Quirky Wedding Invitations by Baumbirdy Designs

While on Etsy, I came across a great store called Baumbirdy Designs that creates wedding invitations and other items. I especially love how they engrave wood to make banners and invitations. Here are some of my favourite pieces.

Wooden Cake Banners

Wood Invitations



Quirky and original comic style invitations



Wedding programs that double as fans!

Invitations for Every Budget

As the first piece of communication that your guests receive, your invitations should set the tone and the mood of your wedding. Whether the design is fun and whimsical, elegant or modern, guests should know what kind of wedding to expect as soon as they receive it!

Usually one set includes: 1 invitation card, 1 envelope, 1 reply card, 1 reply card envelope, and often 1 map card.
Budget extra for return postage, calligraphy (if desired), and anything extra you might want to include.
Things that will blow your budget: Custom die cuts, special paper, complicated or special details, traditional hand press, hand written calligraphy

Low - $
DIY Invites from Michaels / Target ($1-$2/Set)
I've had a few friends go this route recently with great success. DIY invites are no longer just boring cream with silver wedding rings. Michaels sells a variety of pre-made invitation sets that are gorgeous and literally a fraction of the price. Catch them when they're on sale and save even more. Usually they include the invitation, envelope, reply card, return envelope, map card and software.

The downsides? You have to have a bit of patience with the printer, however, once you get the hang of it, you'll save a ton of money. Also, others may end up sending similar invitations as yours so consider the tips below.

TIPS for Customizing DIY Invites: - Add a contrasting ribbon or detail to make your invitation more unique.
- Add your own logo and tie it to the ribbon around the card, or print the logo on the card.

Medium - $$
Paper Things This invitation store in Yorkville is run by and benefits the National Ballet of Canada. The designs are quite nice and run for about $3 or more

Paperland - This paper haven allows you to get creative with colours, textures and designs. You can also get your invitations designed and printed for around $2- $6/ Set, depending on how complicated your design is.

Money Saving TIP: Save money by purchasing any additional components and doing the labour yourself. For example, for one invite I had the chiyogami paper cut, but glued them on by hand myself.

The Paper Place - Another paper haven located downtown, you can create endless possibilities with the paper here. They've also got a wide selection of Japanese and imported papers that will make your invitations unique.

High $$$
I will be featuring some higher-end, full service invitation shops soon, so I will write about specific places a bit later. Starting at around $7/set to as high as $30/set, expect to have a professional designer walk you through the entire process from beginning to end. Again, the more specialized and labour intensive the set, the more it will cost.
Of course, your guests will have an amazing first impression and a wonderful keepsake of your wedding.

Kate's Paperie Favourites

If you're in the New York City area and looking for invitations, stop by Kate's Paperie for Bridal Brunch, a workshop on custom printed invitations. The fee is $10 but you get a $10 gift card and a discount if you order custom printed invitations.
If custom made invites aren't in the budget, consider getting pre-printed invites. I've picked a few of my favourites from Kate's Paperie below.
By Peculiar Press

I love this whimsical design for casual get togethersLove this card for a housewarming party!

So cute for a graduation party!

Invitation To Be Creative

Everyone in the business knows Grapevine Invitations as the pioneer in innovative "couture" invitations, but I couldn't help but share my favourites as my fiancé and I are assembling our own. My all time favourite- the etched plexiglass invitation for a wedding at Cipriani, NY.

Goodbye envelopes, hello hat boxes! I love the variety of texture in this invitation and how it comes in a round hat box.
These tin "envelopes" are so elegant and streamlined. I love how the invitation was die cut to fit snugly in the box.
I love how they carried the look of the invitation through other details in the event. The compass favours are such a great idea!
Instead of having all your invitation components separate, why not create a booklet? You can include a short story of how you met, and other details or events leading up to your wedding.
I've blogged about boxed invitations before (something i've adapted for my own wedding invitation). Check out this gorgeous box lined with "peat moss", filled with "woodsy" type components.

Lastly, they've put together a sample of logos they've done. Like a logo designed for any company, it should set the pace for any communication you'll have to your guest in paper and details.

Saima Says Invites

I've been admiring the work of Saima Says Design for a long time but just got the chance to put up some pics of some of my favourite designs. I absolutely adore her colour combinations- from the punchy red & teal accenting pink for a baby invitation (above) to the muted sage & brown invites below. In my opinion, great invitations should always set the creative pace and "brand" of the wedding or event to come, and Saima's invites are totally exemplary of just that.

I'm so in love with this lime green, turquoise & emerald green combo! Notice how good saturated, bright hues look on white.

I love the look of this suite- eggplant & magenta on kraft colored paper. Genius!

Putting Your Stamp on Your Event

It's the details that your guests will remember, so put your personal stamp on your invitations, literally! For a few dimes more, you can put your own photo onto real postage stamps. Try a black and white photo, a photo of your beloved pet, or even a photo of something special related to your event. Of course, the more you purchase, the greater the discounts, so consider using these for your invitations, reply cards and thank you cards. For For US Postage, try photo.stamps.com and for Canadian Postage, go to Canada Post.

Invitations on a Budget

After making a trip to the local stationers yesterday, i've found some great budget-conscious ideas that could help make your invitations more dynamic without the couture-stationer budget. According to the stationer, the biggest budget inflators are: custom features like letter pressing, boxes, custom envelopes, and paper choices.

1) Custom Features - There are tons of features that you can add to your invitations. One of my favourite online stores, Paper-Source, supplies items like coloured printable labels, embossers, rubber stamps, and adorable DIY invitation kits that will make your invitations extra special without that "special" pricetag. I've even found these ever popular boxed invitation kits (comes with boxes, invitations, labels, linen thread, and a real starfish) for about $6.92, which is a steal compared to about $25 from a couture stationer. How amazing would these be for a beach wedding?!

Photo Courtesy of Paper-Source.com

2) Custom Envelopes - At most invitation places, any envelope that's not a white or cream A7 (5"x7"), is considered custom. I've found some great ready-made square envelopes that are about 0.42 each. Even Kate's Paperie offers a 25% discount on some of their envelopes if you purchase 100 or more. Also check with your stationer, who may be selling off over-runs (extras from previous jobs) of perfectly good envelopes for a fraction of the cost.

Making Pre-Fab Invitations Fabulous

Original Image courtesy of Target.com

Pre-fabricated invitations or invitation kits were once on the last resort list for those trimming their budget, but now retailers have made available some really inexpensive, yet elegant designs for us to use at home. Purchasing an invitation suite like the one shown above from Target, could cost upwards of about $10 per set, but this invitation kit works out to be about $2 per set.

Now with home printing & computers, it's easy to personalize the invitation. In the example above, i've added a monogram at the top, and a simple letter charm (these can be found at scrapbook supply stores) on the ribbon.

Two other important things to remember working with pre-fab invitations:

1) Clean cartridges by preforming cartridge head cleaning process (included in printer instructions).

2) Always test on a scrap piece that's the same size and similar stock. Test it until you've perfected the process before you start printing on the real thing.

Invitation Wording

There's no need to be confused about how to word your invitations anymore: KenzieKate Invitations has a wording section on their website that provides a variety of templates on how to word your invitations, according to who's hosting the wedding. You can browse through about 11 templates per host and see which one works best for you! One of my favourites:

With joyful hearts

we ask you to be present

at the ceremony uniting

BRIDE

and

GROOM

on DAY

YEAR

at TIME

LOCATION

ADDRESS

CITY, STATE/PROVINCE