Behind the Process

Or alternately titled, How to do everything wrong, and still pull off diy invitations

I knew I wanted to send out invitations early. Our guest list as it currently stands is over capacity, but there a still a few people we'd love to be able to add to our list. My thought was to send out invitations 3 months early (aka the start of June), that way we'd have a better idea who was coming and who else we could invite. I started the actual design process in early May, at that point I thought I was slightly behind schedule, but still thought I could make it work and make my deadline of early June.

In April, I had gone to various store, so I knew what paper & envelopes I needed, and where to find them. I just hadn't actually ordered them. Come May I was ready to finally start gathering my supplies. Unfortunately on my first trip to Office Depot to pick up paper, they were sold out of velum. And instead of just going somewhere else, I waited a week for them to restock.

If you remember, I went to go but the scrapbooking paper for the pocketfolds to find they didn't have enough in the color I wanted. But instead, purchased a wide range of colors, since I was quickly approaching my self-imposed due date.

Then when I went to buy my purple envelopes the didn't have as many as I needed. They said they would talk to the person in charge and have her call me about ordering them. But when she called I didn't hear it ring,and instead she left a voicemail. I called back to confirm that, yes, I wanted them and to order them. Except that message never got passed on, and when I called the Friday after Memorial Day to see when they arrived, I was told they never ordered them because they never received my confirmation.

All the advice I've read says to design your invitations based on your envelopes. Except while I knew their approximate dimension, I didn't have an actual envelope to design to. (Yes, I could have bought a single envelope, but where's the fun in that?) But I was ready to make invitations now, so I made about half before I even had the envelopes and crossed my fingers they would fut. And thankfully they did!

I finally got the envelopes two Fridays after Memorial Day, and spent the entire weekend making the other half of the invites while watching television.

Watching Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders: Brides in the living room and crafting invitations.
Watching Don't be Tardy for the Wedding in the bedroom and crafting invitations.And yes, I watched more than wedding themed shows while crafting. There was also episodes of The Bachelorette, Dallas, Real Housewives of New Jersey, and Melissa and Tye to name a few.

One thing I left till last was lining the envelopes. I knew I wanted to do it, but I wasn't sure if I'd have the time. And while I did find the time, I ran out of the polka dotted paper I wanted to use, so instead lined with paper I had in the house leftover from my scrapbooking days.

Most of the envelope iners I used.Sunday night I realized I had made exactly the number I needed to mail out. I had originally wanted to mail myself one, just to make sure that it got through the mail alright, except I didn't have the patience to make even one more. So instead just mailed them out, and crossed my fingers that they would make it to their destination. (I have since made more so I have a few I can keep. I guess that's an advantage of making your own invites. You can really make as many as you want.)

I guess the point I'm trying to make here, is even if you think there's no way you could pull off diy-ing your invitations, if you want it enough, you can make it happen!

Did anyone else miss their deadline for when they wanted to send out invitations? And which show would you watch if you were crafting invitations?