Signed Sealed Delivered!

Aside from a few last addresses that we've finally wrangled, our invitations are out. Many have been received, so I feel like I can show some images. Yay!


As for details: We received the image from the designer and then uploaded it into gimp and added our text and manipulated our image to make the postcard. We used a free font called Deco Tech from Da Font, but a different font for the fancy capital letters. I scoured high and low to find the information card border. It's got a very art deco feel to it.

We printed these on our home inkjet printer, but were we to do it over, we now know that it is cheaper to get them printed at the UPS store. Printing was a true labor of love. We have a great recommendation of someone who prints in Seattle! Jon (said person) cut our invitations and cardstock to our specifications, and then we mounted the invitation using spray mount.

I then calligraphized all the invitations (with variable results!), but got better as I went along. Working with metallic ink is incredibly difficult. We got wedding ring stamps for the outer envelope and polar bear stamps for the postcards. We then numbered the postcards (well most of them) and sent them off! I can't wait for our first RSVP cards!

Invitation fun!

After months of work, we are so close to finishing the invitation that I can taste it. We've finished designing and proofreading and readjusting the Invitation itself and the Information card. We're still working on the RSVP postcard, but we have half of it finished. We just have the backside left to do.

Last weekend we went to Paper Zone (in the midst of a little squabble, since I thought we should have brought our images of the invitation to compare colors-- turns out Chris was right, we didn't need it!) and got sample card stock. We printed some test runs and have tentatively picked the papers. Then we went to Costco and bought very expensive color printer cartridges-- enough to print 150 invitations.

This has been a true group project. Chris has been manning the actual program manipulation (which is the lion's share of the work and frustration), and I've been designer, font-finder, text writer and proofreader.

I can't wait to start assembly! (But I wonder what I'll be saying once that starts...)

It's all about the checkboxes... Next up, ceremony!

Invitation final image!

After much thought, we opted to combine the mountains and trees of the second image with the sky of the first image. We're completely thrilled with the outcome. I think it really makes the whole graphic pop!

Now we have to figure out how we're going to put it all together into an invitation suite. We went to Paper Source yesterday and scoped out #10 paper and envelopes. Did you know Stardream is 50% off right now? I have some ideas about what we might do, but I'm open to your thoughts as well!

Invitation possibilities

Here are a few of the color schemes that Mike mocked up for us. Any opinions. I think I like the one on the left best, but I do like the middle one as well. Maybe the sky of one and the blue of the other?

Alternative Invitations

A couple of weeks ago, Chris and I were walking down the street in Ballard. We saw an art poster that caught my eye, and I haven't been able to get it out of my head. I thought it might be nice to use an image like this as a totally alternative wedding invitation. It's very much our style, and also somewhat reflective of our venue.

We discussed a collaboration with the artist, and he said he's willing to do it! He's been suspicious of doing wedding invitations in the past because he had a bad experience with one customer, but because we only need artwork and not the whole suite he said yes.

The first design is the one I originally fell for.

Here is another that looks surprisingly like our save the dates which are below:

Source: http://www.powerslidedesign.com/posters_html

Our save the date image:

Amazing letterpress

OK, so most of you probably know that Chris and I were at first going to send out our invitations electronically. That idea didn't last very long. But lately as themes and ideas have come together, it has seemed more and more that invitations are a nice element to set the tone for our day.

I stumbled across the Dingbat's Agenda and learned all about some of the more creative things you can do with letterpress. They are giving away a full invitation suite, and I figure that their contest is the closest I'll ever get to letterpress. Here's hoping! (How perfect is this simple pear invitation?)