wedding: the invitation

the save-the-date

Long before I was even engaged, I knew I wanted to do a postcard for our save-the-date. It's the most economical since it doesn't use an envelope and the stamps are cheaper! Plus, I love the look of postcards... it's like receiving a fun piece of mail from a distant friend.

I knew I wanted to use an engagement photo on our save-the-date, so I made sure to tell my photographer to take lots of photos that had negative space, so I could add text. We had several beautiful photos to choose from, but we ultimately decided to go with one of the two of us wrapped in a blanket in a foggy field. I loved this photo because it was all neutral colors - perfect for our neutral color palette. I also liked the use of the blanket which reminded me of lace, our theme! The save-the-date is the first stationary piece that our guests would see, so I wanted to already set the mood and tone of our wedding. 

The typography is fun and a little rustic. We went with witty wording on the back of the postcard. And have carried this quirkiness throughout all of our wedding stationary. I wanted our pieces to show our personalities... and let's face it, Ryan & I are a bit weird!

the invitation

I am very lucky that I work at an automotive company that has a laser machine. At work, we use the machine to etch on seat belts, shift knobs and buttons. But I realized I could use this awesome machine to my advantage for my wedding - and I sure did! I had seen several beautiful invitations on Pinterest that used wood, and I thought to myself, "hey, I think I can do that!" So I went on the search for real wood that I could etch into. I found this awesome thin wood veneer at a local paper/press shop called Oblation. I was able to purchase the veneer in large pieces at a very reasonable price and then cut it down myself for the invitations. 

The wood invitations are wrapped in a doily, tied with string and have a wood chip with our names and date as well as a card with extra information attached. 

We aren't traditional, so we kept the wording simple and to the point. The last line on the invitation brings in our wittiness - "Ceremony Followed  By Dinner, Drinks And Awkward But Enthusiastic Dancing"

We setup online RSVPing, so we included a small card that instructed guests to visit our website. This piece was tied to the front of the invitation. We have a few guests who are computer challenged slash prefer a physical RSVP. So we designed some up. These are super fun... I'm actually sad everyone didn't get one, because I love how they turned out.

The invitations exceeded my expectations! I love the look of the rustic wood mixed with the elegant doily. It's exactly what I'm going for at my wedding... country elegance.