w e d d i n g [invitation]

you know the scene in The Notebook where Allie receives all the letters that Noah wrote to her?!

well, that was the inspiration for our wedding invitation!

steven and i had been brainstorming for a while about what we wanted as our invitation. we both had our own ideas, but nothing that we both agreed upon until this came to our heads! 

we are so lucky to have an amazing graphic designer for a friend! [lalitaDOTcom] once steven and i agreed on the idea, we made it happen. lalita and i sat down one night and she made this entire thing from scratch! okay, if you're a graphic artist...then you probably think that it's easy, but since i'm not...i was really amazed by the finished product!

since our wedding was vintage themed, i wanted it to look like it really was a post card from the era! 

so, we researched antique postcards and created stamps and graphics that would normally be included in a post card. we looked for stamps from the 20's, 30's and 40's and even used a vintage puerto rico stamp, since we are puerto ricans! =) the post card had a date stamp with our wedding date, but with the year 1943. the wording was super simple, which i loved! 

now, the challenge was the printing! 

boy, it was a lot of work, but oh-so worth it!

steven's grandmother and younger sister helped out in this project. we literally stayed up all night dying the invitation paper. i wanted it to look old and dingy and that's exactly how it turned out! 

this is what we did: 

1. dyed the paper in tea. 

2. dyed the envelopes in tea. 

3. immediately dried the paper with a blow dryer. 

4. dried the envelopes by ironing them with a towel in between the paper and the iron.

i then, printed the invitations on a ink-jet printer, because the quality of the ink wasn't great, which gave us the look we wanted! it was so scary because the paper was wrinkly, after a certain amount, it would get stuck and i'd have to reset the printer again for it to keep working. lastly, we tied cotton string around it and finished it with a pretty bow. 

since our reception was a surprise, guests only knew the ceremony location. they were, however, still requested to rsvp via email or text! 

this invitation looked so authentic, people actually thought it was old. 

we were so happy with the result and so thankful for our friend, lalita! =) 

my family actually framed our invitation, which is so special!

if you're getting married and are thinking of ways to create an invitation that is cost efficient and cute, i would go with a DIY project and let it reflect your style and your wedding! =)
ooXoO