So remember, way back in the day, when I warbled on and on (and on) about how we weren’t going to DIY our invitations because that was just too much stress and too much time, and too much this and that?
Well, um, I have something to say to you guys, face-to-face, looking you right in the eyes. We’re DIY-ing our invites. DIY up to a certain point, though. One of the reasons I thought starting from scratch would be too hard was it was a totally blank slate. At that point, you have all the options in the world. They could be 5×7 or 4×4 or 12×20 or 4×9 or ANY NUMBERS we could choose. That’s hard, for someone who can waffle as much as I do! Not only size of invite, but then size of RSVP card! Size of insert! Then there is the envelope colour! Pocket fold, or belly band, or twine, or something else!
That is a whole lot of decisions, and I didn’t even touch on design or wording. Ack. But, there was nothing 100% awesome and us out there, so we decided to go the sorta-DIY route.
We did come up with a concept for the invites, and we have sent some sketches that I drew to a graphic designer. She will work her magic (I keep getting worried that my ideas break some golden rule of design!) and we’ll end up with a high-res file that we have to get printed, and then assemble ourselves. There is no way I could ever get the invitations looking nice enough to print by myself, not with the design we came up with, anyway! I could do it with text in Word, but that is my limit.
It’s a big scary step to be taking, but I’m finding my way through it calmly, with a few things that help:
- Having a back-up: This might make it sound like we don’t have faith in our designer, which is totally not the case. I just always feel more comfortable with a back-up plan, so if everything goes crazy, we have a plan to get ourselves out of the mess. The theatre ticket invites are our back-up. They don’t fit the theme of the wedding, but they are “us.”
- Taking things step-by-step: my first design scribbles were in no sort of scale, they were all over the place. Once I had the idea down, I tried it as a 5×7 because that seemed to be a fairly common invite size. The sketch looked good. Then I tried a 4×9, because I thought it would be cool. That looked good, too. Almost magically, we’d found a size* (well, a choice of 2 sizes) for our invites. I am studiously making sure to think about one variable at a time. Next will be RSVP size. Then packaging. Then maybe envelope colour. Bite-size pieces, all the way.
- We have time: I was still ignoring the problem a little when Cinnamon Buns sat me down and said that if we did want to try to get something custom made, we should get on it soon. He was right, so I got over it and got going.
- We’re doing this together: Cinnamon Buns knows when I’m stressing, and can reassure me and calm me down. Also, he knows that this decision means more work and more choices, and that we’re both involved in it. Would I be doing this as a project that only I work on? No!
- We’re still getting other people to do some of the work! As I said, we’ve got a designer working with us. I also won’t be stressing about printing these on our home printer, we’ll be getting a professional to do that! Not printing them ourselves saves a world of stress (and probably buying a new printer).
So, there we go! The Cinnamon Buns have been converted to the mostly-DIY invitation fold. I really want to walk you all through this, from my scribbles to printed loveliness, so you can see how all this progresses and what is involved. There will be way more on this to come! Wish us luck!
*ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS check envelope sizes before diving in head-on! You don’t want to be in the packaging stage when you find out your size isn’t a standard! Check postal rates and regulations too—I know Canada Post charges extra for square envelopes, no matter what the size.
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