Our invitations went out this past week so now that our guests have gotten a good look, I can share them with all of you! As a self-taught graphic artist, I kept thinking I should probably design our invites from scratch and utilize some of my free skills, but every time I tried to create something, I got frustrated with my own work. Inspiration just wouldn’t strike. I liked the ideas I came up with, but just not for us. Luckily, while ordering our Save the Date magnets from Vistaprint.com, I spotted a set of cards and invites with a beautiful, modern design that reminded me very much of our venue. When Rose immediately swooned over them, I knew they were the right choice - and without putting any additional stress on me for coming up with something on my own!
What I like about Vistaprint is that you can arrange the text on their designs in almost any way that strikes your fancy. I could play with fonts and layout to my heart’s content, and still make me feel like I used some of my skills. The whole set of 70 invitation cards (including envelopes), reception information cards and RSVP cards (also with envelopes) cost under $100. Pretty budget friendly if I do say so myself! How do you think they turned out?
I just love the little detail of the rings hanging from string because it reminds me of how we will be doing our ring warming ceremony.
My absolute favorite part of the whole invitation set is the RSVP card. For these, I did get a little creative (*pats self on back*) and made up a Mad Libs for guests to fill in to let us know that they can come. I seriously cannot wait to get these back in the mail!
Now when it came down to addressing them, I got a little stumped. I know that the formal way to address wedding invitations to married couples is “Mr. & Mrs. John Doe,” but I felt like this was dated and sexist. What woman really considers herself to have taken both her husband’s first and last names? It makes me feel like we are acknowledging that a wife loses part of her identity when she is “sent off” to her husband. Lame! And coming from a lesbian couple that really does not fit into any of these hetero norms, it just seemed strange to follow. I wanted our invitations to be written as formally as possible, but I just could not make myself refer to some of my closest female friends by their husband’s name. At first I tried “Mr. John Doe & Mrs. Jane Doe” but thought that this had the possibility of becoming very long and VERY messy quickly! We finally decided to write “Mr. & Mrs. Doe” for couples that shared a last name. This seemed a little less personal, but resolved the issue of playing into outdated tradition. How did you or will you address your invites?
Now we are just playing the waiting game to get our RSVP’s back. Honestly, there are a few responses I am almost dreading. My parents and sister declined my invitation to our courthouse legalities last year, and I suspect they may do the same this year. They believe that by showing support to me in any way, they are showing God that they approve of my “sinful” lifestyle. It is going to break my heart if they do not attend, especially if I find out simply on paper. After sucking it up and going to my sister’s wedding where we felt like outcasts most of the time, I hope they will realize that they should be able to put our differences of opinion to the side in order to show their love for me. But I refuse to dwell on that right now. You never know what lies in people’s hearts and I will just trust that they will make the best choice. There will be plenty of fun “attending” RSVP’s flooding our mailbox soon!
I LOVE your invitations! And thanks for the Vista Print idea…that could be clutch. I wish you many happy, positive-response RSVP’s!
Those invitations are awesome! And SOOO affordable! Great find!
My heart goes out to you when I hear about your struggles with your family. I have the same angst with my sister. So I know how hurtful some people can be “in the name of God”. Just remember that you have so much love and support from Rose and her family!
That RSVP card is genius. Not only do you get the information you need, but a fun keepsake from all of your guests. Very clever, and the design is great too!
i love them!!! & the RSVP card is an awesome idea…
I’ve read SO many advice columns about the “Mr. and Mrs. Hisname Lastname” debate. I’ve decided (and I don’t think my sweetie will fret too much) that our invitations and announcements will be addressed as I address regular postal mail: Firstname Lastname; Hername Lastname and Hername Lastname2; Hername and Hisname SharedLastname (or Hisname and Hername SharedLastname if we know him better or we usually say their names like that).
I can get away with that largely because it’s a very small guest list and it’s not a formal occasion. We’re going the Vistaprint route, too! http://tinyurl.com/3l6vqbb
I love the invite design! Way cute! Good choice. :)
I love your invites! Nice job!
In terms of the addressing, I knew I didn’t want to do Mr and Mrs John Doe definitively. Why shouldn’t the wife have a name? And then why does the Mr always come first? What about a lesbian couple, does the “butch” lesbian’s name come first? Ha. What stereotypes! So for our invites, if there were two women, I picked randomly, if there were two men, again I picked randomly & wrote out both names. Then, just because, for straight couples, I wrote her name first. The “she” deserves to be put first every once in a while. And because nobody puts baby in a corner. Nobody. :)
Stunning invitations – these came from VistaPrint? The same source as my cheap business cards? They are GORGEOUS. I went over and browsed their selection, and had to talk myself out of getting engaged prematurely, just so we could order the Love Knot stationery: http://www.vistaprint.com/search/love-knot.aspx?rt=12
Your Mad Lib idea is sensational: I’m sure you will treasure the responses forever!
These are lovely! I hate to burst the bubble on this, but watch you bank statements. In my former job we ordered some business cards from Vista Print, for several months our account was charged a small amount, $10 or so by companies like “happy travel”. We found out it was Vista and good old American Express took care of the charges.
If you search Vista Print credit card scam, it shows up all over. I hope they have cleaned up their act, but wanted to share the information.
These are amazing….love the mad libs part, great idea!!
Wow! I can’t believe how good those came out. Definitely love the the MadLibs idea. You must be an awesome person to hang out with! Sorry to hear about the family situation :( Hopefully the super-creative invite will win them over. Good luck!
I love the elegant design on these invitations!
Oh now you cant forget those :)