Posts Tagged ‘Wedding Planning’

DIY wedding invitations with style.

Adding something a little personal to your run-of-the mill wedding invitation can take your wedding from ‘pretty darn good’ to ‘fantastic’.  Below are a couple of ideas we think you’ll find pretty handy.  We’ve used the Rockabilly Tattoo and Retro Telegram DIY Wedding Templates from our store.  First, we had them printed out at a local print shop.  Next, we cut them out and got them ready for some fun personalization.

Gift wrapped DIY wedding invitations give a personal touch.

The Gift Wrap
Who doesn’t like getting a gift in the mail?  By wrapping up your invitation & RSVP with a sassy ribbon and adding a little bauble, everyone will feel like you went out of your way to make their invitation special.

On the right, we’ve just wrapped our Retro Telegram Invitation and RSVP up with a quarter inch black ribbon.  In the center, we tied in a little world charm.  And your guests take apart the invitation they have a charm keepsake.  The charms can be expensive, so be sure to buy them in bulk.  Be sure to also keep an eye out for the weight of your charms, the post office charges more if your invitation goes over 1 ounce! On the left, we wrapped up the Rockabilly Tattoo wedding invitation and RSVP with a little blue ribbon to ‘tie’ all the colors together (get it?! Tie?! Ha!).  We then used a little bead glue to adhere a small star rhinestone.  For our advanced Wedding DIY-ers we’ve also adhered some of those stars to the actual invitation to give it a little POP!  This can be time consuming but we think the final product looks pretty fabulous.

Try something new: DIY wedding invitations with a belly band.

The Belly Band
You’ll often see a “belly band” or a band of paper or fabric that wraps around the parts of the invitation to complete the look of your wedding stationery.  We tried to do something a little fun and different here.  For the Retro Telegram set, we layered and old map against a blue band and brought it all together with a gold seal.  Another nice destination wedding that touch that will help transport your guests to your wedding destination.  We also layered the Rockabilly Tattoo set with a piece of paper from an old hot rod calendar and punctuated with a glittery star sticker.  You can use anything from wrapping paper, to maps to calendars.  Its an easy an inexpensive way to personalize your wedding invitation.

A fancy fastener to give your DIY wedding invitations flair.

The Fancy Fastener
Another simple and fun way to give your wedding invitation some flair is to add an unusual paper clip or unique paper fastener.  This is particularly effective when you have several sheets to put together.  In these we made a direction card for each set that layered between the Invitation and the RSVP card.  The one on the Retro Telegram direction card is matted on a piece of thick black card stock.  We fasten it all together with an over-sized white paperclip that can be found at any office supply store.  The Rockabilly Tattoo direction card is another slice out of the calendar we used on the belly band.  A blue hot rod sets off the set while a gold spiral paper clip holds it all together.

Just a few simple steps can really make the difference with your wedding invitations.  It does take a little more work, that’s for sure.  But an evening, a buddy, a bottle of wine and a couple of episodes of Glee will get a set of stand out invitations you’ll be excited to seal up in their envelopes and send to your guests.

About Bon Moment

They specialize in Wedding invitations, DIY Wedding Invitation Templates, Save the Dates, Wedding RSVPs, Menu Cards, Programs, and Thanks You Cards. Their tag line “Wedding Stationery for the Rest of Us” really rings true as you browse their wedding invitation suites. The off-the-wall wedding invitations like a Mexico-inspired Sugar Skull wedding invitation suite, as well as a cute and geeky Retro Robots in Love invitation suite really strays from the more traditional wedding concepts.  They really cater to the alternative and offbeat bride.  Currently they’re working on developing their own website and creating new designs to add to their store.

Etsy store:  http://www.etsy.com/shop/BonMoment

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/BonMoment

Facebook:  http://bit.ly/70OSJx

 

The focus is on the two of you and what you want to do...

It’s the end of our summer here and the first month of autumn. A new season lends itself to new inspiration to try to do things a little differently.

When planning a wedding it is often difficult to take a deep breath and think of just the two of you. It might be said that planning a wedding is all about us and what we want but is it really?

Sometimes it is hard to hear yourselves above all the competing noise of all the wants, needs and ‘must do’s. Not only from well meaning relatives and friends, but also, if we are honest, from ‘out there’ – because deep down most of us want our wedding to have the ‘wow’ factor. Sometimes a desert island looks rather inviting! So how do we accommodate all the different wants, needs and wishes of everyone, including ourselves?

Firstly decide what is most important to you and your fiancé. To do this, think from your ‘soul’ – who must be on the guest list because they have a place in your heart, what family traditions would you like honoured, how would you like your wedding to look?

Try to sit down as a couple early on in your engagement before the stress starts, and write down a list of what will be really important to you both when planning the wedding. Approach this with an open mind and an open heart so that frank discussion can take place between you. Take a notebook and make a heading for each section of the wedding – seating arrangements, flowers, food etc and take your time to talk about your hopes and dreams, the reality, and then, after research, the final execution of the ideas.  Doing this with gentleness, kindness and humility could set the tone for future heart felt discussions with each other and with family and friends.

If you approach your planning with a set of ideas that you both agree on, you will not only be able to present a united front, you will also be able to explain in a rational way the decisions you have made. Moreover, your groom will also feel that he can be an integral part of the planning process, and not be pushed to one side as you run yourself to a frazzle doing it all.

A wedding is not only about the uniting of two lives; it is a celebration of new beginnings. It is about bringing two families together, who only some time ago were perhaps not known to each other. You as a couple are powerful in being the catalysts for this change. Be kind to yourselves as you tread delicately on this new path.

About Polka Dot Bride

Polka Dot Bride is Australia’s premier wedding blog and is read by thousands of brides worldwide. Polka Dot Bride is ranked within the top 20 Australian Women Bloggers and #53 out of the Top 100 Australian Bloggers as of June 2009. Polka Dot Bride has a passion to provide information on the latest trends in weddings, and inspirational and creative ideas for the Australian bride.
Ms Polka Dot’s aim is to create a fun, informative, and stylish blog that is engaged with, and inclusive of, its readers. She writes a daily feature on the blog that includes new ideas, real weddings, fabulous finds and the beautiful and the inspirational. Polka Dot Bride readers are stylish and savvy; they want to make their wedding stand out from the crowd. Ms. Polka Dot’s aim is to inspire brides and grooms to create the wedding of their dreams.

Photo by Jonathan Ong
www.jonathanong.com