Weddingbee Blog

Before I post about my secret new toy, I think we should spend a moment to discuss a detail so minute that probably no one but us obsessive planners would care about: paper.

After seeing all the luscious, rich papery goodness PaperSource had to offer, I decided to get some testing-paper of my own. Mr. Sewing dutifully steered me away from luxe paper stores and towards the local Michaels and Office Depot.

Browsing the scrapbook paper selections can be drool-inducing, but all-in-all too expensive to use for mass productions. I left the craft store with four sheets of shiny pearl-white card stock, four for a dollar.

Next was the office supply store.

Mr. Sew: “Now, don’t get your hopes up. Remember they didn’t have that red paper you wanted last time.”

Me: “Ohh. Re-Entry Red…” *cringes*

Luckily, however, their selection of normal, bleached papers was much better. They had a little booklet attached to the shelf, with samples of the different paper types. I stood there rubbing the little things with my mouth hanging open.

Me: “Ohh, this one feels nice. Mr. Sew, come feel this.”

Mr. Sew did his best to ignore me as a store clerk looked over at the crazy lady feeling up the paper samples.

I grabbed a ream of the 67 pound white bristol vellum card stock. Now to be honest, I didn’t know what the whole poundage thing was about. It was good that I didn’t order online, because I probably would have ended up with something a lot flimsier or thicker than needed. Mr. Sew gave me a basic rundown - the poundage is how much a specified number of sheets of a certain size weigh. So 500 8.5 x 11″ printer sheets will have a lower poundage than 500 8.5 x 11″ card stock sheets. This turns out to be a really simplified explanation though - so for more depth you can check out the crowd favorite Wikipedia (here).

Next we walked to the resume paper aisle. I remember the first batch of resume paper I bought, a beautiful stony cream color. That paper helped me get my job, so it’s safe to say I have a fondness for the stuff. After once again touching all the samples, I grabbed a stack of 65 pound white linen paper. It’s not as durable as the card stock, but the texture is to die for.

Then, upset at the lack of black and red paper choices, we hunted around for a paper warehouse, and found Kelly Paper. I swear my thumbprints are on every single sample they have. You can check, there’s only about 10 billion of them. We left many dollars poorer as we collected additional supplies:

80 pound linen cardstock in brillant white, epic black, and red pepper, as well as two different sizes of vellum brillant white envelopes.

Now that I have some materials to play with, it’s time to crank up the idea-o-meter!

What kind of paper are you using? Do you have a favorite?