Eco-Vintage Weddings

Showcase Friday: Our DIY Wedding Invitations!

Dear readers, I don’t even know where to begin with this post, except to say that Jordan and I are SO excited to share our DIY wedding invitations with you today! This post is rather lengthy, but for you budget-brides out there, I wanted to give you an extensive look into what it takes to DIY your own wedding invitation suite.

A note on our inspiration

It was quite a challenge to try and explain to Jordan (or anyone, really) what “vintage” means to me, and how exactly I envision us capturing that feel in our wedding invitations. So, I frequented many a web site, from Etsy to super awesome stationery sites to simple Google searches of random objects (mason jars, for instance).

Jordan and I began the design process with the idea that we would utilize Adobe Photo Shop brushes. Since little touches of birds, nature and aviary motifs will appear throughout our wedding, we felt it was important to include a bird in our wedding invitations. We found a Photo Shop brush of a tree, and we started working with that.

However, with each draft of the invitation, we began to hate the look and the feel of it more and more. It didn’t look elegant, it didn’t look lovely, and it didn’t look vintage. So, much to my chagrin (seriously, I was stressed!), we scrapped that idea and started over, a mere month-and-a-half before we wanted to start the printing process.

However, in re-conceptualizing our DIY wedding invitations, I remembered an art class that I took in middle school, where we carved images into a wood block, and then used that wood block to stamp with ink. (I’m sure this was a Mother’s or Father’s Day project from way back when.)

So, I started to try and tell Jordan about what I envisioned based on this look. Then I saw a few invitations around the web utilizing different fonts and a woodblock/boxed layout, and after brainstorming with Jordan, we downloaded a variety of fonts (which is over-simplifying the process – I was very picky about what fonts I wanted to use, and Jordan just would not let me go with Feel Script, no matter how badly I wanted to shell out the money for it – and he was right in the end…) and we  got to work bringing together all of our inspiration into one invitation suite.

A note on the design process

Jordan and I used Adobe Fireworks to design our invitations. Jordan is very familiar with this program, and I found it to be a rather intuitive program myself after playing with it for 20 minutes or so.

Since Jordan and I are living 45 miles apart right now, we designed our entire invitation suite on the weekends we were able to be together. For us, the process worked like this:

1. Sara tells Jordan in advance, “We need to work on this part of our invitation suite this weekend.”
2. Sara sends Jordan links of what she’s found that she likes (”I like this overall look, but with this wording and this graphic and this font.”)
3. Jordan comes home, sits on the couch and designs away, making sure Sara doesn’t look over his shoulder until the project is near completion (it drove him nuts!).
4. Sara edits, says what she’d like changed, and Jordan makes the changes.
5. When Sara and Jordan are both satisfied with the design, they PDF the file and send it to their right-hand person to print a proof.
6. After final proof approval, the document goes to the printer, and a few days later, the final product arrives at Sara’s house.

Multiply this by 5 pieces (there are 5 items in our invitation suite), and you have approximately 24 weekends (6 months!) of design work that we spent working to complete this invitation suite. It was definitely a labor of love; there’s no other way to describe it.

A note on invitation wording

It was important to Jordan and I that we acknowledge the contributions that our parents have made to our lives and to making our wedding happen, so we included them in our invitation wording. In determining the other parts of the wording for our invitation, we spent quite a bit of time (probably two weeks) changing words and tweaking the look of the invitation.

Here’s what we ended up with:

Sara’s parents and
Jordan’s parents
Invite you to celebrate the wedding of their children
Sara Jo and
Jordan Wayne
(Ceremony Details)
(When/Where)
Dinner, Dancing & Merriment to immediately follow
at the Washington Pavilion

A note on the details

First, I spent about 8 – 10 hours of time gluing little doilies (see above picture) inside both the mailing envelopes and the RSVP envelopes (a la Holly) – what a project (!!), but I’m SO happy with how well they turned out. (Everyone thought I was nuts, but I was having a great time!)

I then stamped our return address on each of these envelopes, proceeded to freak out when the ink I used wouldn’t dry, and then our envelopes were miraculously saved by a can of hairspray. Moving on…(I just can’t talk about those darn envelopes anymore!)

Next, once everything was printed, we glued the invitation matte directly to the pocketfold, and then glued the wedding invitation on top of the matte, to create a layered look (again, see above picture).

I knew that I wanted our invitation suite to have a few components to it. While the majority of our guests are from South Dakota (and are rather localized to Sioux Falls, where the wedding will be held), I still wanted to provide guests with a map to help them navigate their way to each location. Thanks to a wonderful classmate of mine, we had a lovely hand-drawn map to showcase to our guests. We placed the map on its end in the right-side pocket of the pocketfold.

For our RSVP card, we wanted to make sure that our guests knew to expect an offbeat, relaxed wedding from the moment they received their invitation. So, we utilized the following check box system, as seen on A $2000 Wedding:

- Gladly Attend
- Regretfully Decline
- Regretfully Attend
- Enthusiastically Decline
- I’m in the wedding, so I have to come
- Other ____________________________

Since Jordan and I are coordinating the music for the wedding dance ourselves, we also wanted feedback from our guests to see what would get them out on the dance floor. Our “Request a Song” card was so much fun to design, and Jordan even made the record player graphic himself!

These two cards were tied together with the RSVP envelope using baker’s twine, which is a special type of yarn that blends two colors (our’s was yellow and white) together. This little package was then placed in the pocketfold in front of the wedding map.

A note on the construction and presentation of the invite

I owe a lot to the lovely Holly at Nothing But Bonfires for introducing us to a company without which our invitations would have lacked cohesion: Cards & Pockets. We ordered nearly everything for our DIY invites from Cards & Pockets … from the pocketfolds in which each piece of our invitation suite was placed to the envelopes that carried our invitations to their destination, we found Cards & Pockets to be the best value for our money. And the quality of the materials? Couldn’t have asked for a better product or better customer service along the way. [No, this is not a sponsored/paid post; I just love the company!]

A note on printing

Jordan and I feel extremely blessed to have had the help and support of one of my father’s business colleagues throughout the DIY invitation design and printing process. From our first initial idea to our final proof, having a person to walk us through the process, telling us what worked and what didn’t, was absolutely invaluable.

While I understand that what’s right for us might not be right for everyone, I would encourage readers who are looking to DIY their own invitations to get them printed by a professional (but local!) printing company. All we supplied was the paper (we chose a partially recycled natural ivory linen cardstock), and the printers and our right-hand person handled the printing and the cutting gratis (yes, we were extremely lucky).

A note on the materials used

Materials:

From Cards & Pockets:

- Perfetto pocketfolds in “Smoke” (We ordered a sample of one, loved it, and then ordered 90 for our invitations)
- 5.75 inch square invitation mattes in “Lemonade” (Again, we ordered a color swatch, then ordered 90 mattes for our invitations)
- 90 6.5 inch square envelopes in “Lemonade” (to hold the invitation; we scrapped the inner envelope, because I think it’s wasteful and frivolous (no offense))
- 90 RSVP envelopes in “Lemonade” (while we initally thought about designing postcards, I loved these little envelopes, so we went with them)

From Etsy:

- Customized stickers from Maxim Creative Invites on Etsy (we ordered two different designs of stickers, one which we used to close the pocketfold and the other which we used to close the envelope)
- Yellow baker’s twine from Whisker Graphics on Etsy (we used this adorable twine to tie a bow around our RSVP package)
- Return address stamp from Love to Create Stamps on Etsy (we used this stamp as a return address and as the “deliver to” address on our RSVP envelopes)

From around town:

- Partially recycled natural ivory linen cardstock (we printed everything on this stock; we probably utilized 250-300 sheets for invitations for our entire guest list)
- Doilies + glue sticks + glue lines + ink pads from Michael’s craft store
- $0.61 cent wedding cake stamp, plus 2 $0.10 cent clock/nautical stamps, per invite, purchased at our local post office (I really wanted stamps with one of our engagement photos on it, but I couldn’t justify the cost)
- $0.44 cent “Love” stamp for our RSVP cards; we chose the stamp with the King and Queen on it!

A note on final cost

After calculating cost for everything ordered, including postage, it seems that the cost for each invitation suite was $3.74.

Here’s the breakdown:

Pocketfolds: $0.98 per invitation
Invitation Mattes: $0.18 per invitation
Natural Ivory Linen Cardstock: $8.00 per ream, $0.09 per invitation
Mailing Envelopes: $0.17 per invitation
RSVP Envelopes: $0.12 per invitation
Stickers: $0.47 per invitation
Address stamp: $0.08 per invitation (includes RSVP envelope)
Doilies: $0.14 per invitation (includes RSVP envelope)
Glue/Glue Lines/Double-stick Tape: $0.22 per invitation (includes all construction)
Baker’s Twine: $0.04 per invitation
Postage: $0.81 per invitation
Postage: $0.44 per RSVP card

TOTAL: $3.74 per invitation

What do you think of our DIY wedding invitations?

[All photos taken by my soon-to-be father-in-law, Steve!]

Showcase Wednesday: Our Quest for Eco-Friendly Paper

Jordan and I have spent one (seemingly endless) weekend designing the programs for our wedding ceremony. We’re really, really happy with where things are at design-wise, and while we have a (growing) list of tweaks to make, it’s time to start looking for paper to print these suckers on.

We originally wanted to go with plantable paper, but when we saw the price tag for what it would take to make 170 program booklets…we about died. SO…we started looking around the internet, and we found Eco-Paper!

We had Eco-Paper send us samples a few weeks ago, and we really liked the Lemon Paper that they had to offer. However, we wanted more of a heavier paper (i.e. cardstock), and, sadly, they happen to be out of Lemon Paper cardstock and (here’s the sucky part) they won’t have it in time for our wedding. SAD!

So, we’ve been looking around for other options. We received samples from Greener Printer awhile back, though if we go with them, we may have more overhead costs, both for the paper itself and for the printing services (we can print our programs for free if we supply the paper).

Do you have an eco-friendly paper vendor that you’ve used?
Tell us about it!

[Photo via www.wrs-uk.co.uk]

Green Monday: Recycled Tyke!

Are you a new parent? Do you like saving money? Then look no further!

RecycledTyke.com is a newly launched resale marketplace for eco-savvy moms and their families. Members buy and sell baby gear, toys, maternity clothes, nursery furniture and more. Families can stretch their budgets and minimize their consumer waste by buying and selling with Recycled Tyke!

Recycled Tyke is a venture by the lovely Tracy of Recycled Bride (which, if you haven’t checked out that lovely site, go! Now! And then come back…) :)

Happy Monday!

[This is not a sponsored post.]

Green Friday: Sandmaiden on Etsy

Looking to re-stock your closet with more eco-friendly clothing? Look no further than Sandmaiden on Etsy!

From organic cotton lovelies for you to adorable teeny coats for your little one, Sandmaiden has a wide variety of looks for all!

Click here to visit Sandmaiden’s shop.

Happy weekend!

[This is not a sponsored post. Photo via Sandmaiden on Etsy.]

Green Monday: Earth Day Wedding Favors Giveaway!

Heather from the always lovely Dream Green Weddings sent me a note on a special giveaway she is running in honor of Earth Day.

The Dream Green Weddings team is adding a new eco-friendly wedding favor to their online store every day from now through Earth Day (April 22). Plus, Dream Green Weddings is giving away 40 eco-friendly favors in honor of Earth Day!

To visit the Dream Green Weddings online store, click here.

Happy Monday!

Green Friday: Twisted Limb Paperworks

I was introduced to Twisted Limb Paperworks (TLP) by another blogger, and I have to say, I was stunned to read just how environmentally-conscious TLP is! Here’s a few quick facts from their web site:

- No additional dyes are used to tint the paper. Colors are obtained directly from the materials being recycled.

- Our paper is embellished with ferns, flowers, and raffia flecks. We organically grow and ethically harvest from our woods a portion of the ferns going into our papers. We will begin organically growing at least a portion of the flowers going into our papers in 2009.

- Stems from the dried flowers that go into your paper are either used to bind our twig guest books or they are composted.

- Water used in the paper making process is recycled from the studio’s dehumidifiers and air conditioner whenever possible to conserve this essential resource. We recycle approximately 2700 gallons of water each year.

- Envelopes, reply cards, and cardstock invitations are 100% recycled.

- Envelopes, reply cards, cardstock invitations and 70%cellulose/30%PCW recycled vellum are all processed without chlorine. Some are also manufactured carbon neutral.

- We print out invitation drafts, e-mail requests, etc. on scrap paper, using both sides to a piece of paper (This conserves approximately 290 pounds of paper every year.) before recycling it back into your invitations and stationery. Any paper that we can’t recycle into new products gets recycled with Monroe County Solid Waste Management District. We recycle approximately 1250 pounds of paper this way annually.

- 100% of the cardboard, glass, aluminum, and plastic used at our facility is also recycled with Monroe County Solid Waste Management District.

- Our catalogs, business cards, and customer thank you notes are stitched with organic cotton thread.

- We pack your order with recycled shredded paper.

Click here to access Twisted Limb Paperworks’ web site!

[Note: This is NOT a sponsored post.]

Green Friday: EcoPaper!

A fellow wedding blogger on Twitter introduced me to yet another source for eco-friendly paper goods – EcoPaper!

According to their web site, EcoPaper submits agricultural fiber (think: bananas, lemons, mangos, etc.) through the following process to make paper:

The mix is thrown through a sprinkling system into an endless band that acts as a sieve, letting the water pass through while keeping the pulp in suspension. Combining adequately the speed of the band and the pressure of the sprinkling system, the thickness of the paper sheet can be regulated, which in a standardized way, which can be 60g, 90g, 120g or 250g. From the endless band, the paper is threaded in a set of drums that rotate at a high temperature. Then through another endless band, made from an absorbent material, it dries as it moves along. At the end of this zigzag of rotating drums, the paper sheet will only keep 3% of water and will be rolled into a big roll.

This product then endures the following processes, again described on the EcoPaper web site:

» Rewinding: it is the process that divides a paper roll into smaller width rolls.
» Converting : The roll is cut into sheets to make paper reams.
» Paper cutting : It is a process that is usually used several times to produce an article. It can be used to make smaller pieces of paper or to clean the edges of reams or products.
» Printing press : lithography is the main method of printing used; it allows achieving finishes of one colour with text to photographic quality.
» Embossing : It is the process that allows raising a design and making it stand from the surface.
» Dies : It is a device for cutting or moulding paper into a particular shape, unlike the paper cutter that can only make straight cuts. This allows the designs to be original and alive.
» Binding : This process allows sticking the internal pages to their covers. It can be pasted with silicon for fixed pages or with water based glue to allow the pages to be pulled. There are also ring bound products, which are usually made with a double ring.
» Hand crafts : Through the skilled hands of many artisans, we achieve the details that add a touch of magic to each one of our products. The decorative on-lays on the covers, the original labels and the delicate assembly of the writing sets are all made by hand.
There are other hand-related jobs that require speed and strength like laminating a thin paper to a card board to make the covers or separate the leftovers after cutting products.
» Packing : Using strict packing standards, the products are packed to resist transport without getting damaged. We also use bar code identification which simplifies the identification in our warehouse and in our clients’ warehouses.

While J and I had our hearts set on using plantable paper for our wedding ceremony programs, EcoPaper provides another eco-friendly option for us. Plus, EcoPaper is kind to your budget, with a ream of banana paper coming in around $25.00. We’re seriously thinking about utilizing EcoPaper for our ceremony programs!

Have a great weekend!

[This is not a sponsored post.]

Green Monday: Wildflower Wedding!

In an effort to be budget-friendly, my mother and I plan to grow a good-sized wildflower garden in our backyard this summer. We hope to put these wildflowers in mason jars and use these arrangements as part of our centerpieces.

While my mother and I don’t claim to be accomplished gardeners, we hope that with a lot of advice from a local greenhouse, we can honor our budget and the environment by growing our own flowers.

Do you have any green gardening tips?

[Photo: The Flower Expert]

Green Friday: Eco-Friendly Garters!

Are you still looking for a garter to wear on your wedding day? Well look no further than Julianne Smith, who’s crafting garters out of (get ready for this) 100% post consumer polyester that comes entirely from recycled plastic bottles.

Seriously, that’s eco-friendly.

Access Julianne Smith’s shop here! Have a great weekend!

[Photo: Courtesy of Julianne Smith's site]

Green Monday: Our Green Wedding Pledge, Part II

Hi readers! As you recall, J and I have made a commitment to ensuring that we make choices for our wedding with the environment in mind. I thought it might be wise to take another look at what we’ve pledged to do, and see how we’re doing (as we’re about four months out from our wedding day!).

1. We will inquire about and utilize recycled paper materials as much as we are able. I have already contacted a graphic designer at my father’s company (where our stationery will be printed) to investigate what our options are for recycled paper. Update: ALL of the paper products we’ve used thus far have been made of at least partially recycled materials!

2. We will inquire about and utilize locally grown or organic food as much as our budget allows. I have already contacted our event coordinator at the Washington Pavilion, where our wedding reception will be held, about our caterers using locally grown or organic food. While we are on a very strict budget for our entire wedding planning, I am hopeful that our caterers will come back with a competitive quote. Update: We inquired, and we’ve realized that unfortunately, given the extremely low demand for organic and/or local food in our area, we won’t be able to provide organic or locally grown food for our guests. We do feel excited that we asked, because maybe our asking will help another couple in the future!

3. We will incorporate plantable paper in at least one way throughout our wedding stationery. I love the symbolism behind the paper (just like our love is blooming, so will our guests’ flowers!), and it reinforces the purpose of renewable goods. Update: We’re thinking about utilizing this paper for our ceremony programs!

4. We will incorporate locally grown flowers as much as possible. My Mom and I have discussed the possibility of planting a wildflower garden in our backyard this summer from which we would take flowers for our reception decor. We also have beautiful peonies that bloom in our yard that we’re going to attempt to keep alive through the heat of summer. Last, as one of my dear friends mentioned to me in the past few weeks, sunflowers grow wild EVERYWHERE in South Dakota, and it wouldn’t be difficult at all to pick some, dress them up with ribbon and give them to my bridesmaids to carry. Update: See this post for some exciting news on locally grown, organic flowers!

5. While at this point I don’t believe we’ll be incorporating wedding favors, if we do decide to give our guests favors, they will be locally grown or locally handmade. I firmly believe in investing in the local economy! Update: We are offering our guests favors of sorts, and we used recycled paper for them! Click here to see our cootie catcher trivia favors!

6. We are utilizing my mother’s birdhouse collection as our reception decor, and are therefore eliminating extraneous waste or costs associated with renting/purchasing and then inevitably disposing of centerpieces. Update: We still plan to use my mother’s birdhouse collection; we’re so excited!

7. We are supporting handmade goods by purchasing wedding accessories from Etsy. Update: Thus far, we’ve purchased my hair fascinator, gifts for my bridesmaids, our flower girl dresses, our guestbook, a prop for our photobooth, a stamp for our wedding stationery needs from Etsy. Whew!

8. My Mom and I plan to make handmade napkins and handmade bout’s for our wedding day. By sewing our own napkins we A) cut down on rental costs at our reception venue, and B) eliminate waste that would be created by using paper napkins. By making bout’s for our guys out of fabric and/or non-floral material, we will again cut down on waste and will utilize renewable goods to accomplish the same effect as floral bout’s. Update: We still plan to do this, and have begun purchasing supplies for both the napkins and the bout’s!

9. Jordan and I plan to build a photobooth to provide our guests with endless merriment at our wedding reception. I originally hoped to build our photobooth using found materials, and while that might still be possible, I am thinking of other ways to make our photobooth project green. As a start, we will be reusing our engagement session props for our photobooth (2 hearts on sticks, 2 mustaches on sticks, chalkboard + chalk). We also will be using a digital camera and tripod that Jordan’s family already owns, therefore cutting down on the waste that would be created if we utilized disposable cameras! Update: We’re still planning to do this, and can’t wait to get going on this project once the weather is warmer!

10. Last, I have a dream of being married by candlelight. I’m dreaming of an evening wedding (maybe 6:00 or 7:00), and being surrounded by candles. However, the candles we will utilize will be either soy or beeswax (lead-free, long-burning, made from renewable resources, not petroleum/paraffin). Update: While we’ve since decided not to get married by candlelight, due to the sheer number of candles we’d need to make this possible, we have purchased 7 eco-friendly candles to use as a tribute to our grandparents that have passed away.

So, as you can see, we’re doing rather well with our commitment to having an eco-friendly wedding!

How are you making your wedding green?