DIY: Wedding Invitations

Most soon-to-wed couples tend to DIY their wedding invitations, and Mox and I were no exception. We plan to create our own invitation just so we can save on printing costs. Most invitation suppliers have a minimum requirement for their printing—about 50 to 100 pieces—and I don't think we would need that many invites. Gastos na nga sa papel, gastos pa sa pera. Plus, we want to put our own spin on our invite to make sure it reflects our theme, so DIY was the only way to go. :)

Since Mox is the Photoshop expert, we decided that he would be the one in charge of all our stationery needs. Since our wedding theme is summer/beach, we wanted our invites to be colorful and fun! No fancy embossings or formal calligraphy please. 

Our wedding invite is a single-fold card printed back-to-back. The main invitation details and other wedding info were on the front and back pages, respectively, while the entourage page was printed on the inside. Mox also decided to do avatars for each entourage member, which was a cute touch. Hehe.

Then we printed our map insert on a single page.

Our invites were larger than the usual invitations so we had a difficult time searching for the right envelope. Then I found brown 6x9 catalog envelopes. The size was perfect, and the envelopes were inexpensive too! It was a win-win buy. :) But I suggest that you find the perfect envelope first, then adjust your layout based on the envelope size, instead of the other way around. Mox didn't want to adjust his layout so we had to look for an envelope that would fit an 8x13 card folded into half. It was a bit of a challenge, so please do not follow us. Haha!

We were inspired by Aweng and Thessa's wedding invitation, so we decided to do ours just like them. We printed our monogram on sticker paper, created some tags then decided to tie our invites together with some jute strings. I heard that you can buy four rolls of jute strings at Japan Home Center for only P66, but luckily, I found one roll among the art supplies of my brother, so I didn't have to buy one. Yey, bawas gastos ulit!

Time to put things together

Here are our finished invites! :)

Ready for distribution

Here is the breakdown of all the materials that we used for our invitation.

We spent less than P2,000 for 40 invites, which means that the cost per invite falls at only P46! Not bad right? We spent a lot on printer ink because our invites are fully colored, but at least we can still use the leftover ink to print other stationeries like our missalette covers, table numbers, etc.

I am so proud of Mox because he was in charge of everything! He did the layout, printed the invites and cut them out himself! Good job baby. :)

Now, let's hope all our invited guests would RSVP before the deadline! Cross your fingers guys.

Save the Date!

This may sound cheesy, but I can't help but feel so happy with my groom. He's finally showing initiative on our wedding preps. Nakakakilig pala yung ganun. Haha!

You see, Mox is in charge of the layouts for all stationery needs, such as our invites, missalettes, souvenir tags and the like. He already finished the layout of the invites, so I thought he would just wait for my instructions before starting with the other designs. But I was surprised that he actually made a Save-the-Date card even though we weren't planning on giving one. Natuwa ata siya masyado sa kaka-design eh.

So ladies and gentlemen, I present to you our Save-the-Date card made by my wonderful fiance. See how cute it is? :)

Our Monogram and WYB Cards by My Sassy Art

This is actually a super late post because I got my monogram and Will-You-Be cards from My Sassy Art way back in February pa. Hehe.

Just a little backstory, I tried my hand in making our monogram on my own even though I am not a Photoshop expert. The result? Well, this montrosity happened. Haha! I thought it looked pretty then, but now, it looked as though a five-year-old made it. I swear, ang pangit niya! Haha!

So I got Charm of My Sassy Art to do my monogram, as well as my WYB cards for my female entourage. Charm is a former W@Wie who used to do monograms and other graphics for free, until she decided to make it a business. :)

I didn't have any particular pegs in mind for my monogram and WYB cards. As long as they have our wedding colors (turquoise, tangerine orange and white), and feature our wedding theme (beach), then I'm okay with that.  My only request was the layouts must have a casual, summery feel to them. I don't want designs that are formal and elegant; I want them fun, cheery and bright! :)

And so, Charm gave me these choices for our monogram:

I love all designs! Everything was so cute! :) Mox and I were actually torn between the first and second one. Mox likes the first one, while I like the second one better. We finally made a decision, but you have to receive our invites for the wedding to find out the final monogram. Hehe.

Now for the WYB cards. These cards are usually given to the entourage members to officially ask them to be part of your wedding party. WYB cards are not really a necessity, but I just wanted to give something to my ento. Maarte lang rin talaga ako eh. Haha.

Here are Charm's designs for my WYB cards. I have one design for my secondary sponsors and I ordered another design for my maid-of-honor.

WYB Cards for Secondary Sponsors

 

WYB Card for Maid of Honor

Again, Charm didn't fail me. The cards are so lovely! Beach na beach ang dating! I already gave one to my cord sponsor and she loved it! I really hope the others would love theirs too. :)

MY SASSY ART
https://www.facebook.com/MySassyArt

 

Another Wedding Promo Win!

I've been joining wedding promos left and right after I won a freenup from Aisle 1401, but I got disheartened afterwards since I didn't win any of these contests. So I was a bit hesitant to join the new contest sponsored by Sis Jen of W@W. She teamed up with Moki Gray (Designs), Clarissa Ines of Pixels and Ink and Ms. Elyn Cordova of Concepts & Technology to give one lucky winner a free invitation suite layout (which includes main invite, ento page, RSVP and map) with free calligraphy services and 25% discount for the printing. Now that would be a big help for all brides-to-be! :)

Three days before the contest would end, I decided to send in my entry anyway because one, it never hurts to try; and two, I know winning this would end our invitation dilemma. You see, I really didn't want to spend too much on our wedding invitations, especially since I know guests would probably throw them away afterwards. I was actually okay with the thought of sending them an e-invite instead (diba, ang kuripot lang?), but noooo, Mox wanted something that is cute and quirky. Biglang nag-inarte ang groom ko. Haha! Moki Gray's designs fit the bill, so if ever I would win this thing, I could give Mox the perfect invitation for his dream wedding. Ang sweet ko noh? Chos. Haha!

There were a lot of great entries so I was not expecting to win, but earlier today I saw sis Jen's status on Facebook:

Then I saw this poster on her blog:

I can't believe that I actually won!!!! Okay fine, I may not be the grand winner, but being a runner-up still made my day! Because of that, I have won a free customized monogram by Clarissa! Yey! :)

And not only that, Jen, Moki, Clarissa and Ms. Elyn are so nice that they even gave some freebies to non-winners! So I, as well as all of the other brides/grooms who joined, won a free poster layout by Moki plus a 5% discount on the printing services of Concepts & Technology! Happy me! :)

I can't wait to see our monogram and poster! I guess my efforts to join really paid off. :) Thank you Jen and the rest of the gang for this wonderful gift. Now I'm slowly getting excited with our wedding preps again. :)