I'm an Invitation MACHINE!

Most wedding advice/etiquette websites I've found say to send out the invitations 6-8 weeks before the wedding. Since one website said "Plan to place your invitation order at least 3-4 months in advance," we're wayyy ahead b/c I FINISHED THE INVITATIONS TONIGHT!

Traditional wedding etiquette also says that it's necessary to address each envelope by hand, but Martha Stewart is on my side; on her website, she says, "calligraphy done by computer directly on the envelope is gaining popularity and acceptability."

Not that we're doing everything by the book, but thank you, Martha! I printed each of the envelopes using the same two fonts as our invitations, and they're ready to be sealed, stamped and sent at the end of March!

I won't post a clear picture of the actual invitations yet (I'll do that after they're mailed out), but a teaser is posted below. I should have kept track to see how many hours the 100-ish invitations took to make from scratch... but maybe it's better not to know! Let's just say Patrick and I were thrilled that these were safe at my house when his house flooded; if they had been ruined by the water, I may have lost it...! ;)

Even with the ridiculous number of hours printing, cutting, gluing, assembling, etc, etc, etc, looking back, I'd make the decision to do it again! Invitations can get soooo expensive, and I wanted to avoid huge unnecessary expenses. Sure, I'm not charging myself for labor expenses, but by keeping an eye on the sales at Joann's and Michael's, the invitations have wound up costing less than $0.75 each! We still have to get the stamps, but considering I read that "The average couple spends $659 on invitations and reply-cards," I have to think our invitations have been a pretty darn good deal so far!

The hard work paid off!

It's such a great feeling to look at the stacks of invitations and know they came together better than I had hoped. I LOVE them!

On DIY-related note, I got some orders for personalized hangers! I posted pictures of the hangers I had made so far on Facebook last night, and I've received a few requests already (for a total of 5 hangers)! My friend Rachael is coming over on Wednesday night, and we're going to have a crafty night to work on hangers: I'm going to show her what's worked well for me, and then we'll both be making some. It's fun to share the love of crafts with someone!

-Lisa