ribbon!
WOW! That is an awesome invite! I love the postcard. where did you get the picture of the SF skyline to border the bottom of the postcard? Did you draw it? AWESOME!!!
[...] The Invitations! by Miss Cream Puff [...]
LOVE those! Very personal, fun and classy. Love the dotted wonderfulness (as a dotted bride myself).
Oh my gosh you guys, thank you so much for the support! This is a lot of comments!!! I really appreciate it.
Now, to answer your questions.
@misschickie–this is actually my full time job! hahaha.
@mleeeee–I actually used my home printer for the inserts! I have an HP Photosmart C6180. I really like it!
@Lynette–they do sell the large paper, but their website is dumb, so it’s hard to find. Here are all the colors. You want cover weight:
http://tinyurl.com/52lou2
@Mary–thanks for the compliments!! I am not sure what you mean–I’ll send you an email.
@brendalynn–the headers are the same…calligraphy. I wish they were a font too!
@crackhead–say it like “ING”.
@aLi–Mercurio Brothers is very inexpensive. Check out their prices here:
http://mercuriobrothers.com/letterpress
@ Rosie–hahahaha! Thanks for that. I’m so flattered that your guests are still talking about them!
@missm–OMG! That is TERRIBLE. I was thinking it might have been a fluke, but now that I hear this…YIKES. I am so glad you called!!!
@Mrs. Corn–the knot was totally not an issue. The reason I chose the recycled silk ribbon was because it lays pretty much flat. Originally I was going to use some MUCH less expensive satin ribbon, but it was a huge bump.
@Pam–thanks! Yes, you still have to use the heat gun. The heat gun melts the plastic stuff in the embossing powder, and that’s how it becomes embossed. It was totally readable.
@kim–yep, I drew it! Thanks!!
Mrs. Cream Puff, San Francisco Bay Area
Age and Occupation: 25, Illustrator
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 31, Merchandise Planner
Engagement Date: May 27, 2007
Wedding Date: August, 2008
Blogging Since: February 7, 2008
Venue: Ceremony at Crissy Field and Reception at the Green Room
About Me: I never dreamed about my wedding as a little girl because I was too busy playing in the mud or pretending to be Martha Stewart–but now that it's here, I'm having a fabulous time DIYing everything in sight! We’re planning a very fun multicultural wedding (I'm Jewish and Mr. Cream Puff is Chinese), filled with as many personal details as I can muster.
OMG, your invitations are AMAZING! BEAUTIFUL! MAGNIFICENT!