Weddingbee boards

These babies were sent out in the mail 9 days ago in all their glory; RSVPs started rolling in on Monday after the long weekend (I have received 18!). I definitely scored inspiration from 2 different invitations that were featured on snippetandink's blog- both in January.

I was so happy and proud to have them finished, I wasn't thinking that any DIY project was going to top these- and maybe nothing will, but I already have a head start on my programs and I am loving them almost just as much! 

Since attachments didn't work, follow this link:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/23504900@N08/sets/72157621253557146/

Wow, nice job! Where did you order the paper from? Did you do everything by hand or were the graphics ready for you to use?

Also, how did you do the map?

Woahhh those are AMAZING I love them. You should be proud

Thanks to all the compliments, bees! You know just as well as me that it is so nice to hear after a long, strenuous DIY project!

@shortcherriez: All of my paper products were ordered from Paper Source in beet, ecowhite, and silver. It is hard to see in the photos but the silver paper is backed on the ecowhite enclosure with PS' white swirl platinum vellum glued over it. The purple polka dot paper (dotted washi) was purchased from Envelope Mall.

I created all graphics from scratch in Microsoft Publisher (for Mac). I have never used Publisher on a PC but from opening it at work a few weeks ago it looks easier to use than the Mac version. The map was also done in Publisher; I had Publisher open on one side of my screen and a browser with Mapquest open on the other half of my screen. To create the map in Publisher I just eyed Mapquest and used the "Curve" drawing tool, editing as I went. 

@joylucero - I got the 5.75" x 5.75" beet envelopes from Paper Source. I scrapbook and had previously owned an envelope liner template kit (the kit that Paper Source sells) and then used the Dotted Washi 8.5" x 11" paper in purple to line the inside of each envelope.

very nice! and i love the colors!!

Hey Ms. Beagle, I think this is a pretty accurate cost breakdown of what everything cost (eek!) My goal was to stay under $500 (including postage) which I thought would be really easy to do; my BMs asked me yesterday at my bach party how much I saved by doing these myself... the answer is 0 but I knew that I had to do them myself to be satisfied and get the look I wanted. So I could've spent a lot less and maybe would have been able to sleep a little easier at night knowing that my invites were in the trash somewhere but were only $50 so no harm - but truth is I just wouldn't have been happy any other way...

Beet Envelopes/10 packs = $38.25

Ecowhite Pocket Enclosures/10 packs = $46.17

Beet Diagonal Folder Enclosure Flat Card/8 packs = $16.00

Ecowhite Diagonal Folder Enclosure Flat Card/4 packs = $8.00

Ecowhite 8.5" x 11" Text Paper/16 packs *  = $32.40

Silver Stardream 8.5" x 11" Paper/10 packs * =  $14.67

Dotted Washi 8.5" x 11" Purple/2 Packs *** = $31.90

White Swirls Platinum Vellum Paper/10 packs * = $50.00

Ribbon  = $14.00

Xyron Sticker Machine * = $4.99

Kinkos Printing Costs of Map and Directions sheets = $64.00

Gocco screens and bulbs = $44.95

Extra Gocco silver ink  = $3.95

* a lot of paper leftover so will be able/have been able to use for other projects. Xyron machine I will be able to use forever.

The worst cost involved was the Kinkos printing costs, UGH! I considered not paying for it and printing it from home but when the employee gave me a sample of what it would look like compared to what I was holding in my hand, there was no question (plus FI was like "JUST GET IT DONE HERE AND NOW TO SAVE THE HASSLE AND STRESS!). But really, that much for 2 designs and 150 sheets of paper made me sick.

Grand total: $369.28

Cost per invite: $3.81

The USPS told us it would cost $0.81 to mail each invite, we were both expecting over $1 since it was non-machineable. We paid the $0.07 extra/invite so we could put 1 King and 1 Queen on each invite (no one else noticed this I am sure but how awesome we thought!) FI thought I was being ridiculous at first and that I should just put 3 non-matching stamps on to get to the $0.81 but after everything I went through I was like "DUDE, it is only $7 extra!!!" He finally came to light. Some people are sticklers with postage and I would just rather have it look good. We did save on the RSVP though since they were postcard size and were only $0.28/invite.

Whewssh.

@ladybuglove - It is so hard to come up with a time breakdown. To the best of my memory, it took me about 4-5 days to design the entire suite (the RSVP took the longest as I re-did that 4 times so that the spacing would line up and that it looked right and the gaps were consistent and in the right spots). I left the map until the end because I figured if I ran out of time to do it I could still get by sending them out with just written directions (which are printed on the back side of the map), but it only took me about 2-3 hours to complete the map (without tracing anything).

It took me a good week to cut all of the enclosure liners (the silver backing paper and white swirl vellum paper) and glue it to size into the enclosure (it is hard to see in the photos but the silver paper is cut to size on both the right and left side of the enclosure and then the white swirl paper is cut to size on both sides as well and glued over it). 

Gocco'ing was and wasn't time consuming; for some of the paper I had to line up perfectly so it wouldn't be cut crooked but for the actual invite (the circle) I could put that down anywhere under the gocco as all sides would be cut off anyway.

It also took me a LONG time to cut all of the inserts down to size as I had to measure out each individual insert and make sure it was cut so what I wanted showing would be showing. This and cutting down the enclosure liners took by far the longest and most of my time. 

It took me 1 night to laser print the additional information insert through my printer (front and back).

The envelope liners took me only 1 night for a few hours to do (so those were not bad). I put every envelope through the printer instead of handwriting the addresses; I had created a template so that each guest's address would be designed to match the address I gocco'ed on our return postcard (sizing each guest's address perfectly to match the design was fairly time consuming and probably took me 2 full nights to complete).

All in all I worked on these for 3 weeks straight, every week night. I took a break and did not work on them on weekends for the most part (mostly because we were out of town 2 of the 3 weekends and the other was my bridal shower), but when I say every night I mean that I would literally come home at 5:30 and work until 1-2am (sometimes later) each night. This was my own fault for not starting them until 3 weeks before I wanted them out (CLEARLY! FI and I had no time together and our lives/my life was put on hiatus!), however, I didn't run into many bumps along the way and actually enjoyed it until I got to the bitter end (after going away on the weekends/having no relax time/and working 9 hour days I was dead tired).

I would say I spent anywhere from 125-180 hours on these. 97 invites plus a few extra for myself. 

Thanks for the cost breakdown and letting me know what program you used. I did a search on my laptop and found Microsoft Publisher sitting there. I must have had that included in my Microsoft bundle purchase a few months ago. Glad I know I can use it for something useful! I've opened the program for the first time, ever and now I'll have to do some messing around to figure it out.

 I just can't get over how beautiful your invites are. Great job, once again!

these are so amazing, you should absolutely go into business making these for other people!! congrats on such a great job!