Rehearsal Invites? CHECK!!

Rehearsal Invites? CHECK!!

June 1st, 2009 @ 3:38 pm by Mrs. Joey
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Now that everyone has received their rehearsal dinner invites, I can finally share with the hive the project that occupied more time and patience than I had anticipated.

Do you remember the design I came up with that was inspired by a Banana Republic ad? I really liked the simple design. I was all set to go with that design until I tried to print it. The printer hates me. It wouldn’t print on the cards I bought (they were too small). I tried creating a folded greeting card layout, but the printer wasn’t having that either. The text inside came out slightly off center.

After a few hours wasted trying to negotiate with the printer, I finally gave up on my beloved design and went back to the Illustrator drawing board. After a few failed attempts, I came up with a design I didn’t hate and I knew I could print.

Behold…

Rehearsal Invites? CHECK!! : wedding diy invitations rehearsal stationery Rehears09

I incorporated our logo into the design but changed up the look with the dots. This isn’t the design FMIL Joey signed off on, but I hope she likes it.

While I was at it, I made a few extra copies of the design to use as envelope liners. I didn’t have a pre-made template, so I just took apart one of envelopes I bought, trimmed it, and traced around it. It was a little extra work, but it was worth it in the end.

Rehearsal Invites? CHECK!! : wedding diy invitations rehearsal stationery Rehears010
I made a really simple map with directions in Illustrator and used the rehearsal dinner invite design as a border.

Rehearsal Invites? CHECK!! : wedding diy invitations rehearsal stationery Rehears011

I also used the design on the labels as border. I thought it tied everything together.

Rehearsal Invites? CHECK!! : wedding diy invitations rehearsal stationery Rehears012

All together, I spent $7.55 on the invites. I only bought envelopes. I had a package of 80lb paper from the favors that I cut down to size. I only needed 5 sheets. The rest of the paper (inner envelopes and map) I had laying around. The printing was free. The envelopes came in a pack of 50, and I only used about 22. The rest I can use for thank you cards or other projects. In all, the rehearsal dinner invites cost about $0.37 each. Not bad!

When I was making these invites, I was scolding myself for not buying them pre-made. My battles with the printer were long and hard fought. Now that I calculate the cost and see the end result, I see it was worth the war with the printer.

Did you have a DIY project that didn’t seem worth the work at first, but totally redeemed itself when it was complete?

Tags: diy, invitations, rehearsal, stationery |

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25 Responses to “Rehearsal Invites? CHECK!!”

1 2 Last

Member

ke3 (message) 255 posts, Helper bee

These look really neat. I love how all your paper products really tie together!

6/1/09 @ 3:44 pm (reply)

Member

iswimibikeirun (message) 1,355 posts, Bumble bee

Those look fabulous . . . and still remind me of a BR ad!

6/1/09 @ 3:46 pm (reply)

Member

Viva (message) 11 posts, Newbee

I like these even more! Beautiful!!

6/1/09 @ 3:51 pm (reply)

Member

markyk (message) 227 posts, Helper bee

super cute

6/1/09 @ 3:55 pm (reply)

Bee

Miss Bruschetta (message) 5,565 posts, Bee Keeper

Oh wow! These look great — and like you put a lot of work into them! I love the little bells making another appearance (twice!).

6/1/09 @ 3:57 pm (reply)

Bee

Mrs. Piglet (message) 1,045 posts, Bumble bee

They look great! I especially love the envelope liners.

6/1/09 @ 3:58 pm (reply)

Hostess

LittleBear (message) 800 posts, Busy bee

you are so creative and have an awesome sense of style! I love them!

6/1/09 @ 4:06 pm (reply)

Member

WhimsicalBride (message) 44 posts, Newbee

Your invites turned out fantastic!! I, too, have been waging a war with my printer, so I know just how you feel! To make a long story short, I abandoned my stamping aspirations, but had already bought all my paper supplies. So I hired wonderful Etsy seller lilribbers (from http://www.Letterpunchdesign.com) to create a design for me that I could print. She did an awesome job, but printing has been SUCH a challenge!!

Did you have problems printing to the edges? I can’t seem to figure that out…

6/1/09 @ 4:12 pm (reply)

Bee

Miss Joey (message) 1,031 posts, Bumble bee

@WhimsicalBride: printing to the edge was one of my many printer problems. I ended up trimming these to size so it would look like I printed to the edge.

6/1/09 @ 4:16 pm (reply)

10.

Member

WhimsicalBride (message) 44 posts, Newbee

Ah ha. Unfortunately for me, I had already ordered all the pre-cut pieces for my invites. Fortunately, the design still worked out well when I gave up and let the printer cut off 1/4 inch of printing on all sides. I’m making pocket wedding invitations, so there are five printed pieces per invite (times 150!). I think I would have gone insane cutting them all out! (Kudos to you!!)

What did you use to cut your pieces? I did have one piece that I printed four to a page and then cut. My normal scrapbooking paper trimmer sucked, so I ended up cutting them with a straight-edge and an X-acto knife…

6/1/09 @ 4:55 pm (reply)

11.

Member

emdash (message) 56 posts, Worker bee

WhimsicalBride: to print to the edges you dont need a photo printer. Just use crop marks and trim your page down.

I’ve DIY’d all paper products, but most of my gripes has to do with cutting things out. Lots of xacto-ing makes for a sore hand and wrist! One of the favors we are giving out is a little tin filled with Jordan almonds (Italian tradition). I cut out circles to slide into the bottom of the tin, as well as circular stickers for the top. I cut them all by hand with an xacto (apparently there’s a craft machine for this sort of thing? not something i was introduced to in art school) so they aren’t PERFECTLY circular, but they are very close, especially to an uncritical eye. Well fiance’s cousin thought they were inadequate because they weren’t circular, and told me as such. After her telling me I need to design them all over again so she can use a die cutter to make them perfect, and after telling her I don’t care if they aren’t perfect, I’d rather not cut off vital information with an imprecise die cutter or waste more time on a small detail, she resigned to trimming them all using a tea light. If I end up finding out the end product has been trimmed too much, I’ll be royally pissed! All that stuff I cut would be for nil.

6/1/09 @ 4:59 pm (reply)

12.

Member

AbbieOinCO (message) 184 posts, Blushing bee

They came out amazingly! I love the matching liners.

6/1/09 @ 5:25 pm (reply)

13.

Member

laurajane (message) 317 posts, Helper bee

I wish I were talented with creating stuff- I love that you just “whipped” this up!

6/1/09 @ 5:56 pm (reply)

14.

Bee

Miss Duckling (message) 1,415 posts, Bumble bee

These look amazing!!

6/1/09 @ 7:15 pm (reply)

15.

Member

MaPo (message) 315 posts, Helper bee

Wow, what a budget friendly project! They look great! I just think yellow is such a fun vibrant color!

6/1/09 @ 7:33 pm (reply)

16.

Bee

Miss French Bulldog (message) 7,730 posts, Bee Keeper

OMG those are freakin’ fabulous! I covet them!

6/1/09 @ 7:49 pm (reply)

17.

Member

Perk (message) 216 posts, Helper bee

They look incredible. I made mine this weekend and I only needed to buy the crystals that I put on (like $2). I guess I should add in the envelope template I bought, but Ill use tat again and again. I used cardstock I had from the save the dates, and scrapbooking paper left over from programs. I guess it shows that it pays to keep leftovers and to stay in the same color palette!

6/1/09 @ 9:29 pm (reply)

18.