Colleen + Corey Wedding

Fancying up your wedding invitations {DIY}

When I first received our invitations from the Aerialist Press, I really loved them.  However, I felt that they needed a little something extra.  We decided to make use of some of our craft supplies (and my computer) to fancy them up.  In this post I will show you how we did it.

DIY Faux Calligraphy

After months of looking at all the beautiful calligraphy the world has to offer, I was desperate for a calligrapher to address the envelopes.  However, at $1-$2 a pop (maybe more?), it seemed pretty pricey for 100 envelopes.  After searching through weddingbee.com (a blog that every bride should be reading), I found several great tutorials for how to do your own faux calligraphy.  Here is a cliffs notes version.

What you’ll need:

– Your invitation envelopes

– A marker (or thick pen) with the color of your choosing.  We used American Crafts Metallic Markers in Silver.

– Microsoft Word and a printer

What you’ll do:

1) Pick a font that you really enjoy and install.  I preferred for the font to be somewhat scripty.  We used Feel Script, which is normally $99, and found it on 4shared.com for free:  http://www.4shared.com/file/JO_IzqQe/Feel_Script.htm.  There are also tons of great free options on dafont.com.

2) Measure your invitations.  Ours were about 7.5″ x 5.5″.  Go into Microsoft Word and adjust the page setup to match your envelope size (please leave a comment if you need help with this part.)  Type in the address in your chosen font and make sure to center it.  Also make sure the font is large enough and will be legible when you write over it.  I made the font a light grey since our pen would be silver and I wanted to be able to cover it well.  Cut a sheet of white paper to the size of your envelopes and try to print the address.  Make sure you know the correct way to put the envelope in the printer because you really don’t want to waste envelopes by printing on the wrong side.  Once you get this right, you can start printing the addresses.

3) Write over the addresses in your pen or marker.  Be super careful because it is really sad when you mess up a letter and have to reprint.  Voila!  You’re a calligraphy genius!

 

Tied up Invitation Suite

I wanted to make the actual invitation suite a little more special, so we decided to use our trusty punches.  You will see these a lot in the future because we use them for EVERYTHING.  Also, I had heard that many people lost our save the dates, so I wanted to remind people of the address for the wedding website without having it super visible.  Our solution was to put the website on one punch and cover with a pretty pink heart.

What you’ll need:

– Paper punches of your choosing

– Colored card stock

– Baker’s twine

– Your wedding invitation and RSVP card

– A hole punch

What you’ll do:

1) Start in Microsoft Powerpoint and type in the message that you want to use.  Ours said “For additional information, please visit www.coreyandcolleen.com.”  I think we used the font Baskerville Old Face.  Make sure the font is small enough to fit inside the punch that you will be using by looking at the ruler on the side of the program.  You can copy it multiple times on one sheet to save paper.  I think we had about 3 rows by 4 columns of our little message.  If none of this makes sense to you, email and I will give you a more in depth tutorial.  Print out your messages and punch.  Make enough to have one for every invitation you will be sending.

2) Punch out your pretty heart punches as well (if you are using them.)  Stack the heart on top of the little message and punch a hole in the two sheets of paper.  Be careful that you aren’t too close to the edges.

3) Use the bakers twine to tie up the punches with your invitation and RSVP card like a little package.  This will take some trial and error to get the optimal configuration.

And that’s it!  I will admit that our additions definitely made the invitation process a little longer, but I always think that special touches are worth the extra time.

 

 

 

 

  1. Lindsey Regan Thorne @ be pretty

    Seriously! Amazing! I love, love, love this idea! Love how you jazzed up an already beautiful invite to make it reflect more on your big day!

  2. Blair

    Where were you girls and these fab ideas when I was getting married. My invites were terrible. I was new to South Africa and didn’t have any friends to direct me in the right direction. Plus, shipping in South Africa is shocking, so ordering online or from the US was out of the question. Oh well, I now have Ava’s birthday parties to make me feel better.

  3. Stephanie G

    Corey made Katie a beautiful birthday card out of the crafty stuff too.

  4. Marilyn

    I am thinking about making some gift cards using this technique. I always forget to buy cards and sometimes I give gifts of things I bake. You could have different colors and comments just waiting for your next gift.

  5. Pingback: Wedding Things You Should Know About | Two Delighted

  6. Drew {Coral Cafe}

    I am in LOVE with your invitations! The details make them so charming!

  7. Pingback: WEDDING DAY MAKEUP + HAIR » Lindsey Regan Thorne

  8. Megan R.

    I am obsessed with these! Can I ask what kind of printer you used? I’m afraid my old inkjet won’t be able to handle printing the envelopes.

  9. Colleen

    Hey Megan! I used an HP Photosmart C4680 that came for free with my mac when I bought it 4 years ago. It is ok but it surely isn’t winning any awards in fanciness. I bet it is not any fancier than your trusty inkjet. I did use a new printer cartridge though. If I were you, I would try it out on another envelope laying around first to make sure it works before your ruin your beauty envelopes. Just to warn you though, I probably had about 5 envelopes that printed wrong (i.e., too close to the top, too close to the bottom) because my printer wasn’t great. If your printer isn’t up to par, maybe you could borrow the printer of a lovely friend? Good luck and please email if you have any other questions!

  10. Megan R.

    Thank you so much for getting back to me, Colleen! That is really helpful. I just stumbled upon your blog the other day (actually through LRT, I went to college with her sister!), and I’ve really enjoyed looking through all the homemade love you and your sister put into your wedding — it’s really beautiful!

  11. Olivia

    Hi Colleen,
    I was wondering where you got those envelopes? They’re the PERFECT green for my designs and I’ve been looking for something similar and no dice!

  12. Colleen

    Hi Olivia! The envelopes (as well as the invitations) are from the Aerialist Press. We ordered the color “sea glass” although it doesn’t look very green on their website, they are the same ones. Let me know if you have any other questions!
    http://theaerialistpress.com/couture_envelopes.htm

  13. cars

    It should be fun to buy a new car! Driving a new car
    is such a great experience, and purchasing the car
    should be fun as well. A lot of people would rather skip the whole
    purchasing process. Keep the stress to a minimum using these tips.

  14. Jessica

    Hi There!

    I love the idea of the paper punches and the tags! Where did you purchase the paper punches from?

    Thanks!

    Jessica

  15. Laura

    Where did you get these stamps? I love them

  16. jen

    Hi Colleen,

    What font did you use in your envelop? thank you!

  17. www.ellegirltalk.nl

    Have you ever considered publishing an ebook or guest authoring on other
    blogs? I have a blog based upon on the same information you discuss
    and would really like to have you share some stories/information. I know my readers
    would enjoy your work. If you’re even remotely interested,
    feel free to send me an email.

  18. Pat

    continuously i used to read smaller content that also clear
    their motive, and that is also happening with this post which I am reading here.

  19. Aliza

    Hi there, I want to subscribe for this weblog to take
    newest updates, thus where can i do it please help out.

  20. envelope uk format

    Hello, i tthink that i saw you visited mmy site thus i came to “return the favor”.I am attekpting to find things to enhance my web site!I suppose its ok to use some of your ideas!!

  21. Envelopes for photography

    Wonderful items from you, man. I hav take into accout your stuff
    prior to and you’re just extremely fantastic. I actually like
    what you’ve bought here, cedtainly like what
    you’re saying and the bedst way through which you
    say it. You are making it entertaining and you continue to care for to stay it wise.
    I cant wait tto read far more from you. This is really a great site.

  22. Envelope Filter Pedal

    I don’t even know how I ended up here, but
    I thought this post was great. I don’t know who you are but definitely you aare going to a famous blogger if you
    are not already 😉 Cheers!

  23. Dawn

    This post is so helpful. I’ve been thinking about a nice way to address our envelopes and I think I’ve found the answer as I’m definitely not a calligraphy whizz!

  24. www.wellondon.it

    Codesto intervento è oggettivamente scritto come si deve, come tutto
    il il pagina web in generale. Son un frequente affezionato, continuate
    così.