Weddingbee Blog

So now that Mr. Parasol and I have a wedding date and I am very close to finishing graduate school altogether, I can actually start thinking about and working on my ever-increasing list of DIY wedding projects. Like many brides, I like the idea of creating things for our wedding myself. That way, everything will be much more personal and actually encapsulate what I envision for our wedding (which I’m still trying to work out on a daily basis). Plus, DIY projects generally have the added bonus of saving a lot of money.

My first wedding project was really only semi-DIY. Originally, I had wanted to make our save the dates from scratch, but school and work and the like were so crazy that I just didn’t have time. Thankfully, I found an awesome site, Wedding Paper Divas, that has a lot of wonderful save-the-date templates that are very easy to personalize. Our save the dates should be here any day now, and I cannot wait to see them! I can only image they look even more amazing in person.

Personal image

Although I’m a little sad that I can’t take all the credit for our save the dates, I love the design so much that I don’t really mind. I’m also proud that I was able to scrounge together and clean up four photos that look pretty good, if I don’t say so myself. None of these were taken with a professional camera or anything; in fact, three of the four demonstrate the perfected Parasol one-armed photo shoot. See, I told you we were masters.

After my experience with our semi-DIY save the dates, I decided I wanted to try my hand at the wedding invitations. It’s actually much harder than expected. I spent a few days researching software programs and trying to find images I liked and could actually use. For a while, I worried I would have to shell out for a really expensive program, like Illustrator, which would probably be nearly as expensive as just buying invitations.

In the end, though, I found that if I patiently worked my way around PowerPoint, I could create something that looked decent. And after a few samples, I made an invitation that I actually liked. I mean, really liked. I continued tweaking for most of the afternoon and, in the end, I came up with something I think Mr. Parasol and I might use.

Personal image

This invitation is pretty much everything that Mr. Parasol and I ever wanted. It’s understated, simple, quiet, and natural. It also incorporates most of our wedding colors, which I love, even though Mr. Parasol and I only “decided” on these about a week ago.

I got so excited when I had refined this design that I decided to create matching enclosure cards. The “driving directions” and “additional information” cards aren’t terribly exciting (I think the titles say it all), but I thought I’d include a picture of our adorable RSVP.

Personal image

Mr. Parasol and I wanted something cute and clever, and this RSVP card was perfect for us. Again, I wish I could take the credit for the witty response comments, but I found them on a couple different wedding websites. There were a couple variations on the “bells” theme and, with a few minor revisions, Mr. Parasol decided on this for our response card. We certainly hope our friends and family will think it’s as funny as we do!

The final touch will be a fun pocket-fold envelope. Although I could make these by hand, it’s a lot of work, and pocket folds are actually pretty cheap. So I’ll probably end up ordering something like this in bulk from somewhere like Cards & Pockets.

Image via Cards & Pockets

I’ll attach the actual invite to the center fold, and all the response cards will go in the pocket at the bottom. Then, I’ll wrap some ribbon or twine around the outside to fasten the whole bundle shut and, ta-da, wedding invitations. Or at least I hope so. I’ll be sure to update on my progress or lack thereof. I’m crossing my fingers these turn out as amazing as I envision them in my head. We’ll see. At the very least, I’m looking forward to my first bona fide DIY wedding project!

Are you doing your own wedding invitations? Do you have any advice for those of us just starting out?