Paper - Happily Ever After...

Monogram

Our monogram! I didn't think I would make one, but since we have decided to do a belly band around our invitation, I thought a monogram would be perfect for that.

I found the flourish on Shutterstock. The cost was so worth it! I also used the monogram on our Thank You cards.

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Save the Dates

We are getting married in DC, and my favorite part of the city is the Jefferson Memorial during Cherry Blossom season.

Finished and ordered from VistaPrint on January 21.

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Invitations

I designed my own invitations.   Below are scanned photos of the invitations put together :)

All of the black printing is thermography (raised printing). The blue is flat printing. The monogram is part of the belly band of the invitation and the blue part is ribbon, adhered between the monogram and it's black frame.

I am doing my own calligraphy... hopefully it will turn out alright, but I did order many extra envelopes! I used both inner and outer envelopes... no photos of the inner ones, though.

Thank You cards were created out of our monogram, too. I will create new ones with my personal, married monogram to use after the wedding as well.

There have been questions from others about the wording & etiquette on my invitations...
     - "and" is used between the names specifically for Catholic ceremonies. A wedding is a union, so "and" is
          appropriate. Other invitations I have seen use "to" instead
     - I did place "and" in the year... big debate over this, but (according to Crane's) with or without the word
          "and" are both acceptable. Math people say that "and" signifies a decimal point. But I usually don't say a
          year in the same way I would say that number in a mathematical way... such as "one thousand, nine
          hundred and ninety-six", so I didn't pay attention to the math rules.
All of the invitation and addressing etiquette answers I found through Crane's online. They are very helpful!

Update... FINALLY DONE & READY TO MAIL!!!! A little late on when I wanted to mail the invitations, as the invitation printing & calligraphy both took a lot longer than anticipated. I am so proud of them, though.

By the way, the blue in the first photo of the invitation is lighter than the blue in the last photo (the actual invitation)... the blue was meant to be lighter, but the printing company read the file wrong and made all of the blues the same shade. I didn't want to wait for a re-print and thought they looked fine.

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Table Numbers

Very simple design. Another Knottie on the J09 board did these exact table numbers, but with different fonts. I forget her name... if it is you, please let me know!

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Escort Cards

I love this flourish, as you can see! For the couples, both of their names were on the card... Jane and John Smith, but in the same format with first names on top and last name on bottom.

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Invitation Inspiration

I love all of these invitations! My future sis-in-law is a graphic designer and offered to help me with our invitations.

For stamps, I found different DC themed ones on Ebay. Each envelope will have a couple of stamps on them.

Maybe, just for fun and
only sent to guests our age,
the RSVP cards will be
Mad Libs style.

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Direction Card

The map in the photo was designed by Laura Hooper Calligraphy.

I am going to try and make something similar myself... put my art skills to work. I am using hand-drawing, then scanning it into photoshop to add color. Knottie princesscut2 has also asked me to make one for her. The photo below is hers :D

The front of the card will be the map. The back will have a written description of the directions.

Update: these had to be cut out of our invitations due to our budget. I am very happy that I made one but I wish we could have included them for our guests.

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Rehearsal Dinner Invitation

I really like the simplicity of a chandelier.

Top photo: Jessica's Design Shop on Etsy

Bottom photo: Evite (Costco) Invitations

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Menu Cards

Alphose Mucha is one of my favorite Art Nouveau artists. I found menu cards (reproductions without copyright if you can believe that!)

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Table Numbers & Seating Cards

I want to design something similar to this, but in teal, shades of gray, black & white.

The graphic design firm of the table number in the photo is Atomik Art. Steve Castro had designed these for another bride, but out of respect for her he would not duplicate the design.

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Bridesmaid Thank You Cards

Right now I cannot remember whose bio I found these in... I hope I can remember soon!

They are bachelorette party thank you cards. I think they are so appropriate!

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Guest Book

The guest book is going to be photos of myself and Matt, including both photos of us as children and together as a couple. I want space for the guests to write memories & well wishes. I don't know if I will have them write directly in the book or on cards that I will place in the book later.