Burning Man: You're Invited to Our Wedding!

We've known the date for a while (since we left the playa last year). The counter at the bottom of our blog has been inching ever so slowly towards it. And now, we're less 5 weeks away from our playa wedding.

So JOIN US!

You won't want to miss Massive Bri giving Eden away to cubes. Or NetDiva standing up for cubes. And you'll definitely want to hear Joshrander's stirring, solemn words as he joins us forever.

Costumes inspired by Joss Whedon's 2002 television show Firefly and movie Serenity are encouraged. "The costumes were chiefly influenced by World War II, the American Civil War, the American Old West, and 1861 samurai Japan. Trpcic used deep reds and oranges for the main cast, to express a feeling of "home", and contrasted that with grays and cool blues for the Alliance (Source)." 

Final Reveal: Our Invitations

In April I posed a question, "Does anyone really notice the details?" Last night I had a definitive answer, "Yes!"

How do I know? Final reveal photos taken by Mooflyfoof and shared with us. She opened the invitation exactly as every bride (ok some brides) hope their guests will. I'll let the photos speak for themselves today.

Thank you Mooflyfoof for sharing these with us!

So, what do you think? I'm personally super excited with how they turned out.

Credits:

• Design: Eden Hensley, Bride
• Calligraphy: Amy, Diva of Honor 
• Execution: Annie; Steve, Groomsman; Eden Hensley, Bride; Heather; Hilary, Chuppah Holder; Dan Silverstein, Groom
• Postage: Photograph by Vanessa Naylon, PhotoStamps.com
• Address Stamp: AddressStamp.com

Update: Our Invitations are in the Mail!

Monday was a great day. It started with me getting to drop my batch of invitations in the mail. Something I've been waiting to do since we finished them almost a month ago!

As we finish one more phase of planning, the fact that we're getting married becomes more real. I'm so excited that we're almost to our big day. If you hadn't guessed yet, I'm not the type of girl who waits patiently. So I'm super happy we didn't have a long engagement. 7 months to plan a wedding is plenty long enough for me!

Tuesday was an even better day. My mom called to tell me they'd received their invitation.

And Thursday, well Thursday was the best day of the week. Why? We got our first RSVPs in the mail. We used postcards for our RSVP cards and left the back empty for guests to write us notes. I was psyched that my parents responded immediately and wrote us a quick note. (Our other immediate RSVP was from two of our favorite people - Diva and Oznog. They're really responsible for us being a couple today.)

Did you receive RSVPs immediately? Were your first responses from the Mother of the Bride and Wedding Party?

Wedding DIY Project Craft Day: Invitations

Four friends (Mooflyfoof, Hilary, Ames, and Steve) spent their Saturday morning helping us bring our invitations to life. We set up five stations to begin with: Invitation Cutting; Insert Cutting; Gift Tag Cutting/Cornering; Twine Measuring/Cutting; and Envelope Addressing.

Once all the components were prepared, we surrounded Ames and Steve's dining room table and began assembling and securing gift tags to each invitation packet.

From front left clockwise: Hilary cuts out the gift tags. cubes punchs the corners and circle for thread. Mooflyfoof cuts outs invitations.

I'm hard at work cutting Sharing inserts. Ames is busy addressing all of our envelopes. Notice the yummy Bloody Marys to my left?
(Photo taken by Steve with Eden's Camera)

Crafting is hard work. cubes takes a break to nosh on a Po Boy from Jack's.
(Photo taken by Steve with Eden's Camera)

Our Accomplishments

• 
  
  450 cuts for 90 invitations
• 
  
  1,350 cuts for 3 sets of invitation inserts
• 
  
  4 cuts for each set of gift tags
• 
  
  360 corners
• 
  
  100 cuts of twine
• 
  
  180 twists of twine and 90 knots

What We Did to Make the Invitations

Cut the bottom of the Invitation first (Step 3) and save for the gift tags.

Preparing the Gift Tag

Repeat Step 13 on each corner of the gift tag.

After punching each corner, punch a hole at one of the corners (Step 35).

Address the gift tag.

Preparing the Invitation Inserts

Save the top of the Sharing insert from Step 18.

Assembling the Invitations

Cut the black raffia into 36-inch lengths.

Sneak Peek: Invitations

Please forgive the quality of the images - it was early and I was a little overcaffeinated. But without further ado, here's a sneak peek at our wedding invitations and inserts.

The Front

The Back (Did you notice how the backs of the gift tags are purple?)

So what do you think? It took all of my willpower not to go bouncing down the hall to show off these beauties this morning.

Where We Got the Look

• Invitation and Gift Tag: Banana Paper Card Stock from EcoPaper.com
• Inserts: Banana Paper Printer Paper from EcoPaper.com
• RSVP Postcard: Canon Selphy CP760 photo postcard paper
• Ribbon: Paper Raffia from Nashville Wraps
• Postage: $0.22 stamp on the RSVP postcard (not visible) from PhotoStamps.com
• Lace Rose Design: iStockPhoto

Oops! DIY Fail: Wait! We're what? Out of Ink?

For our invitations and inserts, we decided to use treeless paper from EcoPaper.com, specifically Banana Paper Cover Stock and Banana Paper Printer Paper. Now I'm not sure if it's a combination of the paper or that we chose purple for our signature color or the design of the printer we're using, but Wow.

Let's backtrack a second. When we moved last October, I put all of our cables and cords for the office together. My thinking was that it would be easier for when we unpacked. Well, it's now May and the office isn't unpacked and I have no idea where the printer power cord is. So rather than stress about trying to find it before Saturday so that I could print out our invitations before Saturday's Wedding DIY Project Crafting Day, I decided just to buy another and to pick up ink while I was getting it. After a quick cost analysis, it was cheaper just to buy a new printer.

Enter the HP Photosmart C4680.

(Source)

Now cue dismay. We've printed 45 invitations (2 invitations per 8.5x11 page) and 8 of the 1st of 3 inserts (2 inserts per 8.5x11 page). And we're out of ink. Ok, not out of ink, "Low on ink." Either way the cartridges have to be replaced. While the printer tells you you're running low, it doesn't tell you whether one or both cartridges need to be replaced.

So, this morning. We replace both cartridges and start printing. We printed 37 more copies of the 1st of 3 inserts (2 inserts per 8.5x11 page). And we're out of ink. Ok, not out of ink, "Low on ink." Replace ink and print another 37 of 3 inserts (2 inserts per 8.5x11 page).

Well now we're actually out of ink. We have all of our invitations printed. All of 2 of 3 inserts printed. 14 of the 3rd insert. And we're out of ink. This time, we're really out of ink. See I bought two 60 Combo-packs (in addition to the came with the printer) yesterday thinking that would more than cover 180 color printouts. Nope. It didn't. We're out of ink at 149 color printouts.

On the plus side - the print quality is amazing and this printer is fast (excluding replacing ink cartridges, we printed 90 color invitation inserts in under an hour). The biggest con though is no separate low on ink indicator for the two cartridges (there's one black and there's the one tricolor).

Anyone else using an HP Photosmart C4680 printer to print on Banana Paper? What were your results?

What Inspires Me - Stationery

While I'm a very tactile person - I'll buy a cookbook on the feel of its pages and weight in my hands - I haven't been creating a paper trail of inspiration for scrapbooking. That's odd to me. I've become very reliant on electronic media. Maybe this is due to the fact that I'm constantly on the go and archiving electronic inspiration from multiple places (my Macbook Pro, my iPhone, etc.).

So today I took a look at the images I've archived. Here's what I didn't find. I don't have images of wedding dresses (I do have regular dresses I'd like to buy). I don't have images of flowers or of cakes. I didn't have images of hair or makeup until I needed to tell someone (hair stylist/MUA/hat designer) what I was thinking (I obviously don't pay attention to these things outside of noticing when I have a bad hair day).

Seriously, what kind of bride am I? Aren't these the things I should be naturally gravitating towards?

Instead I have images of stationery, of fonts, of table numbers (yes really - table numbers), of books and scrapbooks, of food, of table settings. Maybe that's why when we started planning I jumped into table design - candles in wine bottles with vintage keys dangling from ribbons tied around the necks sitting on silver platters on the tables with watchwerks sewn on tulle runners - and room decor - cookbooks and train cases on pedestals.

Are you creating an inspiration scrapbook? Did you clip images from magazines or electronically and print out? What caught your eye? How are you sharing your vision with your wedding party? Your vendors?

I'll be sharing some of my favorite things over the next couple of Fridays. I'll start with what I'm obviously most passionate about stationery.



Stationery Inspiration
Maybe it's the designer or marketer in me, but I love getting invitations and personalized direct mail pieces. I admire the paper and its coating or lack of coating, the color choices, and so on. I've always wanted my invitation to be one that I'd want to receive in the mail. An invitation that made me personally feel special. Maybe this is why more than 75% of my inspiration images are stationery.

(By the way... I'm going to mail myself an invitation because I want the thrill of opening the envelope and seeing the carefully chosen blue envelope liner. I want to be able remove my invitation and inserts all neatly tied in ribbon with a personalized gift tag.)

Here are some of my favorites (I won't bore you with all of them) and what I love about each. You'll see where various elements of our stationery originated.

1. The Twine Tie with Gift Tag
(Miss Dachshund via WeddingBee)

2. Use of Two Color Printing w/Colored Paper to Give the Invitation Suite Punch
(Delphine Press via the Inspired Bride)


3. Shell with Ribbon Belly Band
(Lazaro Designs via The Wedding Chicks)


4. Stamped Envelope and Coordinated Envelope Liner
(Miss Lobster via WeddingBee)


5. Ribbon Tie and Envelope with Two Color Addressing
(Zed & Bee via Oh So Beautiful Paper)


6. The Pattern Cut Edges and Monogrammed Envelope Liner
(MaeMae Paperiee via Green Wedding Shoes)


7. The Twine Tie with Gift Tag
(Stephanie via Inspirations & Creations: Elizabeth Anne Designs)



8. Stitched Wrap-around Labels
(Miss Dachshund via WeddingBee)



9. Wrap-around Label on the Envelope
(Kassia via Inspirations & Creations: Elizabeth Anne Designs)

10. Ribbon Embellishment
(Olive Hue Paper via Style Me Pretty)

11. Flower Bleeding from the front of the Envelope onto the Flap
(Gourmet Invitations via Style Me Pretty)


12. Texture of Paper and Ribbon
(Invite Site via Gorgeous and Green)

13. Ribbon Wrapping
(Green Glam Weddings)


14. Stacked Wedding Inserts
(Miss Cola via WeddingBee)

15. Simplicity of Design, Use of Text, Vertical Orientation
(Stonington Paperie via Style Me Pretty)

17. Color Edging
(Wardrobe Stationery via Style Me Pretty)

18. Stitching across the Top
(Sideshow Press via 100 Layer Cake)