Engagement Party Invites: Finished Product

So the other day I posted the computer design of my engagement party invites. Here’s how I finished them.

Step 1: Print the invites

You may have a printer at home that prints nicely on cardstock without making you want to throw it out a window. I do not possess such luxuries, so I turned to my local Staples. Honestly, the work there is a little haphazard, but it’s also cheap and easier than fighting my home printer. I set up my file with 2 invites per 8.5 x 11 page, and had Staples cut them down to my 4 x 6 size. They charge by the page and cut.

Personal Pic

Step 2: Mount invites on cardstock

DIY Engagement Party Invite Design

Mr. B’s parents love to have parties, and they’ve decided to throw one for our engagement. They’re hosting a backyard pool party for us at their house, so it’ll be a pretty relaxed and casual atmosphere (hope FMIL knows relaxed and casual means beer pong!) To reflect this, I decided to design some party invites with a vintage and fun feel. The look was heavily inspired by the menu at Brooklyn Bowl, a great bowling alley/bar in Williamsburg:

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My design, after the jump:

My Hipster Wedding

Most brides choose a theme or color scheme for their wedding and stick with it, and I am no exception.  But just because you’ve chosen navy and white for your casual seaside reception, doesn’t mean you're not occasionally captivated by an elegant engraved invitation suite, or an Old Hollywood venue.

I’m no different. Due to the climate and weather where I live, the dreamy “Style Me Pretty” rustic blog weddings are impossible for me. (Not that those are realistic for any human to execute without copious professional styling).  So we’re having an indoor event, in an elegant and classic ballroom. It suits our style and personalities perfectly.

But if I lived in Southern California, maybe I’d be a little more laid back and casual, and boy would my wedding look totally different! I call my imaginary wedding my “hipster wedding,” since it’s the opposite of the traditional affair we’re having (and therefore, in my mind, hipster-y).  My fake wedding has some great characteristics:

It would definitely take place in a tent. In real life, that's too many vendor coordination headaches for me. But I do I love these late night tent shots, where the world looks distant and cold, except for the warmth coming from the wedding tent.

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Besides, look how pretty and fresh a tent wedding looks if you do it in the daytime:

Love it! Source
 

Is it just me...

Or does it seem so many stores are suddenly starting online wedding shops? I don't know if I'm just paying attention more now that I got engaged, but it seems like every other day I'm getting email spam from various department stores, introducing their brand new wedding boutiques.


Like Bloomingdale's (who awesomely breaks down weddings into all the related events, from engagement parties to showers, and offers outfit options for all! Though the outfits don't exactly come cheap.)

Classing Up The Envelopes

My younger brother was recently invited to two weddings, and while the invitations themselves were nice, the envelopes were a mess. One was sloppily handwritten in ballpoint (!!) pen, and the other was done in those semi-transparent computer labels, with mismatching fonts on the return address and guest address labels.  I realize lots of brides just don’t care about this, since the envelope usually gets tossed, but  I believe that for all the thought we put into invites, the envelopes should be a consideration as well- it’s the first thing people see when they get the invites!  My mom didn't care, but I was honestly scandalized when I saw them.

Doing guests’ addresses can be a pain, I get that. But at the very least, your return address can be nicer. Lots of companies and calligraphers offer custom return address stamps, so you can just stamp and emboss your address on envelopes. It’s perfect, as you can have a unifying, cohesive element on all envelopes from your STDs to your thank yous. It looks so good, there’s almost no excuse not to use it! (No, no one is paying me to promote this idea, even though I sound like it!)

I ordered a stamp from Etsy seller “Foryoo.” It shipped quickly, and I’m really happy with the final product. Plus, it was only $20. To me, not a lot to spend to make all my paper goods look a little better! (although when you factor in embossing supplies, if you don’t own them already, you can plan on spending another $25). (Still worth it to me!)

Here’s my stamp:

 

Personal photo with address not so covertly hidden by tissue paper

And here’s what it looked like on the back of an envelope. It would obviously look MUCH better if I didn’t  have to block out my address and last name! Kinda looks now like I don’t know how to emboss properly! Swear it looks awesome in person

And to give you a better idea, a pic from Etsy, in a different style font:

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Inexpensive way to add a little something extra to all the paper goods. Now I am just hoping we get a random engagement gift so I can put it to use on my thank yous!

Everyone Else's Involvement

When it comes to wedding planning, it seems like there are so many people that can be involved, from well-meaning friends, to relatives, to parents. Everyone’s experience seems to be different, some have completely overbearing parents, some do it all themselves. In my situation, Mr. B’s parents, and mine as well, have definitely seemed to be staying obviously hands-off,  providing their input only when asked for. But lately I’ve been wondering if I should be including them more.

My concern was compounded when I saw this Dear Abby article:

Say No to the Dress

Or, another  post with a bad pun for a title.

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This past Friday, my mom and I went to Kleinfeld’s in NYC to continue the dress shopping search. I didn’t think I’d find a gown there, but I hoped the pro consultants could help me at least settle on a silhouette.  

Well, instead of solving my problem, they enhanced it, finding yet another awesome dress, in yet another completely different shape, and now I'm torn between even more dresses!