Ready to assemble these DIY wedding invitations?

First, some tools:

I used a 12″ Fiskars rotary paper trimmer, though a self-healing mat, craft knife, and metal straightedge will work just as well. You’ll also need a corner rounder (mine has a 1/4″ radius), some scissors, and adhesive. I used Zots, which are basically some flattened sticky rubber blobs that let you do mess-free sticking. To replicate what I did exactly, you’ll need two 300-count boxes of the medium-sized ultra-thin Zots. All of these things should be available at your local craft supply store.

Step 0

If your Kinko’s also refused to cut your cards apart for you, then the first thing to do is to cut the cards apart with the paper trimmer or knife and self-healing mat.

Step 1

Take the corner rounder and round off the corners on all of the above invitation components, the pearlized paper pieces, and the 100lb A7 Oxford card stock.

Step 2

To make the invitation backing, stick the pearlized paper to the A7 Oxford card stock (these pieces should be the same size). Because I liked being able to flip apart the layers and to save Zots, I only used two: one in each upper corner.

Take the printed 4 3/4″ x 6 5/8″ invitation card, center it over the backing, and stick it down. Again, I only used two Zots in the upper corners.

Step 3

Cut a 3″ x 12″ strip of the chiyogami paper. Wrap it around the panel invitation so that the seam is centered across the back. Stick the ends of the sash together.

Step 4

Cut an 18″ length of ribbon. Tie a bow in the middle of the sash. Trim the ends of the bow so they’re even.

Step 5

Tuck the reception and guest information card under the sash, on top of the panel invitation. Stamp the reply envelope, tuck the reply card under the flap, and insert both under the sash, on top of the response card.

Done! Now you just have to address and send.

A Note on Postage

I’ve been mailing my invitations in batches and taking each batch to the post office to be weighed. Depending on the postal worker, the scale calibration, and the phase of the moon, I have been told that each invitation will cost me $0.41 (regular first-class postage), $0.58 (typical wedding postage) and even $0.75 to mail.

When I weigh it at home on my kitchen scale, the assembled invitation is just over an ounce, so I expect postage to be $0.58 (at least until the rate change). However, it seems that the pink bow around the sash can result in extra postage because it means there’s a bump in the middle of the envelope. A majority of the postal workers I talked to ruled that this makes the invitation non-machinable, and so they tack on an extra $0.17.

If you want to prevent that particular complication, nix the ribbon.

Previously on The Search for the Perfect Wedding Invitation: I had decided to make them myself and was ordering paper samples galore.

After much layering, re-layering, test-printing, and polling of family and the groom, I eventually came up with this:

Me likey. *giddy giddy happy dance*

If you would like to create some variation on these for your own wedding invitations, read on after the jump.

Continue reading… »

When we last left off the bridal shoe hunt, I was hanging onto these shoes by David Tate because I hadn’t found anything that fit better.

That was then, this is now.

There’s a shoe store around the corner from my apartment. I’d been there before and struck out. But on my way home today, I spied a cute pair of strappy silver sandals in the window. I ducked in, discovered they were in my price range, and tried them on.

They are Loreen by Vaneli di Notte, and they are perfect.

As you can see, they are very, very similar to the David Tate shoes above and have roughly equal ratings on Zappos. But the shape of Loreen is a bit more graceful, the straps are more delicate and thus don’t put as much pressure on my foot and the footbed is constructed of a more comfortable non-sticky material.

The heel on the Loreen is 2 3/4″, a half inch higher than the other shoes. This will make my seamstress happier (I did my first fitting wearing 3 1/4″ heels) but is still a very comfortable height for me to wear.

I love these shoes. They are dressy/bridal-y enough to wear for the wedding, but would also look great with a cocktail dress or even jeans. I expect to get a lot of wear out of these shoes, and I paid less for them than I did for the others!

That’s one more thing off the list! Next up: my invitation solution.