I'd like to preface this by saying I legit almost failed art class in school. "That's not possible" one might say. But when you put a perfectionist with a shaky hand in a room with colored pencils and paintbrushes...let's just say there will be tears. And a few obscenities. Really all I did for these invitations, other than finding some kick ass resources & piecing them together, was attempt to address the envelopes in calligraphy. More on that later.
Custom Design Letterpress Invitation from ColorQuarry's Etsy shop (also got black envelopes from here)
A photo card with details on the back
Return to sender stamp (Etsy)
Copper ink (Amazon or Michael's)
Gold thin tip sharpie (Amazon)
A rose shaped wax seal stamp (Etsy)
A wax seal stamp kit (Amazon).
The cost of this project really depends on if you decide to splurge on something like the custom letterpress like I did. Aside from the main black insert and photo insert, the materials cost me about $60. **Mention my name at the ColorQuarry Etsy shop for $50 off any letterpress order!
If you're a psycho like me and buy into the "The wedding invitations set the mood for the wedding" idea, then I hiiiighly recommend ColorQuarry's Etsy shop! I got lucky, as she already happened to have a custom letterpress plate made in the backdrop photo of Yountville, Ca. But she also has a ton of other scenery's already made, or you can ask her to customize your own. The paper is thick (Crane Lettra paper), textured to touch, and has an upscale feel to it. Upscale paper. IT'S A THING. She also sends you the actual metal letterpress itself that she used to make them as a memento.
Since we didn't send save the dates, I knew I wanted to include a details card with a photo from our engagement shoot but she unfortunately does not have the ability to do a photo print. I was able to send the PDF proof of the invitation to a local Manhattan Beach stationary shop, and they were able to duplicate the stars from the black invite, and place it on the back of the photo insert with the details requested in the same font as the invite! She used the same kind of paper, and while that text was not in letterpress (I opted out of letterpress for that piece because it was significantly more expensive) it seriously looked like they were meant go together.
I knew that putting together the invitations was something I wanted to sit down with a glass of wine and do with David. The first tangible step in wedding planning, YAY! I'll never forget the first wax seal stamp I let him try (I'm already lol-ing). He took the stamp, poured the wax, and so confidently slammed the stamp into the wax up and down in one swift motion (imagine a grim faced office worker slamming a bright red DENIED stamp on paperwork). More wine please. HOWEVER, he did get the hang of it and became better at that part than me and would only answer to "stamp master" while working on invitations. Wax seal stamps are easy to do & I got lots of compliments on them! It's essentially just melting the wax over the flame (or they also have mini guns too!), using the spoon to scoop and place the wax on the seal, place stamp on hot wax for 5 seconds, and carefully remove (slow to make sure the wax doesn't come up with it).
All of the above things - NO REGRETS. 10/10. 5 STARS. The envelope addressing. Ha. Hahaha. There's not enough wine. First, I decided to buy alphabet stamps and to letter by letter stamp each persons name and address. While that was incredibly time consuming, the most annoying part was that it was near impossible to not get a little bit of the outter corners stamped onto the envelope also which just looks messy. I have to say, this is the one part of the invitations that still gives me nightmares. You can definitely hire someone to do the calligraphy for you, but that ranges anywhere from $3-$5 per envelope. Towards the end of the invitations, we ended up switching to a pretty gold thin tip sharpie for the addressing even though our handwriting is pitiful (not gonna lie we had a couple of margaritas one night and literally looked at eachother and said fuggggit).
Piece everything together and you've got yourself a little DIY invitation suite!
Final Product!
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