Look Who Put a Ring on It

In the oh so infamous words of Beyonce, "If you liked it then you should have put a ring on it." And guess what folks, he did!

Three weeks ago, on September 9th, we got hitched!

With the forecast predicting flash floods and torrential downpours the entire week leading up to the wedding, the executive decision was made the day before to move it all indoors. With rain clouds looming above threatening our day every step of the way, an insane amount of chaos, and tons of love we were united as one.

We had a small and intimate budget wedding with 40 of our closest friends and family. There was a lot of DIY involved with our wedding, which definitely helped keep the budget in check. I hope to one day share all my DIY projects with you on this blog. In the meantime, I'll just leave you wondering how we pulled it all off with just $6,000. Keep an eye out, I hope to post a budget breakdown one of these days.

You Are Cordially Invited!

(To maintain some semblance of privacy I've blurred out names and addresses)

 

In case you can't read the text....

Invitation:

He asked and she said yes...

Or was it the other way around?

However it happened we

BRIDES NAME

and

GROOMS NAME

Invite you to join us

as we get married

on Friday, September 9, 2011

at 2:00PM

CEREMONY VENUE NAME

CEREMONY VENUE ADDRESS

Reception to follow

RSVP Reply Card:

We look forward to celebrating with you!

Please reply by August 19, 2011

We have reserved ____ seats in your honor.

Name _____________________________

____ will dine, dance, and celebrate!

____ will miss out on all the fun!

Total number attending _____

Reception Card:

Following the ceremony

please join us for dinner and dancing

as the celebration continues

at 4:00PM

RECEPTION VENUE NAME

RECEPTION VENUE ADDRESS

I made the map myself by drawing it out on paper, scanning it, then touching it up heavily with paintshop. I also used some rubber stamps to jazz up the plain white envelopes.

Because I'm cool and printed on the back side of the cards:

I left the backside of the invitation blank and used the back side of the Reception Card and Map Poastcard to type up directions to both venues. The back of the RSVP Reply Card has instructions on how to submit your RSVP and what information you can find on our website.

I also ordered some return address labels to use on the outer envelope, but since I had so many leftover I also used them to address the RSVP Reply Card envelope. Because the back of the outer envelope looked so boring I also had some seals custom made that say "We're getting married! 09/09/11."

Because I went with a lightweight invitation suite I didn't have to shell out $.61 for the typical wedding invitation stamp. This baby only required a plain ol' first class stamp.... which I gussied up by using the "Garden of Love" first class stamp.

By this point you are probably wondering how much did these wonderfully beautiful invitations cost?? Not that much if you really want to know. If you're guessing $100, I'd say guess lower... like much lower.... like right under $60.

For a grand total of $59.76, I purchased the following:

50 - 6x9 invitations with white outer envelopes

50 - 5.5x4 RSVP Reply Cards with white envelopes

50 - 5.5x4 Reception Cards with white envelopes

100 - 4x6 postcard maps

140 - Return Address Labels

48 - Envelope Seals

postage

calligraphy Pen

rubber stamps

With the exception of the postage, calligraphy pen, and rubber stamps everything was purchased from Vistaprint. This was the beginning of my love affair with Vistaprint. I plan to dedicate a whole post to the incredibly awesome deals I found at Vistaprint.