Get with the Program… Now!

Get with the Program… Now!

January 14th, 2010 @ 4:49 pm by Mrs. Guinea Pig
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I tend to get suddenly obsessed with one detail of the wedding and feel like I ABSOLUTELY MUST PLAN THIS NOW. Sorry for yelling, but that is how my brain feels. When this happens I’ll spend hours upon hours researching every aspect of this one tiny detail, sending Mr. Guinea Pig emails and chats peppering him with questions and options (becoming impatient with anything but near-instant responses) until he finally has to say this:

“Okay. Stop. I can’t look at a screen anymore, my eyes hurt. Give yourself a rest and sleep on it.”

Sleep on it?! But these things need to be decided now! This particular response was after I had sent him no less than 8 links to yellow paper options (with plenty of comments about the quality, color, and merits of each). At 1 AM, on a Tuesday. And what, might you ask, is this yellow cardstock for? Programs! Umm… programs I haven’t designed yet. But they will have the perfect yellow cardstock.

Needless to say, when I woke up I realized that I could probably wait a week or two until I had figured out the programs to order the paper.

Of course when looking for program inspiration, where else should I start but Weddingbee! And sure enough, I found lots of great programs - here are some of my favorites:

(Mrs. Penguin’s programs)

I love the modified fan idea that Mrs. Penguin used, and I also really like the square shape.

(Mrs. Cupcake’s programs)

Oh accordion program, how I love you. And Mrs. Cupcake did it wonderfully - her die-cut scraps were just the right size for these adorable programs.

(Mrs. Cream Puff’s programs)

The stitching!! I love this as a binding option - another version of stitching on the program that I really liked were these I found on Project Wedding:

(source)

Actually, these remind me of Poodle’s awesome address labels!

Last but not least, these pretty and simple programs caught my eye in the gallery:

(Weddingbee user JoiedeVie’s programs)

Okay actually, let me be completely honest here. This last one didn’t catch my eye until Mr. Guinea Pig strongly suggested that the type of programs he would really like would be long, rectangular and simple. Pretty much the opposite of what I was looking at. So he likes these lovely programs that Mrs. Cherry Pie used:

(Mrs. Cherry Pie’s programs)

But only if all the information can fit on one page! (It can’t, I tried. And our ceremony is not even that complicated, nor our wedding party that big!).

We’re trying to come up with a design that incorporates long, rectangular and simple (Mr. GP’s preferences) with some of the details like folds, stitching and grommets that I like. Much like our Save-the-Date adventure where we scrapped a design because we couldn’t agree on fonts, I’m afraid it may take us a while to come up with the final program design (even though Mr. GP keeps repeating, “but they’re just programs!”). On top of that, when I showed one of my drafts to a friend, her only comment was, “But then how will people be able to fit it into their purse or pocket?” What?! Programs have to fit into purses??

Are you making your programs? Where did you pull inspiration from? Do you and your fiance have design differences?

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26 Responses to “Get with the Program… Now!”

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Bee

Miss Pudding (message) 1,180 posts, Bumble bee

I love Mrs. Cupcakes programs. They are definitely something to aspire to!

1/14/10 @ 4:55 pm (reply)

Bee

Mrs. Beagle (message) 1,380 posts, Bumble bee

I made mine- I’m not sure where the inspiration came from but I love Cupcake’s programs! My vision differed majorly with Mr. Beagles, the key factor being I wanted to do something that involved hours of work and resulted in handmade goodness and he wanted something quick and easy.

1/14/10 @ 5:04 pm (reply)

Member

thebriz (message) 448 posts, Helper bee

I’d love to do the accordian look; if I can figure out how to do all the printing. Otherwise, it’ll just be a basic book.

I have free reign but certainly would like something aside from the booklet for everyone to go ooohhhhh.

1/14/10 @ 5:05 pm (reply)

Bee

Miss Pug (message) 3,753 posts, Honey bee

i do the same thing where if my mind travels to one aspect of the wedding, i feel like i need to decide it yesterday.

we’re just going plain jane with a pre-cut program booklet template from paperpresentation.com (it’s got a cover and insert, and two holes in the spine for a ribbon.

1/14/10 @ 5:10 pm (reply)

Bee

Miss Pencils (message) 1,027 posts, Bumble bee

haha! could you do a folded one that expanded into a longer vertical one? then it’s purse stuffable AND vertical

1/14/10 @ 5:11 pm (reply)

Bee

Miss Snow (message) 916 posts, Busy bee

Miss GP, we’re kindred detail-obsessed spirits (see my napkin obsession). I hadn’t thought about the fit-in-purse detail. That’s actually pretty darn useful. Could you make a long rectangular program that folds? So you’ve got purse-friendly design combined with Mr. GP’s design requests?

1/14/10 @ 5:16 pm (reply)

Bee

Mrs. Mouse (message) 5,844 posts, Bee Keeper

Well they only have to fit into purses if people are going to want to take them home. And I’m sure they’ll be so pretty that people will want to take them home!

1/14/10 @ 5:22 pm (reply)

Bee

Miss Guinea Pig (message) 1,377 posts, Bumble bee

@Mrs. Beagle: Yes! Mr. GP asked why we couldn’t do something super simple and the only answer I could come up with was… Because I want to spend time on them and make them look pretty!
@Miss Pencils, Miss Snow: ooh, folded, purse sized aaaand unfolds to rectangular? Excellent….
@Miss Pug: I hve no idea why I want to spend so much time on this! Simple is the way to go!
@Mrs. Mouse: That’s the goal!!

1/14/10 @ 5:53 pm (reply)

Member

pmerr (message) 2,518 posts, Sugar bee

I love the last one, but with a layers. I really love the first one too!!

1/14/10 @ 6:06 pm (reply)

10.

Member

Ms. Vintage (message) 25 posts, Newbee

I am making mine similar to Mrs. Cherry Pie’s programs, but mine have laser cut flowers at the top where the ribbon is on hers, and they will have four pages, each a different length so that they cascade, and I can label each page at the bottom so the guest can turn to the page that interests them most! (Ceremony, Readings, Wedding Party, Etc.)

Good luck!

1/14/10 @ 7:00 pm (reply)

11.

Bee

Miss Spaniel (message) 6,792 posts, Bee Keeper

We are topic twins today!

My biggest obstacle to program-planning was that we had SO much information to include! We wanted to list our entire (large) wedding party, to explain the cultural traditions that would be included in the ceremony (only 1/4 of our guests would understand the Jewish ones, for example), and we still wanted to thank people for coming and have a bit of a memorial for those who… couldn’t. I tried my darndest to fit it on something smaller and a single page, but I couldn’t!

1/14/10 @ 7:53 pm (reply)

12.

Bee

Miss French Fries (message) 2,217 posts, Buzzing bee

I’m totally the same way (about planning one detail THISVERYMINUTEOMG). I research the dickens out of it, then find about 500 pictures that are super similar and then ask Mr. FF which one he prefers. Um, yeah. It’s pretty productive. Not.

1/14/10 @ 8:29 pm (reply)

13.

Bee

Miss Cola (message) 2,868 posts, Sugar bee

Love your inspirations, can’t wait to see what you end up doing! And I too get suddenly obsessed with a detail, like veering off the freeway the other night on my way home because I suddenly decided to stop at Joann’s for lace to make a garter! Haha!

1/14/10 @ 8:44 pm (reply)

14.

Member

mimi06d (message) 646 posts, Busy bee

What if you made it long and vertical but layered a few sheets of paper so all your info fits. You could stagger them at the bottom and have titles like “Bridal Party” “Ceremony” “Thanks” printed on the bottom of the staggered sheets.
That probably made zero sense.

1/14/10 @ 8:46 pm (reply)

15.

Member

Miss Britt (message) 915 posts, Busy bee

I just saw Pengy’s programs for the first time earlier today. So cute! And I also do the OMG I have to stay up until 1 am planning this right NOW. Nothing ever gets accomplished that way I have learned.

1/14/10 @ 9:32 pm (reply)

16.

Guest

Amber

If you like that stitched one, make it vertical and 6-7″ long instead of horizontal, then you could add a couple page to get all the information in and get the little details you’d like, but the shape your fiance wants. I agree with him though, it is just a program, no need to stress too much. I think the reality is most people won’t even keep them, so focus on the things that are really important. We won’t have programs at our wedding, no need, it’ll be a tiny event, there aren’t going to be readings and there is no wedding party.

1/14/10 @ 10:39 pm (reply)

17.

Bee

Miss Sewing (message) 2,701 posts, Sugar bee

I love all the detailing on some of these programs! Mine definitely won’t be fitting into any pockets, that’s for sure..Can’t wait to see what you come up with!

1/14/10 @ 10:43 pm (reply)

18.

Bee

Miss Cheeseburger (message) 1,020 posts, Bumble bee

your inspiration is great,and similar to mine! I’m excited to see what you come up with, girl

1/14/10 @ 11:24 pm (reply)

19.

Member

tea (message) 7,263 posts, Bee Keeper

i’ll be making ours but have no clue how i want them

1/15/10 @ 12:59 am (reply)

20.

Member

KMSull (message) 6,442 posts, Bee Keeper

I think we’re going to have to make a BOOK for our program… we need to include an entire order of worship and that’s ALOT of readings and songs. Yikes!

1/15/10 @ 9:20 am (reply)

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