My wedding invitation prototype... yay or nay?

[House Cat]

I like the second option, but I might try and put the red ribbon under the black and red cards, instead of just under the red card.

Designing your own invitations is no easy task! I think this is why the wedding invitation industry makes such a killing!

 

[Haven]

Merry, I really hope I didn''t offend you, especially since I was the first to respond! I was just trying to give you some honest feedback.

I really like your second prototype. It looks more sophisticated, for sure.

As for using black on a wedding invitation, I think it''s wonderful but that''s what we did so I''m definitely biased.

I don''t know much about paper crafts, but whatever you did with that second prototype, it''s working!

 

[EricaR]

Merry - how large is your base card? I'm going to be working on some cards this weekend and since I have a lace border paper punch I thought I'd play around with a layout or two for you.

 

[bee*]

I love the second one too-it looks fab. I can completely understand wanting to put in your colours on the invite. We''re having a hard time trying to get ours to match so might have to leave out one-it''s a pain!

 

[merrymunky]

Date: 4/11/2009 11:57:42 AM
Author: EricaR
Merry - how large is your base card? I''m going to be working on some cards this weekend and since I have a lace border paper punch I thought I''d play around with a layout or two for you.

That would be most appreciated! Thank you

They are 4”x6” (10.2cm x 15.2cm) in size.

I had another play yesterday, tried out using the same layout as the second card but with the black organza ribbon with silver edging down the middle and then the red ribbon on either side, to beef it out a little. Not sure if I liked the look though. As I say, it was only play...excuse the roughness of it. I hadn''t stuck it all down properly and bits got creased!

I know a lot of people aren''t keen on having the "wedding invitation" wording, but since it IS a common feature here in the UK and also as it is a low key wedding, it is staying. Maybe not in that form though. I also have some silver peel off wording in a slightly larger font to play with.

 

[laine]

I vote number two--I think it looks nice and simple and classy. The version with the three ribbons is a little much for me, but you might try stacking the black ribbon on top of the red, if you wanted to use both. And if you wanted to add bling, I think you could add a single crystal somewhere, or maybe two, but I wouldn''t do more than that. I''d never seen the "wedding invitation" either, but if its common where you are, I think its fine--I like the clean lines of the tag, with the slightly fancier font and border to dress it up a bit.

I really think you''re on track with number two. You didn''t change very much from the first one, but I think it made a big difference in getting away from the "valentine" look of the first. Number two still has the low-key, handmade look, but in a much classier way--nice job!

 

[tyty333]

I really like #2. #3 is a little too much of a good thing (which makes it not as good). Stick with the simplier #2.

 

[Definitely. Maybe]

I really like #3! I felt the #2 left too big of an open space. #3 Fills in the extra space and doesn''t leave me wondering what else should be put on it... JMO

 

[EricaR]

Ok, so I played around a bit. 4x6 is sort of an awkward size for me to use because my "standard" cards are 5.5x4.25 so the proportions are totally different. I also didn't have any wide red ribbon, so pretend my green ribbon is red.

This is playing off of your second layout. I stacked the ribbons and made the layers chunkier. If you are going to stack the ribbons do yourself a favor and pick up some glue dots. You can find them at most every craft store. Put glue dots between the layers, maybe every 2 inches or so, to keep things lined up. I used a fancy border punch, like the ones I linked to on the first page of the thread, to give it a lacy look. I tried to use "chunkier" layers of paper to try and take up more space on the page.

 

[FrekeChild]

Wow. Erica, that looks awesome.

 

[EricaR]

I did one other. I''m not sure what sort of info you were going to put inside, but what about flipping it landscape? Your "Wedding Invitation" labels are landscape so this might work well.

 

[FrekeChild]

I like that second one better. It reminds me of my STD.

 

[merrymunky]

Erica - They look lovely. I love the landscape one. I did think about maybe flipping it to landscape but hadn''t got that far in my playing. I think I might invest in one of those border punches and have a go. I do love the look it creates. I could stack the red and black ribbon too. I did play with that option but didn''t stick it down to see what it looks like.

I have glue dots...they weren''t very co-operative with me. I found double sided sticky tape worked better. I will play with them both again and see which option works best!

But thank you SO much for your help. I am going to get onoine and find one of those punches right now I think. Luckily the invites son''t have to go out until around June time so I have plenty of time to perfect the look.

I think I might invest in different black ribbon too. I love the textured ribbons you have used.

 

[merrymunky]

Erica - More questions, sorry!

How thick are each of the ribbons you have used there? I am looking up grosgrain ribbons and there are many different widths. Just wondering which widths will be best together. I like the proportions of the ribbon in your example. I think I would rather have both layers in the same type of ribbon rather than black grosgrain on red satin ribbon.

Just purchased a fiskars border punch - different pattern but very pretty. It as the embossing and punching combined. I will give it a go. I need thinner card now though. It only punches up to 130gsm and the card I bought is 250gsm.

 

[lliang_chi]

Merry, I like the more sophisticated look of the last two versions!

Erica has some fantastic suggestions. Also I think it''d be nice to find some red paper to line the envelopes with. i did that for my Save the Dates and it''s really not that much work.

 

[merrymunky]

They are grea aren''t they?

Makes me realise JUST how amateur I am though! But at least in posting my initial playarounds I have avoided a disaster.

Just having to spend more money that I don''t have so I can get the correct supplies I need. It will be worth it in the end though.

I like the idea of lining the envelopes with red paper. There are so many great craft websites with beautiful papers to choose from.

 

[EricaR]

The ribbons I used were 5/8" (wide) and 1/4" (thin).

Coming up with the "right'' layout just takes time, especially if you don''t work with paper on a regular basis. Before you can end up with something you like you have to ask yourself "Do I like thin layers or thick?" "Landscape or portrait?" "Centered or asymetrical?" etc etc.

 

[merrymunky]

What does that work out as in millimetres? I need to do some conversion here. All the ribbons I have seen are listed in mm width.

 

[Clairitek]

5/8 inch comes to 15.875 mm

1/4 inch comes to 6.35 mm

Just type it into google and it does the conversion for you, i.e. "5/8 into to mm" in case you need to convert future dimensions.

 

[EricaR]

Claritek beat me to it!

 

[merrymunky]

Thanks guys

I was guessing around 16mm.

I am actually rather excited about recieving the new tools and materials.

Just need to find decent red and black pearlescent paper at about 125gsm so I can use it with the border punch.

Thanks so much again for all the help. Thank goodness for pricescope!

 

[Rhea]

I like the 2nd ones and they seem in line with others I''ve seen in the UK. It is hard to design your own. DH tried and tried and we ended up with just the simplest ones. His English family pointed out that our invitations didn''t say "wedding invitation" on the front of them and some of them thought it was just an announcement. Silly family!

 

[bee*]

I''m DIYing my own invites too and we ordered all of our things off cardsandpockets.com and it worked out far cheaper than getting them in Ireland. It might be worth having a look at some of the US sites.