Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Drooling, Gnawing Off Arm in Excitement

Now if you read the entry below, you already know that I went to a "Make your own invite" class and found it totally rocked and inspired me to take on the DIY challenge of wedding invites...

What I didn't tell you was the thought of picking out fonts, placements, colors and graphics to go with the fun stuff (like gatefold cards, japanese silkscreened paper accents and ribbons and eyelets) made me want to bang my head against a wall. Not that I don't appreciate font, color and placement; on the contrary, I LOVE IT, it's just that I don't do it well and with the flair of a graphic designer. Never mind the whole tech-savvy issue. Not that I'm computer-tarded by any means (I blog, right?!) but I lack the patience that people like my sister have when designing things online. Actually, she was pretty much going to be my design process crutch. I hadn't told her yet, but I fully expected her to help me with fonts and the like.

Now invites are probably going to be the next thing I start tackling for a couple of reasons. First of all it will force dear fiance to make a guest list, which will in turn make me super organized and get addresses and info together. Second, it will force me to tie down my minister (who is leaving our church in June *whimper*) Third, it will force us to pick a church and times. Yes. Lots of forcing. But honestly we've done a lot of the things you can do without a time and church, and most of what's left needs to have those things in place. Soooo. Invites it is. Also, handmade invites allow me to indulge in things like bone folders and embossing powder. ROCKIN'

So I was killing a half hour between conference calls and decide to look at some favorite wedding sites for a bit of inspiration. It's a little rough out there - we don't really have the budget for fancy letterpress or engraving. Yeah, we could make it in our budget, but not how I envision it, unfortunately, because I have fancy ideas ;) So I am forever on the lookout for something that is pre-designed but affordable. I found BLISS. Through a series of links I came across A Practical Wedding featuring THIS. Yes. This amazing woman designs the invites and sends them to you in pdf form to self print. SO they are custom designed and totally badass and a fraction of the price. So you still get to look suave and hip and amazing, yet save money and have the whole DIY experience. AHHHHHHHHHHHH! Could it get anymore exciting??!!!?! If Jamaal were here he'd look at me funny and say "of course it can get more exciting. Well not for me, right now, at this moment. This is the ideal solution. And I want to start NOW!

I am seriously in love with ALL of these designs:

I love the flourish on the top of this one. Since we don't have a firm "theme" it'd definitely work well...
This is simple and manly and very Jamaal. Though I hope he lets me pick, bwaahahhaaha.


Birds are my thing. Kinda perfect.


Again, simple. I think that 10/09/10 would look awesome in the design too...


We will be in a rustic barn...plus this design reminds me of fall...


Simple but fancy. I think this design could go with anything.


LOVES IT.

Birds again. Clearly I'm drawn to the nature thing.


I love this for 25 bazillion reasons. It's a shoutout to me growing up running wild in the woods, my love for mice and chipmunks (yes I absolutely rescue them from the pool. shh. don't tell my parents about the mice!) It's whimsical, unusal and could totally help pull the wedding together. How? We-eeellll. I would love love love to have a bit of a woodland theme. Nothing too strange or ridiculous woodland or too focused around the theme (cause that's weird and people would hate me lol), and because it still needs to be a bit elegant, but woodland in the sense that there's a strong natural influence in the decorations, place settings, etc. This would work.

These two are actually my top favorites though, because I'm still to unsure about the rodentia theme ;)

Awesome awsome swirly design. It's elegant but it STILL HAS BIRDS

Sigh. I just love this one. Fantastic. Fabulous.

Ok I'm wedding'd out. Gotta check my email, and change - my sister and I are off to see Fleetwood Mac tonight (her FAVVVVV) Yay!

7 comments:

Elizabeth said...

I vote for BIRDS!!! Or woodland pretty much anything. But if you needed a non-married friend to second your bird-like instincts, here I am! GFI ON THAT!!

Love,
2xE

everything and nothing said...

Dude....
1. Saw Fleetwood Mac's tour bus parked between Hynes and the library. I think they were going out to dinner and apparently I just missed seeing them? And I thought: Fleetwood Mac is in town, does Amy know about this?
2. I liked a lot of the designs, but the colors were throwing me off. Like, the first one with the flourish could be awesome in navy, but it's my least favorite in pink. Anyway, they all look cute, and yes I liked the manly one a lot. Typical.
Anyway, they are all awesome! Even the rodentia!
Sorry I haven't been around lately and that this is the longest post ever.
PPS: Oh, because I start the year in March,I'll start posting in my blog again soon. I'm sure you can't wait. Ha!

everything and nothing said...

Dude....
1. Saw Fleetwood Mac's tour bus parked between Hynes and the library. I think they were going out to dinner and apparently I just missed seeing them? And I thought: Fleetwood Mac is in town, does Amy know about this?
2. I liked a lot of the designs, but the colors were throwing me off. Like, the first one with the flourish could be awesome in navy, but it's my least favorite in pink. Anyway, they all look cute, and yes I liked the manly one a lot. Typical.
Anyway, they are all awesome! Even the rodentia!
Sorry I haven't been around lately and that this is the longest post ever.
PPS: Oh, because I start the year in March,I'll start posting in my blog again soon. I'm sure you can't wait. Ha!

Al said...

EE - I had a vision about the birds with the branches! And thank you for your validation, LOL.

R- that's crazy! We were wondering where they went out to eat. OF COURSE Amy knew and we had great seats!
So yeah the colors on some of them I do not like, but they are all customizable, that's what's so awesome about this site! You can switch up colors and font, and maybe even design placement, though I'm not sure...but yeah, I was inspired last night by the bird on the branch one...I had a vision on the T, lol.
Oh hells yes I am looking forward to your return to blogging!

everything and nothing said...

Sorry for the double post! I knew it was gonna happen and I still hit the back button. Do you mean the last invite (with the yellow bird)? That is beautiful!
PS: I attempted to post on FACEBOOK. Disaster!

everything and nothing said...

PPS: Promise last post. They might have been at Sel de Terre (spelling?) or L'Espalier. Or, y'know, maybe they were just going to a hotel?

Al said...

Yup Yellow bird invite :)
And Rach, you are so right, they MUST'VE been at one of those restaurants...