Bicycle Invitation Reveal Part One

Our invitations were dropped in the mail two weeks ago and the RSVPs have been trickling in so it is finally time for the big reveal!  This post will focus on the outside and the envelope liners and next up will be the good stuff on the inside.

As I mentioned in my invitation teaser, I decided to teach myself calligraphy using this book and these pens.  This ended up becoming more of a commitment than I thought it would be, but I think I am happy with my decision.  Guests  opened their mailboxes and were greeted with my hard work:

In order ensure my lines were straight I drew thick, dark lines on an index card and put it in the envelope as I was writing each address.  I was going to use our address stamp for the return address but that didn't feel cohesive so I decided to hand-write our return address, too.

This is the address of the Capitol.  Feel free to come visit! :)

I added a navy fleur de lis wax seal at the point of the envelope, which was the first of many FDLs our guests would see.

I pre-made the seals so I could make sure each was the quality I wanted.  I made them months ago and then used a drop of hot glue to adhere them when the invitations were ready to go.  I used this glue gun sealing wax and knocked them  all out one evening.

Future stepdaughter A even helped!

The rejects below are exactly why I wanted to pre-make them.  I did not want guests to look at a wonky fleur de lis and wonder what it was supposed to be.

I popped them into a baggie and they were just fine when I went back weeks later to use them.  Part of me was worried they would all stick together but luckily the A/C in our house works well and that didn't happen.

I used the typical 66 cent wedding cake stamp on them after confirming with the post office that would be sufficient.  Some noticed what they thought were vintage stamps in my preview and I am slightly embarrassed to admit what that was...  We sent 84 invitations, two of which were international and therefore needed different postage.  The wedding stamps come in sheets of 20, leaving me with the decision to have 18 extra so I could send invitations 81 and 82 with the same stamp as 1-80 or to not care and use two of the forever "Love" stamps I already had on-hand.  I chose the latter.  Of all the things I have to spend money on, 18 extra wedding cake stamps were not high on my list.

The final piece of the envelope was adhered to the inside - the envelope liners!  I don't know how or why I became someone who wanted envelope liners but I did and I am happy I did.  Instead of spending a lot of money on pre-made liners I decided to make them myself.  I looked everywhere local I could for craft or wrapping paper I liked but nothing worked.  I eventually found some paper online I liked but for the life of me I cannot find where I ordered it from.  This picture does not do it justice but the largest roll of wrapping paper I've ever seen showed up at my house:

I hope my friends really like this paper because all presents will be wrapped in it for the next seven years.

I made a stencil out of a Coke Zero box and then cut the wrapping paper using the stencil.

I adhered the liner to the envelope using double-sided tape.  I put the liner in the envelope, folded it over, and then adhered just the top/flap portion.

I am so happy with my finished product, even though I know most people will not appreciate it.

Whew!  So there we have it!  I never thought I would be someone who spent a lot of time on their invitations but I did and I'm glad I did.  Did anyone else make some crazy time-consuming decisions? 

All photos personal