Paper Stuffs

It's a fairly slow day at work, so I've been calculating invitation costs. Looks like there's about 90 people we're definitely inviting. Even though that's only about 55 invitations (since families and couples only need one each), making them ourselves will be no easy task. And that doesn't include programs, placecards, and thank-you notes which all have to be made as well.

I'll be getting all my materials from EnvelopeMall.com. I found this Gateway style pre-cut template that's a lot like the ones I liked from Craftster, but they're too expensive. I'd need to buy at least 75 pieces, and that's a little over $50 already!


So I figure it shouldn't be too hard to make them myself. I already have a paper cutter and an X-acto knife. So I plan on just making a template out of thin cardboard, then cutting out the top corners of a regular 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of cardstock. Then I score it so the newly-made flaps fold in, punch holes at the top for ribbon, and assemble. Granted, it's probably a lot harder than it sounds, so I plan on practicing with some of the icky yellow cardstock I have already. If it's too much of a pain, I'll ditch that idea and go for something simpler. I have to keep reminding myself that people are just going to throw away the invitations eventually, so I shouldn't obsess over it. I think the gateway style is really cute, though.

So if I make it that way, I calculate that my total costs - including envelopes, pretty paper, pretty cardstock, and vellum for bellybands - will come out to $66.15. I'll probably have paper to spare too. But I also have to buy a hole puncher. I don't imagine they'll be too expensive, right? *goes hunting online for hole punchers*

For the programs, I think we'll use the same cardstock as the invitations, just folded in half for the cover. And I don't think we'll be using any fancy paper - just regular ol' computer paper. I figure that'll save us quite a bit of money. So, programs will come out to be just under $20. I just have to figure out how I'll keep it all together. I don't wanna buy an extra long stapler if I don't have to. I think I'll either tie it together with ribbon (but then I'd need an extra long hole puncher) or sew up the middle using my sewing machine. (I could use different color threads!)

I can use leftover paper for thank-you cards (I'll buy more if necessary), and I plan on using the cheaper cardstock I already have for dinner placecards. I was thinking of color coding them according to what the guest wants for dinner. So it'd go something like:

Purple = Steak

Pink = Chicken

Blue = Fish

Green = Vegetarian

I had considered shape coding them (flowers for steak, butterflies for chicken, etc.) But I figured that would be too much work. And I'd get all anal about cutting them out perfectly, and you just can't be that anal about potentially 90 placecards.

I've learned a lot about designing, printing, and cutting all this paper stuff from tutorials online. Other brides have said that if you're cutting lots of paper into specific sizes (5x7, 4x6, etc.), you're better off taking it to a copy place like Kinko's that'll cut an entire stack of papers for really cheap. They can get it really exact, which is cool for my perfectionist tendencies. They also said that if you're looking for simple pictures to put onto your invitations, you can use dingbat fonts (like Wingdings and all those other ones only nerds know how to read). So I can download a rose-themed set of fonts, and each letter corresponds to a different rose picture. What's even cooler is that I can change the color and size of the picture very easily (which is harder using clip art, I think). I'll be using fonts either from DaFont or FontGarden, cuz they have some really beautiful free fonts there. I'm definitely gonna play around on Photoshop this week to see if I can design something cool.