Weddingbee Blog

I know you do…my STDs are finally getting sent out! They’re not perfect—there were some glue stick mishaps—but I think they’re good enough.

Note: all photos in this post are personal photos.

The envelope:

I originally had higher hopes for the envelope. I thought I would screen print and then emboss a tea cup on it. Actually, I was planning on embossing the full address, but to be honest I just got lazy, and I figured I’d save the fancy stuff for my invitation suite. Besides, no one looks at the envelope. I don’t even look at envelopes, so why spend hours upon hours personalizing something that will go directly in the trash? I also nixed printing on the envelopes because I think I have been scarred for life after having to do that when applying to colleges. I don’t care what anyone says, it is NOT easier than just writing out the addresses. When I send out the formal invitations I will use some sort of faux-ligraphy but, again, I just wanted to send these suckers out ASAP. I think my VERY imperfect and slightly askew cursive works just fine.

I used black Paper Source A6 envelopes and wrote with a gold fine-tip metallic marker I found at Michaels. For the stickers, I bought some cool polka-dot textured paper at Michaels, designed the “Open Me” in Gimp, cut them out using a round punch, and sent them through my Xyron sticker machine.

The liner:

The liner was really an afterthought, but it’s currently my favorite piece of the whole STD suite. I used Paper Source’s text-weight paper in Paper Bag (an idea I stole borrowed from Mrs. Stripes!) and designed everything using Gimp, a free program similar to Photoshop, which is infinitely less user friendly. I’ll do a tutorial on the liners because after I got done with the first few, I figured out how to do make them prettier and more quickly. Unfortunately, on this first batch, the glue stick I used messed up the envelope a little. Oh well. Live and learn, right?

The STD (website has been blacked out for privacy):

The original file:

source for base image

If you have been following the drama around these devilish pieces of paper, you’d realize that these look very different. Where’s the twine? Why isn’t the paper white? Well, once I showed BM Amy my first design, she felt it was a bit plain. I had to agree. I think that this new design gives a more whimsical feel to the set. As for the twine date…it just looked wrong. Too bright and cheery for everything going on in the design. It’s a shame because I was extremely excited the day I bought my Cricut that I no longer have a use for.

CRAZEE EYED KILLA!!!

Again, I designed these bad boys in Gimp. These were uber time consuming because I skewed and placed every.single.letter. I just couldn’t get it to look right unless I did. The plus side? I am pretty darned good at using Gimp now! I used 123Print to print 100 glossies for only $25 or so. Therefore, I shall call them “semi-homemade.” I considered printing them all out myself, but it just wasn’t worth the time and money for extra print cartridges. Plus, I doubt they’d look as nice. It would have really just been a pride thing.

I found the keys on Etsy. They’re plastic skeleton-key charms, hanging from black string. I thought they gave the STDs one extra whimsical and mysterious touch. It would have been nice to send authentic skeleton keys, but those were far more expensive, and I think they would have broken the envelopes.

While assembling these suckers was pretty easy, there were a few problems:

1.) I didn’t include the city where the event would be held (though it’s technically on our return address!).

2.) Some of the envelope liners were upside down.

3.) The design didn’t include, “Formal invitation to follow.”

I think my guests will figure out that they’ll be receiving something else at a later date, hence the “Save the Date!” clearly written across the front of the document. I also know that the majority of our guests have been informed of the geographical location of the wedding. If they’re that unsure, our website is listed, and all pertinent information is definitely on there. As for the upside down liners…NO ONE will notice. Except you because I just told you and you won’t be able to look past it now.

Did you decide to scale down (or up!) on your vision while creating STDs? Did you buy any expensive equipment for them and then not use it? (As you can see, I’m still beating myself up about it.)