Weddingbee Blog

Our programs look docile enough in this photo. But in reality they were mean, hateful little suckers.

Having said that, I ended up fairly pleased with the way the programs came out, so I thought I’d share some DIY details about the process of getting my butt kicked… I mean, putting them together.

The programs were simply a booklet inserted into a gatefold cover. I made the covers using a mix of silver and gold Stardream text-weight paper. With a punch that I had picked up at a Hong Kong street market, I punched the double happiness on one “gate” of the cover; the punch effect echoes the papercut motif of our invitations. Using Zots (my fave adhesive!), I then attached Chinese-style frog buttons, which I got for pennies from a fabric and notions mall in Shenzhen. The buttons added a Chinoiserie touch to our programs, and were a tribute to my grandfather, whose very first business was a textile company.

Hint: If you are going to replicate this style (please do!), make sure to undo the buttons for your guests. Frog buttons can be tricky, especially for arthritic or manly, meaty hands.

At one point in time (i.e., before I realized I had a day to complete the programs), I had thought about lining the inside of the cover, either with Chiyogami paper or with purple rice paper. I still think that would have been fab, but the final product looked just fine without the lining.

The booklet inserts were printed on gray linen-style paper from Kinko’s, which were then embellished with cherry blossom stamps. If you’re spatially challenged like me, you’ll want to download a program that automatically places your pages in the correct order for a two-sided booklet. For Macs, I recommend CocoaBooklet, which, in addition to having a great name(!), is free and easy — you just drop a pdf’d document into the open app, and it will create a new pdf document for you, which has all of the pages in the correct order.

To attach the booklet to the gatefold cover, we just glued the back page of the booklet (make sure it’s blank) to the inside of the cover. Easy!

Check out our programs in action in the above photo! I like to think that all of the guests were as fascinated by our programs as he was.

If there’s any interest, I’ll put the text of our Chewish program in my next post.

Will you be incorporating a special motif or aesthetic from you culture into your ceremony programs?