Oklahoma Bridal Belles,
Did you go for something traditional or a little more non-traditional when it came to your invitations? Do you think invitations set the tone of your event or something that just gets thrown out?
I was a weird child – OK, that was maybe no way to SET THE TONE of this blog but hang with me. My second favorite memory was when Santa found a (soon-to-be-trash) old-school cash register, checks puncher and realms of scrap paper from my Auntie B’s work, and had them all waiting for me under the tree with new school supplies to unwrap. 😉 (My first favorite memory was when Santa brought me Doll, my first horse.) 🙂
I spent countless hours growing up playing pretend teacher, cash register keeper and bookkeeper. I grew up doodling my name in different fonts along the margins of my notes. I got in trouble for having my nose in a book instead of paying attention. I didn’t ever want to spend hours in the toy stores….but you could always find me amongst the shelves in the bookstore. Hour long road trips hauling to rodeos meant hours of me pouring over books and magazines in the backseat on the way.
Even to this day, when I travel to see my umpire, you can bet I’m locked and loaded with garb to read during the whole trip. (Reading that back over I find myself justifying that maybe I’m not weird just a bit geeky!) HA! 🙂
I have always LOVED stationery and books. I LOVE typography, fonts, design, art and graphics. I love the smell of fresh ink on paper and the way my whole body relaxes when I just think about getting lost in the words of a book. I work in Public Relations, nowadays I just can’t help it – it’s in my blood.
I still believe there is NOTHING better than receiving a hand written note or card on fine stationery in the mail. I JUST LOVE THOSE days! Who doesn’t enjoy opening an invite and see a theme carried out until the end of the party? Even 1-year-old birthday parties do that for the most part! 😉
So being the stationery lover that I am, it was important for me to set the tone with my invitations. I wanted something different, unique and let our guest know what they are in for when they think about attending the whimsical wedding of the Gypsies… since there’s been nothing traditional on my agenda up to this point you know where this is going.
After searching and searching through tons of cute things online. I was still searching for something that made my heart dance. I finally came across Lil Duck Duck and fell in LOVE with them! They had the perfect die-cut design and nailed our invites! I thought about how gorgeous it will look matted in a frame for a keepsake.
FRONT
BACK
Then it came to the “wording” of the invites. Who knew there were so many ways to be politically correct with your etiquette? My mom and I jived on every single detail until it came down to including where we were registered on the initiations……Dun, Dun, DUN!
Her vote was that her friends needed to know where we were registered at and to include it at the bottom.
My vote was I thought it was tacky, rude and looked like we were fishing for gifts…and just for a bonus round 2…I had back up ammunition that if we framed and matted them for displaying we could do without knowing where the registries were at….fingers crossed. Silence. We were both standing our ground.
I wasn’t trying to pull the “polite posies etiquette” card on this country shin-dig BUT I needed to do a little more research on this topic so I went to the web and I found where “polite posies” herself good ole’ Martha Stewart even says, “Don’t Tell Guests Where You’re Registered in Your Invitation.” (found here) …it states:
“Once you have registered, give the information to immediate family and the wedding party, and let them spread the word. If you are asked where you have registered, it is fine for you to tell, but it is not proper to include registry information in a wedding invitation. Registry information can be included on a wedding website, as long as the actual name of the store is not included on the same layer; organize your website so that guests must click down one level to find the details.” ~In the “The Dos and Don’ts of Wedding Registries
Momma Cowgirl still wasn’t convinced. How would people know if you didn’t include it? It was a valid question, but that’s why the website was on the invite I told her. She counter offered that her friends didn’t use the internet like my generation does so they still wouldn’t know. Next up to bat at the plate Miss. Gypsy……….
I did what any balanced, people-pleasing Libra would do….I compromised and I found the cutest lil addition cards at moo.com. I HIT IT OUT OF THE PARK!
These mini cards came with up to 100 different pictures (you choose) on the back. You could even buy a frame to display them in (see above). Since no one usually gets to see all the engagment pictures we decided to use all of the different pictures and the same wording on the reverse side that included where we were registered at, the website again and directed them to RSVP or request music.
I can’t tell you how much I LOVE these mini moo cards. (SO much so you’ll see them again) 🙂 They’re SO cute and they even come in these cute little heavy-duty box holders that I also LOVE!
Moo I LOVE YOU!! (How VERY exciting, Indeed!) 🙂
Then I decided that the piece just needed something else to make the invitation set all come together. Since this will be the first wedding at Crossing Heart Ranch I thought it might be smart to include a custom wedding map. I also thought at first that my little DIY heart would have so much fun doing them myself and out sourcing the printing locally but alas, I realized that I wasn’t going to get it done with my hectic work schedule and did a little more online research.
Snappymaps.com was my lifesaving, budget-conscious saving grace. Debbie was AMAZING to work with and they couldn’t have matched my invitations any better. She nailed them!
I found a vintage looking postage label online and took some time on the computer to addresses them, cut them out and bond them on the envelopes. YES all 350 of them, one at a time! 😉
With all the pieces in ready to go, it was time to assemble. With a heart hole-punch. (Yes….you read that right! IT’s ALL ABOUT THE DETAILS) 😉 I punched the mini moo card, stuck the map on top of the invite, wrapped it up with twine and tied a little bow. Whala! 🙂
And who would have thought that I even cared about postage? But after all the hours of getting these little fellers ready for their big debut I DID care about the stamp and went with the pretty white rose ones that the small downtown post office had on hand.
(Sidenote to future DIY’ERS: I had to put 2 stamps on the invitations to cover postage because the little bow knot from the twine made it not slide directly through the standard slot. Had I know this I would have tied them different and saved a little on the stamps. Also, ALWAYS have them check one initiation before you send them all out. No bride wants to have all her invitations returned to her because they didn’t have enough postage to get them to your guests.)
Because of this extra one on the outside we skipped the RSVP and directed guest to the web. 🙂
I was SO happy with how the invites turned out! More important I’m SO happy to have them out. YEEHAW! We’ve had so many complements on them already. Having the talents of different vendors all come together individually and do what they do best really helped set the tone of this Mix Matched wedding all the way to perfection!
Bridal Belles tell me all about your invitations. Are you going to DIY or have them done?
Sparkle and Spur
Miss. Gypsy
bridalbellesok 