Weddingbee Blog

Our invites from Ajalon Printing & Design came in looking amazing, but because I like to make more work for myself, I decided to spruce them up a bit. Here’s how they looked before my additions:

Very “Tuscan Romance” dontcha think?

The little food icons are Mr. Jelly’s favorite part of our invitation suite

Accommodations/Website card

Here are the additions I made:

Cardstock backing:

I really liked the look of cardstock backing, but I wanted to save money so I decided to DIY this part of the invitation. I Googled “burgundy cardstock” and came across Paper-Papers.com, and it looked like they had the perfect burgundy shade. I emailed them asking for a sample, and it matched our invites perfectly! I proceeded to order 3 packs (100 sheets each) so we could use it for menus, programs, place cards, etc. Overkill? Maybe. But you don’t find the perfect share of burgundy every day!

I then cut 2 backings per sheet of 8.5″ x 11″ piece of cardstock to use as backings on our 5″ x 7″ invites using my handy guillotine paper slicer. I made sure to save the leftover 1″ x 8.5″ strips of paper, as I would later turn them into belly bands.

Next, I had to figure out a way to adhere the invites to the cardstock. I thought about double-stick tape, Zots, or even using my Xyron, but it all seemed too pricey and time consuming. Mrs. Snow recommended 3M Super 77 spray adhesive, and I’m so glad I listened to her!! This adhesive is inexpensive ($10 for a can), extremely tacky and very easy to use. I glued about 175 invitations in only a couple hours, with the only downsides being a minor headache and a sticky kitchen floor as a result (both can easily be avoided by working outside.)

Belly Bands:

Next, I took the thin strips of leftover burgundy cardstock, and used them to make belly bands that would hold together the various components of the invitation. I scored each strip of paper with my bone folder, folded each belly band over its respective invite, and then sealed the belly band with a gold wax seal (yes, this was as time consuming as it sounds).

Wax Seals:

For the seals, I used glue gun sealing wax, as it is much easier to manipulate than the old fashioned drip kind. I bought a “D” seal from Michael’s, ordered some Antique Gold wax sticks from www.letterseals.com, and followed the tips from this thread to make my seals.

So, are you ready to see the finished product? Here’s what you would see as a guest to the Jellyfish wedding:

Gorgeous calligraphy done by my very talented Bridesmaid Lauren (or done by me, if you’re an OOT guest – sorry guys, you kinda got the short end of the stick )

No envelope liners for this gal. After doing them for our thank you cards, I’d had enough.

Little bundles of joy.

The full invitation suite. The Welcome Dinner/Farewell Brunch invite is printed on the reverse of the wedding map (which was designed by my designer/photographer extraordinaire Bridesmaid Amy – what would I do without her?!)

Getting the all-important Stinson seal of approval.

So there you have it, the Jellyfish invitations. They were a lot of work, but I’m very happy with them and we stayed within our budget nicely. Were your invitations a labor of love? Anyone else buy their invitations, but then add DIY touches?