We had received a few wedding and other party invitations with super pretty writing on the envelopes.  Specifically gorgeous calligraphy!  Despite loving calligraphy I couldn’t justify the cost of paying for hand done calligraphy on something 99.9% of people just throw away after opening the invitation.

So we went the route of DIY calligraphy.  By DIY I mean using the computer and printer, because my handwriting is less than ideal even for meeting notes. :)

Materials Needed:

First the husband and I went online and viewed a ton of different free calligraphy fonts.  After much deliberation we downloaded a free calligraphy font

We had a little over 100 invitation to address.  The envelopes we chose came in packs of 50, 250 and 500.  Clearly the 500 was over doing it, but we couldn’t decide if we should order 150 (3 packs of 50) or just go for the 250 pack of envelopes.  In the end we decided we could find other uses for the extra envelopes and went ahead and purchased 250 envelopes.

How to Create Envelopes in MS Word:

  1. Open MS Word
  2. Click Page Layout > Size > More Paper Sizes
  3. From the Paper Size drop down choose Custom Size
  4. For me I had A7 envelopes (5-1/4” x 7-1/4”)
  5. So within the width I entered 7.25 and height 5.25
  6. Click OK

DIY Calligraphy / Wedding Envelopes | Life's Tidbits

For the return address I decided to use a standard “block” font called “Adobe Caslon Pro”.  I have only received one invitation where the return address was calligraphy font, but I think this is all a matter of preference.  And since it’s DIY you can make it fit your style and font preference.

  • Type in a test address > select font, size and line spacing

Ours looked like this …

DIY Calligraphy / Wedding Envelopes | Life's Tidbits

  • Save the file someplace on your computer and clearly mark it as the return address portion of the envelope.
  • Once you are happy with how it looks print a TEST version.  I suggest plain white paper.
  • Once you are happy with how it looks go ahead and print a test version on an envelope.
  • Confirm everything looks perfect and make tweaks as necessary. Ensure you’ve spell checked as well.

At this point you can go ahead and print return addresses on all your envelopes.  If you have 130 invitations to send make an extra 10-15 envelopes with return addresses.  This will save you time if you have to reprint an address.  As you print them make sure the envelopes don’t fall on top of each other in the tray … it can cause smudging.  We lined our bookshelves with the envelopes and allowed them to dry over night before putting them in a pile.  Our apartment looked like a little printing press! :)

With the return address completed you are ready to start on the front of the envelope.  The steps are the same as above.

  • Type in a test address > select font, size and line spacing
  • Print tests on plain paper and then an envelope.
  • I think it took us at least 5-7 printed drafts to be happy.
  • Once you are happy go ahead and add all the addresses into the word file (click save periodically to ensure you don’t loose your work people!!).

Here’s what ours looked like in Word:

DIY Calligraphy / Wedding Envelopes | Life's Tidbits

A Couple Tips:

  1. Print High resolution.  I printed the 1st few on standard.  They looked nice, but when the husband suggested printing on High resolution it looked better.  This does use a little more in than standard, but in the grand scheme of things I don’t think it really cost us any additional money.
  2. Buy extra envelopes.  As I already mentioned print tests on regular white paper for a while until you think it is right.  You will need envelopes for testing, but you will also find that people move or you have an address incorrect and have to reprint.  Extra envelopes purchased up front save you heartburn later, promise!
  3. Start early.  Everyone laughed when I started printing envelopes 3 months before we sent them.  Giving myself a lot of time to complete the project reduced my stress level and made it more fun. Plus it ensured I gave the envelopes plenty of time to dry before additional printing or sending.  Nothing was smudged because we were rushing.

Here they are ready to be sent!  Oh how I still love those custom stamps.

DIY Calligraphy / Wedding Envelopes | Life's Tidbits

Good luck with your printing press!  If you have any questions about the process, please leave a comment … I’m happy to provide additional details!!

Happy Planning and DIY!!

signiture_nicole

 

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We got engaged in October and by the time we found our photographer, signed the contract and thought about scheduling our e-session it was FRRRREEZING outside.  After giving it some thought we decided to wait until April to do our engagement photos.

A larger number of people use their e-pics on their save the dates (STDs).  Since our save the dates went out priority to even booking the photographer we were going to have to find other ways to use the pictures.  When we received our ~120 engagement photos I started wondering what we were going to do with all these pictures.

We did the typical print a few and put them up around the house as well as place a few favorites on the wedding website.  But it just didn’t feel like enough and I started to think there just HAD to be more we could do with all these cutsie pictures.

I found five fun ways to take advantage our engagement pictures!

All of the engagement photos were taken by Korie Lynn Photography

1.  Guest Book

Part of our photography package included a guest book.  The hubby and I chose our favorite pictures and then our photographer designed and printed the book for us.  If it isn’t included in your photo package it’s a super easy DIY project.  Photobooks can be created on Shutterfly, MyPublisher, SnapFish, Blur and the list of places goes on and on.

Check out our book:

Photo Credit: Korie Lynn Photography

2.  Framed Collage

We had a frame with pictures we weren’t loving anymore.  We printed our top 9 photos and voila …

3.  Table numbers!

I had serious issues trying to decide what to do about table numbers.  I thought about naming each table a Washington Monument, wine bottles, luminaria with numbers and gosh probably a dozen other things.

In the end we picked our favorite engagement pictures added numbers with Photoshop … printed the pictures and purchased some plastic picture frames.  It was a super easy DIY and pretty cheap too if you ask me.

Looks pretty … right?!

Photo Credit: Korie Lynn Photography

4.  Thank you cards

These were a HUGE hit with our friends and family.  We chose two different pictures and used Photoshop to add “Thank you” to the images.  I ordered them from Shutterfly, however like the guest book there are a ton of places you can order customized photo thank you cards.

5.  Custom Stamps for the wedding invitation

I wish I could take all the credit for this idea, but my mom really pushed me to follow through on this idea.  I had toyed with buying custom stamps for the invitations, however I wasn’t sure if it was worth the extra money.  In the end I decided it would be fun and I ordered the custom stamps from Zazzle.com.  The stamps come in three different sizes so you have your choice of how big you want the stamp to be.

Tip: Make sure to take the invitation to the post office prior to buying the custom stamps so you know what postage rate you will need to purchase.

Photo Credit: Korie Lynn Photography

So there are my engagement picture tidbits.  How have you (or your friends) used engagement pictures?

Happy Planning and DIY!

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