We knew that they were going to be handmade. Mostly because we are on such a small budget, and also because we wanted them to be awesome.
We had so many great ideas to put into our invitations, it didn't quite fit on the traditional half sheet of cardstock. And so it inevitably became a small "guidebook" to the big day. And while Seth and I did much of the imagining and crafting, we had amazing friends and family who helped with spectacular artwork that really made the invitations shine.
And so, here are some pictures of it all put together:
Starting with the envelopes:
My grandma Sara did all the calligraphy by hand (we were so blessed!) And we found these adorable scouting stamps at the post office that went well with our adventurous theme!
We lined the inside of the envelopes with handmade envelope liners! It was easy (and best of all cheap!) We ordered the maps through AAA (through our membership) and they sent us tons of free maps of California and specific Northern California areas. See how we did it here! Voila - instant "fancy" envelopes!
For the outside of the guidebook we "tied it with string" because I really just wanted an excuse to spend an extra couple hours with Seth tying bows..... haha, but really, we thought it would be more fun if you got to 'unwrap' it!
And here as you open it up, is the first page, our traditional invitation:
The tree was borrowed from a drawing by Robert Van Pelt, an artist and researcher who studies the beautiful redwoods, and other skyhigh trees. Seth and I crafted the wording of the invite ourselves :)
The next pages came from our quest to ensure that everyone will be coming prepared for this adventurous day! Our great friend Melody drew the ranger caricatures, didn't they turn out cute? And the list comes from the "Classic Ten Essentials" every backpacker should know when packing for a trip, and of course we modified it to be our cute wedding checklist.
This next page is one of my favorites! Our wonderful friend Diana drew this for us. It's a cute play on "tying the knot."
I came up with this knot idea one day at school, Diana was with me, and I showed her my thought. She miraculously took my awful kindergarten drawings of knots, and turned it into this.... I am still beyond impressed :)
This next page is beautifully illustrated by our awesome friend Josh. The detail he put into the compass rose really is amazing! The quote under the compass reads: "There are two sorts of romantics: those who love, and those who love the adventure of loving."
That page folds out to show a full page map that was inked by another talented friend of ours, Andrey.
The first map is of the greater Humboldt County area, and the second is a close up of the city of Trinidad and the important wedding locations.
For not ever having lived in Humboldt, nevertheless California, Andrey did such an impressive job!
We included a couple of insert cards in addition to the booklet. The RSVP card was fashioned into a postcard that guests could easily reply back with!
The artwork was drawn again by my grandma Sara and the back was designed by my step-mom Dena and myself. We gave all guests dinner options for the ceremony - and the RSVP was the perfect place to figure out what everyone wanted to eat!
For the return address on both the large envelope and the RSVP card we used a self-inking stamp --- and boy are we glad we didn't have to write our address hundreds of times! It was worth every penny we spent on it!
Our Reception Card with Address:
And here is a sweet card we included in a couple of the invitations. We are having many of our favorite little ones join us as flowerchildren for the big day! My little sister Sarajane (she will be a flowergirl herself!) drew this invitation for all the other kids that are invited to take part!
After we got all the artwork compiled and I designed the layouts, fonts, and words, Seth and I spent the greater part of a week printing (oh my gosh we need a faster printer!), cutting and binding them together!
This was Invitation Station:
To bind all the pages together I sewed them using a simple stitch on Diana's trusty sewing machine!
Here is what they looked like as we were cutting, folding and binding them together:
Finally we stuffed them into their envelopes, sealed them, stamped them, and away they went! It was basically a crazy month that while many have said we should go into the invitation business, Seth and I learned it most certainly would be detrimental to our future marriage if I did!! Even though it was stressful at times, we were both amazed at what we created, and felt so blessed that we had the friends, family and creativity to make them ourselves.
Materials:
Paper: Paperbag text paper and Chocolate cover paper from Paper Source
Envelopes: Paperbag A9 Envelopes from Paper Source
Baker's Twine: Forest Green Hobbies from the Heart (Etsy)
Address Stamp: from Glitter Puff (Etsy)
*And that's our wedding invitations!*
Let us know what you think :)
- Tessa & Seth
AWESOME! They turned out SO beautiful! You both are so blessed!
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