Weddingbee

In order to add a bit of a homemade feel to our invites, I came up with the idea of creating cloth envelopes to serve as an inner envelope. It was something I had never seen before, but it sounded simple enough. My original idea was to make them from inexpensive muslin. I would use my Gocco to stamp a monogram on the top, so that the guest would see it first when he or she opened the outer envelope. I would then use a label to address the inner envelope. This would clear up any confusion over who was actually invited to the wedding, while simultaneously closing the “pocket.”

When shopping for muslin, however, my mom and I came up with a better plan. We found some gold and ivory fabric that perfectly matched the ink and paper of our invites. Due to a lovely sale, it was actually cheaper than the muslin. I discarded the stamp idea for the sake of simplicity. I did keep the label for practical purposes. My mom and sister were roped in as part of my DISE (Do It, Someone Else) plan and, lucky for me, they pulled it off beautifully.

Thank you, mom and Elise!

They did not weigh any more than a traditional envelope might, and they were crazy simple to make. We cut strips that were an inch wider, on each side, than the invitation. My little elves sewed them closed on each side, using the fold as the bottom and leaving the top open. We then cleaned up the top with scalloped scissors and voila! I stuffed them with the invite, the RSVP, the RSVP envelope and the directions card and then sealed them closed with soft white oval labels from the Paper Source. I hope this will help our guests keep the invite and map together, but either way, I love them!

Did anyone else incorporate an non-traditional material into their invitations?

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