Invites & Escort Cards

Invites & Escort Cards

I spent the weekend cutting paper to start with the invite design. I found this WAY more economical than I expected since I was able to use "scrap" paper for inserts/escort cards.

The Invites:

I ordered pocketfolders from Cards & Pockets. I considered trying to make them myself first, but it didn't really seem worth the hassle. I did decide to cut the mat, invite pieces, and all inserts myself.

The Invitation Inspiration, from a DIY bride at Style Me Pretty. I ordered my pocketfolders in black to "formalize" the design. I really like how the bride placed the inserts in a horizontal layout, opposite with the invite (it would traditionally look like it does in the second picture below). Hopefully I can re-create the look with my Cards & Pockets invites.

Cutting the pieces myself didn't turn out as "professional" looking as I may have hoped for but I didn't think it was a big enough difference to take them to Kinkos or whatever. Plus I was able to use almost all of the paper this way.

I am having a tough time figuring out the design for the invite, however. I am still debating whether to try to incorporate pink into the otherwise red invite design. I LOVE the scroll work in the invites on the top right of this inspiration board, from Alannah Rose. A sizzling blend of red and hot pink!!

If only I were computer saavy enough to recreate this!! I do have some other designs I've been toying with:

The Escort Cards:

I decided to hand stamp the escort cards after coming across this amazing designs:

From Jamee Photography, via the Knot. I love how handstamping makes each card unique, without too much extra effort.

From Martha Stewart, with instructions:

Now, the pics of my handstamping attempts. We decided to add some pink to our wedding to give it a bit more "color." I therefore made hot pink as well as red escort cards. I'm still not convinced that I want to add in pinks other than through the flowers, but I think they turned out pretty well.

I picked up the stamps at Joann Fabrics on sale for $6/sheet of plastic stamps. You have to mount clear stamps onto a block so it was a bit more work than with normal wooden stamps but it gives you alot more design options.

Here are what the clear stamps look like:

And the clear blocks you will need to mount the stamps onto:

I added a piece of cardstock into the "inside" also to write the table # down (name on outside, table # on inside). Beware: this added a ton of weight to the escort cards and they don't stand up as well anymore.