Wedding Blog
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…
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.
It’s the details of the laurel wreath…
the finely detailed rococo border…
…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.
Belly band mimicry
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.
A box of boxes!
They were delivered the same day as the invitations!
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.)
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.
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.
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.
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!
“That’s not happiness to see me”—am I really handling pink bows?
Mr. P gets in on the fun by meticulously cutting the parcel paper.
Boxes everywhere, boxes!
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Share this post: Invitation Invasion Part I: Boxes, Boxes Everywhere
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.
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!
Those are so beautiful! And so is your home!
Oh… so pretty. I love the color combo. Do you mind me asking how much mailing cost on average? What a cute idea!
They are so beautiful. I can’t wait to see the entire invitation……….
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!
Not that you want to hear this, but I’ve mailed boxes in the mail like that without wrapping them.
Beautiful invites!
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!
wow- beautiful! can’t wait to see the invites themselves!
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!!!
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.
beautiful beautiful beautiful, I would be so excited to get these in the mail!!
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??
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).
Those are such gorgeous inspiration pieces. I love the stamp you used!
Just gorgeous. Where did you get the satin ribbon, and how did you tie it so perfectly?
i absolutely love your invitations! the parisan theme is adorable! we did boxed invitations as well for our destination wedding, complete with real shells. i remember all of the trouble, the wrapping, the packaging, the mailing, but trust me, it is soooo worth it. your guests will be sooo honored. i wish i got one of your boxed invites! 
Very very cute. I’m sure your guests will thank you for all the hard work. I just want you to get married like NOW so I can see your wedding. I can tell just by the invitations and your venue choice that it is going to be Awe….some, and then some.
Those are beautiful! Thank you so much for the links of the stores with boxes. I’ve been looking for stores to buy them.
@Miss Perfume: bravo! i wish i had the patience for that! btw… you should check out Praline Bakery in Bethesda the next time you’re craving French Macaroons. They’ve got soooo many flavors and they are most definitely little bits of heaven to me! This is their site… http://www.praline-bakery.com/
Amazing invitations. On the bright side—the box is big enought that it won’t get lost in the mail like a thin envelope. I don’t want to imagine how much shipping your paying. When I first saw the picture—the S kind of remind me of the Sheraton hotel. They have the same symbol.
Your packaging is beautiful, and each aspect that you put into it works so well together. I would never think to present an invitation in a box like that, and I love the idea now. You and Mr. P. put a lot of time and love into your invitations, and it shows. I cannot wait to see your invitations!
Wow, those are incredible! I can’t wait to see the whole thing. I also want to read more on your “ridiculous Parisian flea market-1930s French Indochine-chinoiserie-English tea party concept to life” and how it all comes into your wedding. It sounds beautiful
@Mrs. Avocado: Unfortunately, they won’t get the boxes (at $20 per, they were too expensive to mail internationally). Just the ugly envelopes. 
@Sheila: The ribbon is from Papersource. I didn’t actually make a bow, but just made a knot and cut the ends off at an angle. The ribbon is thick enough that when pinched into a knot, the little bit of extra off the ends appears like a bow!
@Josalyn: haha! thank you! you’re too funny!
@Aylee: I’m so glad someone can use these resources, too!! There are tons of box places out there. The one industry jargon I learned was “set up boxes” for jewelry. I think that will help you in your search if you can’t find what you’re looking for with the links I provided.
@Miss Texas: Thank you for the lead on this! I need to try them!!!
@Yin: @domesticandfabulous: Thank you, thank you! Sometimes I second guess my ideas…so it’s great that people “get it”!
Again, thank you all for such nice comments!
I love, love your invitation boxes. You hit the nail on the head with your inspiration. Your boxes look exactly like the Laduree boxes. The gold laurel and “S”stamp plus the ribbon were superb! Your guest will love getting these in the mail.
Gorgeous!! Those boxes are to die for and after that teaser I can’t wait to see the inside. I would be so so excited to get one of those in the mail. The bow and gold stamp are the perfect touch.
They look incredibly elegant and definitely set the tone for an incredibly elegant wedding!
Your invitations are beautiful!! I, too, searched high and low and everywhere online for invitation boxes.
Question for you: are the interiors of your boxes also celery colored or are they white on the inside?
WOW! Those are wonderful. Great job.
These came out beautifully!!! I love it when a project finally comes together! 
These are just lovely!!! You really did a great job with your inspiration! Just think, later on, all you will remember is the beautiful way that you presented these, not the crazy work involved! 
I would love to find this in my mail box!
It looks gorgeous, i love the green boxes and pink ribbon. The postage costs must be insane though.
wow miss p your invites are so beyond fabulous! all of your hard work and ahem *attn to detail* really paid off! i’m sure your guests will just flip when they get them in the mail
Miss P, your invites are amazingly gorgeous! I can’t wait to see more of your wedding!
ps. Your apartment - also lovely!
Your invitations are beautiful, Miss Perfume! I can’t wait to see your invitation suite. I’ve always been a fan of boxed invitations and love the look of yours. Well done!
i love your apartment Miss Perfume! and congrats on getting those invites out!
Your invitations are soooo sweet and beautiful (as is your home!) Nice work Miss Perfume!
Hehe, MAN Miss Perfume, are you macaron obsessed! They look SO sugary sweet!
I love, love, love, LOVE these invites! I totally wanted to do the same thing (Laduree-like box and all) but my fiance made me promise not to do anymore DIY! I’m so jealous (in a good way) - gorgeous! Is it too late to throw out my letterpressed envelopes? Aah!
@NJerseyABC: They are white on the inside. You bring up a good point about what they call Kraft colors. That is, white boxes are wrapped/covered with a special paper called Kraft. They are typically white boxes with colored covering. There is also a brown box that is all brown and is called Kraft “natural”. Probably more than you wanted to know. I’m nuts.
@Miss Taffy: Oh, you’re right, Taffy! And in the bigger scheme of things, stamping some boxes is NOTHING compared to the amazing and detailed work that some of the Bees have done on their entire invitation suite! Thanks for putting it into perspective.
@von: Only $1.86!!! My next post will detail the postal details.
@MissDolce: Ha! The irony is that I’m jealous of your letterpress! Would NOT throw out letterpressed envelopes!
@Miss Bruschetta: hehe! seriously, it’s an illness
@Mrs. Cookie: @Miss Duckling: @Mrs. Sea Breeze: @marilyn: @purpleHaze79: @von: @peonypink: @Miss D’orsay: @LatteLove: @Mrs. Canary: Thank you, guys!!!
I could EAT those boxes, they are that gorgeous. Yum. Tres chic, just like you, mon cher
gorgeous! i think i’m falling in love with Laduree…
also, your theme might have the longest name ever. but i like it
excuse me as I wipe the drool from my mouth….I LOVE LOVE LOVE your invites.
The boxes and the color of the invites are gorgeous! So beautiful!!!
First off, they are absolutely stunning!! Wow, I would be so, SO excited to get one in the mail (lucky guests!) Secondly, I love that Mr. P got in on the action. His “meticulous” cutting of the parcel paper totally sounds like Mr. G!!
WOW! Those are some awesome invites! I love all the details
Miss Perfume… I was looking for that kind of boxes as well!! I am so happy to have read your post! Your research skill is so much better than mine! All I found were more industrial looking boxes with limited colors. So glad to have read your post!
Anyhoo, I was looking at the site where you bought your stamp from, but could not find it under “Rubber Stamp” category. Do you happen to have a direct link? Please let me know. Thanks! Once again, I WORSHIP you!!
P.S. I love seeing Mr. Perfume cutting the kraft paper in earnest. You are such a lucky gal!
@Miss Quiche: @JaymeLyn: @Shay: @Miss Glitter: @AliCherri1: Ha, thanks guys!!
@V-gal: Hmm, it looks like it’s not being displayed anymore! But I was correspondingn with Pamela. Email her at info@forfarcrafts.co.uk. Ask for the large, laurel wreath rubber stamp. Good luck (and thanks for the compliments)!
These are seriously amazing, words can’t do them justice!! Wow.
I’m very jealous of your boxed invitations…they are so gorgeous, I can’t wait until the unveiling! Yes, that truck is WAY too pretty to be a truck. And fairy stickers? Haha, try to find a way to use them in the wedding!
These invitations are scrumptious, and I’d be giddy to receive one! I’ve been in love with Laduree ever since I saw Darcy Miller’s wedding on MSW.
Thanks, Miss Perfume, for the reply. BTW, Did you do stamp the front logo twice: one with the wreath and the other with the initial? If so, where did you get the initial and the gold ink pad? Thanks a lot for sharing. That is so genious! Love love love it!
@V-gal: Yes! Stamp the wreath. Let dry. Then stamp the initial. I got the inkpad and the letters for the stamp at Michael’s. The letter is from the Martha Stewart collection! Good luck, and let me know how they turn out!!!
[oops to my previous comment i was reading the posts backwards so i thought you hadn't posted the pictures yet. ha!]
anyway, awesome awesome invites and i absolutely can’t wait to see the other elements of your wedding come together!
I love the boxes. Definitely worth it! Your guests will be so excited to get something so lovely in the mail. At least, I would be! P.S.–I tried to order some favor boxes from Nashville wraps a few days ago, and they wanted to confirm that I really owned a business. what the heck? did you have issues with that when you ordered through them?
Thank you soooo much… We’re doing something similar for our invitations and finding the perfect box was such a pain before I read your blog! Much thanks and I love you’re style
Awesome invitations Miss Perfume……. I am helping my cousin out with her invitations and we had the same trouble with finding the boxes…. We looked at Nashville Wraps….. but were afraid to order without seeing… She finally ordered some prior to me reading this from another co… They are the light brown craft color and will go well with her pink and gold, Marie Antionette theme… Question, where did you get your invitations made and where did they get the Rocco border….??? Love it…..
@Nicolealise: They were designed by Lindsey Ryan. You can find her on Etsy. Also, check out the “invitation invasion” series I wrote. Part III gives more details and a link! Good luck and thank you for the compliments!
Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! It’s now a little after 1 a.m. and I too have looked at every website known to google! We are doing the same type thing for the rehearsal dinner invites and they need to go out yesterday!!! May I ask what it cost to mail these?
Thanks,
Ashley
@Ashley: they were 1.86 each. You can check out my post on it on part II of this”Invitation Invasion” series. Good luck to you!
g
Thank you for sharing your box websites… I have been searching for them too and hadn’t seen a couple of the sites you shared. Thanks!
Beautiful Invitations! Question about the box size: You said the invitation envelope was 5.25×7.25, but the box was 5.5×7. Was that the exact size of the box, or was it able to accomodate the 7.25 envelope length just fine? Also, was the inside of the “jewelry” box cotton lined or empty? Thank you so much for sharing!
@Stephanie: Actually, no those were the dimensions of the Nationville Wraps boxes, which were too small.
We went with Boxandwrap.com and the dimension of 7×5-1/2×1″ was big enough to accomodate the invitation. They come with the cotton lining!
Thank you for this post. We are looking into putting our invitations in boxes and I thought I was going to go crazy looking for boxes.
OMG! I’m glad someone else could relate to the frustrations of trying to find the perfect box size for invitations! Did you place the invitation in the box without a sleeve that included the RSVP’s? With a sleeve of 5.25 x 7.25, the box size won’t work… so I’m assuming you only included an invitation? What did you do for RSVP’s?
@Loclgrl808: Everything fit in the sleeve (rsvp, insert, and invitation) and I placed it (the entire thing) inside the box. It was a snug fit, but it did fit.
Mrs. Perfume,
Thank you soo much for providing all of the wonderful links to your invitations! I had been going CRAZY “googling” invitation boxes. You saved me so much time and headaches! Your invitations are gorgeous and thank you for the inspiration.
One question, I’m also looking to wrap my invites. Where did you get the brown/kraft paper?
@Mrs. Tea: I got them at CVS (a drug store) - but you can get it at any office supply store. It comes in rolls like wrapping paper. Good luck!!!
Absolutely gorgeous invites!!!!! I’m sure you probably doubted if it was all worth it during the time, but I’d say they definitely were =]
Hello! Beautiful invitations! I went to the box website and there are so many sizes to choose from. Can you tell me which boxes you chose on the site? I am so overwhelmed. Thanks!!
@Erika: The box size depends on your invitation! I ended up getting the 5.5 x 7 from Box and Wrap. Even though our invites were 5.25 x 7.25, they fit (albeit snuggly) in the box. Hope that helps!
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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.
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