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Mrs. Perfume, DC Age and Occupation: 36, Consultant (and Part-Time Professor) Fiance's Age and Occupation: 41, Consultant Engagement Date: May 13, 2008 Wedding Date: May, 2009 Venue: The Homestead, Hot Springs, Virginia About Me: I'd like to think that I'm a modern day Little Edie Beale. Only not as..."talented". More realistically, I'm a foodie who can't bake; a dancer and dilettente; an art collector with a penchant for the whimsical and subversive. I live in the city and adore the country, but not much in between. I like smart design, great craftmanship and good value. Most of all, I love the new vintage aesthetic: classic, sweet, delicate, bespoke. If I had to do it all over again, I'd go for a culinary arts degree rather than a PhD; but wouldn't trade Mr. P for the world.
About Mrs. Perfume

Tonight we finally finished putting together our invitations. We (okay mostly I) really love them! But they were a pain. A real pain. And they weren’t even DIY. Well, they were partly DIY in that I wanted to use boxes instead of outer envelopes. Little did I know I was in for such a maddening experience…

Invitation Invasion Part I: Boxes, Boxes Everywhere :  wedding invitations stationery P1 p1

Our finished invitation boxes. (If the Sheraton ever needs gift boxes…)

Midway through our planning, I became obsessed with confectionary colored elements (as is well documented here, here, and here), especially Laduree packaging.

Invitation Invasion Part I: Boxes, Boxes Everywhere :  wedding invitations stationery P2 p2

Source

There’s something about that mint box with its candy pink ribbon that is so indulgent and sweet. Literally sweet–they read as sugary! And I love that. Apparently, others do as well—so much so they have taken to painting all things Laduree, as the author of one of my favorite blogs, Parisbreakfast, has done:

Invitation Invasion Part I: Boxes, Boxes Everywhere :  wedding invitations stationery P3 p3

The design is so pretty that even the Laduree truck is appealing:

Invitation Invasion Part I: Boxes, Boxes Everywhere :  wedding invitations stationery P4 p4

Source

It’s the details of the laurel wreath…

Invitation Invasion Part I: Boxes, Boxes Everywhere :  wedding invitations stationery P5 p5

the finely detailed rococo border…

Invitation Invasion Part I: Boxes, Boxes Everywhere :  wedding invitations stationery P6 p6

Source

…and other sweet bits of fine and delicate eye candy that are so delectable.

All this has become a real inspiration source for the outside of our invitations. I guess I wanted them to look just as pretty at first blush as the do on the inside. Speaking of which, it was such a treat to work with Lindsey Ryan, who really brought my ridiculous Parisian flea market-1930s French Indochine-chinoiserie-English tea party concept to life. More on those later. For now, here’s a sneak peek.

Invitation Invasion Part I: Boxes, Boxes Everywhere :  wedding invitations stationery P7 p7

Belly band mimicry

Invitation Invasion Part I: Boxes, Boxes Everywhere :  wedding invitations stationery P8 p8

Waggish and whimsical, antiqued elements

Back to the boxes, well, while Lindsey worked on our invitations, I set out to find a simple green gift box to put them in. Something flat, minty in color that would fit an A7 envelope. Simple, right? WRONG. I thought it a no-brainer when I ordered a sample of a light green box from nashvillewraps.com. They have an amazing selection and the perfect green. But the box measured exactly 5 x 7. Our envelopes measure 5.25 x 7.25. It was wishful thinking on my part as I tried to cram the sample invitation Lindsey sent into the box.

So I continued my search (Googling “jewelry gift box”, “two piece cardboard gift box”, and “jewelry set up box”), but the color or the size was always wrong. There are plenty of resources out there: usbox.com, 800giftbox.com, jewelrysupply.com, papermart.com, nu-era.com, bagsandbowsonline, and about a dozen more! And I scoured every box store known to (wo)man/crazy bride. (So if you decide to do something as nuts as stuffing your invitations in boxes, then you can hopefully save yourself some time with one of these.) Ultimately, I found a good enough, but not perfect box at boxandwrap.

Invitation Invasion Part I: Boxes, Boxes Everywhere :  wedding invitations stationery P9 p9

A box of boxes!

They were delivered the same day as the invitations!

Invitation Invasion Part I: Boxes, Boxes Everywhere :  wedding invitations stationery P10 p10

They’re 5.5 x 7 and a celery green, rather than the light green I had hoped for. Did I really just say that? “Not perfect because it’s celery and not light green.” So lame! Yes, I got stupid over these boxes. Like Miss Cheese said, your inner Perfectionista starts rearing her ugly (well-coiffed?) head in these situations… but they work well enough (even though they’re a tad tight).

Also, I had previously searched all over the internet universe for a very elusive large, oval laurel wreath stamp. I found a place in the UK that had them. The customer service rep there was EXTREMELY helpful and friendly and gave me a little gift of fairy stickers for having to pay international shipping. Not necessary, but very sweet! (If only I had kids or a crafty/scrapbooking bone in my body.)

Invitation Invasion Part I: Boxes, Boxes Everywhere :  wedding invitations stationery P11 p11

I used a block letter ’S’ (it was too difficult and repetitive to stamp our three initials) and used gold pigment ink along with the wreath to create the lid decoration. Then I had to find “the perfect pink ribbon”. At this point I’m thinking I’ve officially lost it. Seriously, RIBBON?! One night this week we went to PaperSource and got this thin hot pink thing. But the next day we went to return it and opted for a thicker, paler ribbon (as shown above) that brought together the faded, antiqued feel I was going for. For the first time ever, Mr. P suggested I might be a little bridezilla for being so specific about… freak.in.ribb.on! Mind you, I’m no bridezilla—I don’t even know what day it is.

Invitation Invasion Part I: Boxes, Boxes Everywhere :  wedding invitations stationery P12 p12

The not-so-perfect ribbon. Really?

Anyway, so much trouble came of these boxes. After all the boxing and stamping and ribbon tying, we then had to wrap them for mailing. And we also made labels (unfortunately after all we spent on packaging, calligraphy was out) for them.

Invitation Invasion Part I: Boxes, Boxes Everywhere :  wedding invitations stationery P13 p13

I tried to get fantzy with the labels and used Vivaldi font to mimic calligraphy and added a little graphic–we’ll see what the post office has to say about it tomorrow.

Another drawback was that mailing parcels to our international addresses would be fairly costly. So we thought we’d get outer envelopes for them. But–there’s always a but–PaperSource doesn’t carry A7.5 envelopes in stock; they must be ordered. Bad planning on my part. We wanted to get them out like, last week, so we couldn’t really wait much longer. Anyhow, Spain, the UK, Germany and the PRC will have some ugly utilitarian envelopes hit their mail stream in the next couple of weeks.

Invitation Invasion Part I: Boxes, Boxes Everywhere :  wedding invitations stationery P14 p14

So much wrapping my hands hurt. Notice the ugliness on the left there?

But in the end, after all the annoying packaging—and despite the havoc the process reeked on our home and patience—we’re really happy with they way they came out!

Invitation Invasion Part I: Boxes, Boxes Everywhere :  wedding invitations stationery P15 p15

“That’s not happiness to see me”—am I really handling pink bows?

Invitation Invasion Part I: Boxes, Boxes Everywhere :  wedding invitations stationery P16 p16

Mr. P gets in on the fun by meticulously cutting the parcel paper.

Invitation Invasion Part I: Boxes, Boxes Everywhere :  wedding invitations stationery P17 p17

Boxes everywhere, boxes!

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94 Responses to “Invitation Invasion Part I: Boxes, Boxes Everywhere”

1 2 3 4 5 

1.
Gilneas
Member
Gilneas (message)  1,393 posts, Bumble bee

WOW! Those are absolutely breath taking little boxes. You really took your inspiration and translated it. And so much work! You deserve a round of applause and about three dozen macarons.

 
2.
Bee Icon
Bee
Miss Kitten (message)  868 posts, Busy bee

They turned out so pretty Miss Perfume! I can’t believe all the work you two put into them! It definitely paid off though–they are wonderfully Parisian and totally unique!

 
3.
Guest Icon
Guest
Caruso

Those are so beautiful! And so is your home!

 
4.
Miss Hot Wings
Bee
Miss Hot Wings (message)  2,213 posts, Buzzing bee

Oh… so pretty. I love the color combo. Do you mind me asking how much mailing cost on average? What a cute idea!

 
5.
evelinej
Member
evelinej (message)  370 posts, Helper bee

They are so beautiful. I can’t wait to see the entire invitation……….

 
6.
Vic004
Member
Vic004 (message)  804 posts, Busy bee

Seriously Miss P your invite boxes and ribbon are beautiful and look really resemble the laduree inspiration. I think they are fabulous. I am super excited to see your invite suite. Totally inspiring, I think your hard work paid off. Your not a bridezilla. p.s super cute living room!

 
7.
bloo
Member
bloo (message)  72 posts, Worker bee

gorgeous work! love the boxes and ribbons!

 
8.
KateMW
Hostess
KateMW (message)  2,704 posts, Sugar bee

Not that you want to hear this, but I’ve mailed boxes in the mail like that without wrapping them.

Beautiful invites!

 
9.
Cole B
Member
Cole B (message)  1,362 posts, Bumble bee

your invitations are gorgeous! i would feel so special getting something to so obviously took so much time to complete!
PS your house is great!

 
10.
Mrs. Tiramisu
Bee
Mrs. Tiramisu (message)  1,098 posts, Bumble bee

wow- beautiful! can’t wait to see the invites themselves!

 
11.
MightySapphire
Hostess
MightySapphire (message)  7,632 posts, Bee Keeper

OMG wow. You really went the extra mile and I know your guests will notice!! Those look so GORGEOUS!

And this weeks trophy for most meticulous design and perfect finish?
Miss Perfume!!!

 
12.
Guest Icon
Guest
Barbara

Wow - I can’t believe all the work you put into those.

How much are they costing to send??

 
13.
peachesandtulips
Member
peachesandtulips (message)  408 posts, Helper bee

gorgeous, AND i love love love your house.

 
14.
Member Icon
Member
gabbydancer (message)  90 posts, Worker bee

lots of time and effort and it was all worth while, your invites are lovely!
P.S. Can I buy the Laudree truck in mini?? It is such a lovely color.

 
15.
Bee Icon
Bee
Mrs. Emerald (message)  1,062 posts, Bumble bee

beautiful beautiful beautiful, I would be so excited to get these in the mail!!

 
16.
Bee Icon
Bee
Miss Perfume (message)  2,253 posts, Buzzing bee

Aw, thanks for the compliments, ladies! It means a lot, since these were such a headache!

@Gilneas: Haha! Three dozen macarons??! Yes, please!

@nelzbels: @Barbara: Can you believe they’re only $1.86 to send domestically?? However, I think rates increase starting early May.

@MightySapphire: I’m honored!! Thank you!

@KateMW: Argh! A stab in the heart! Where did you place the addresses??

 
17.
Bee Icon
Bee
Mrs. Avocado (message)  1,543 posts, Bumble bee

The ugly international envelopes will make the boxes that much prettier when your guests pull them out (not like that was necessary, your invites are gorgeous, as is to be expected coming from you).

 
18.
Bee Icon
Bee
Miss Peep Toe (message)  1,804 posts, Buzzing bee

So pretty!!!

 
19.
Member Icon
Member
doublemint921 (message)  499 posts, Helper bee

I think they turned out simply lovely!! :)

 
20.
driftslikesmoke
Hostess
driftslikesmoke (message)  1,224 posts, Bumble bee

Those are such gorgeous inspiration pieces. I love the stamp you used!

 
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Mrs. Perfume
Mrs. Perfume

Mrs. Perfume, DC Age and Occupation: 36, Consultant (and Part-Time Professor) Fiance's Age and Occupation: 41, Consultant Engagement Date: May 13, 2008 Wedding Date: May, 2009 Venue: The Homestead, Hot Springs, Virginia About Me: I'd like to think that I'm a modern day Little Edie Beale. Only not as..."talented". More realistically, I'm a foodie who can't bake; a dancer and dilettente; an art collector with a penchant for the whimsical and subversive. I live in the city and adore the country, but not much in between. I like smart design, great craftmanship and good value. Most of all, I love the new vintage aesthetic: classic, sweet, delicate, bespoke. If I had to do it all over again, I'd go for a culinary arts degree rather than a PhD; but wouldn't trade Mr. P for the world.

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