The Great Lobster Invitation Reveal

My biggest DIY undertaking for the wedding was definitely our invitation suite. I designed the whole thing with a little help from some purchased stock images. By the time I created this gem, I had already completed at least six other designs. Since Mr. Rucksack and I couldn't agree, it was back to the drawing board. Maybe someday I'll open an Etsy shop so that all of those designs don't go to waste. I thought some of them were pretty darn cute:

A small sample of my nixed creative work

I decided to go back to our Save the Date roots and incorporate the lobsters again. I mean, who doesn't love an adorable lobster? I also stayed with the navy and white color scheme to appease Mr. Rucksack since he wasn't a fan of the pink and aqua colors I had used in the other invitation sets I created. After playing around with layouts, I went with a tri-fold card with lots of lobsters and shells:

The front of the invitation

Partially opened

All the deets

Back of the postcard Response Card

Invitation & Response Card

The whole suite, including the thank you card

For some reason, I naively thought that designing our invitations would actually save us money. (Our Save the Dates had been so inexpensive!) What I didn't consider was that we were now a) printing on both sides b) using much longer paper that had to be cut down to accommodate our 6x18 cards and c) having folds included. Folds cost money. Mad money. I was able to negotiate the price a little so they weren't ridiculously expensive, but we definitely could have saved money (and time!) by going the stock online route.

I used Allegra out of New Haven to print everything because I’ve worked with them for years through both my day job and my outside design work. They were wonderful to work with as always, but I was a little disappointed with how long it all took. They were a few days late on both of the proofs and then a day late on the final invitations. We were cutting it close to the advised 6-8 week mark as it was, so I was panicking a little. Everyone’s incessant nagging of “where’s my invitation?” did not help matters.

They ended up going out at the 7 week mark which Miss Manners assures me is just fine. And I have to tell you, all of the praise we've received made them seem well worth the wait and the price.

One of my favorite parts of the invitation was our envelope. In Photoshop, I manipulated our lobster graphic from the invitations so that his claws would hold our stamps. The body wrapped around the top of the invitation and became part of our address label. I know I would smile if I had a little lobster delivering my mail!

Did you DIY your invitations? What was your biggest challenge?

Our Peg People Cake Topper

One of the things I am most excited about is our cake buffet. Although I'm not a big fan of eating cake, I just love the idea of it. It's kind of like eggnog in December. Every year I get wildly excited when I see eggnog invade the grocery store shelves and every year I finish about half a cup before declaring "Over it!" and moving on to another holiday novelty.

Still, cakes are just so pretty and a cake buffet is my dream. It's both beautiful and - since we have friends varying across a spectrum of dietary requests (paleo, vegan, chocolate, no chocolate) - it's practical too.

A beautiful assortment of sweets via Sweet Bloom Cakes

So many options via The Sweetest Occassion / Photo by Emilie Inc

I knew I wanted each cake to have a topper to make them special and originally thought about collecting an assortment of vintage toppers. In the end, I decided that would be a lot of work and wouldn't be as put together looking as I'd like. So instead, I'll be creating bunting for each cake.

Via The Sweetest Occassion

But what about our special gluten-free paleo cake? Of course, that needs something extra special. Per usual, I fell in love with a cake topper on Etsy. But at $150 it was out of our price range.

Via Lollipop Workshop

What's a girl to do?

Admittedly terrified, I decided to craft it myself. Thanks to some crafty girls ahead of me like Mrs. Armadillo and Mrs. Splatterpaint I gathered my supplies and gave it a whirl.

I was most terrified of the painting part, but it actually went pretty well! The clothes were not easy though. In the end, I think they're fine, but if I look for too long I get the urge to undo everything.

Peg people in the nude!

All dolled up. I still need to figure out a way to make a bouquet.

What's your DIY inspiration - are you an Etsy idea thief like me?

Funfetti Bridesmaids Gifts

Do you remember Funfetti cupcakes?

Mmmm....sugar. Via Preppy Pink Blondie

My best friend, BM Veronica, and I were all about Funfetti in high school, baking up cupcakes for birthdays and Valentine's day and PMS and just because we were 15 year old girls craving a sugar high. Maybe's that's where my not so secret confetti obsession came in. It's this funny side of me that loves all things glitter, polka dots, and of course sprinkles (yum!).

I've been trying to buy little gifts and start DIY projects as I see them and as I have extra money available. I know that if I wait until the last minute, they will never get done! It's also a lot easier to purchase gifts $50 at a time when I see a good deal rather than trying to spend all of that money at once so close to the wedding.

When I spotted these adorable chevron clutches in our wedding colors at Pick Your Plum, I knew they'd be a perfect (and at $7.95 each, inexpensive) gift for my maids.

Via Pick Your Plum

Even though they'd be great on their own, I wanted more. More confetti! More cowbell!

Luckily, I remembered an adorable Etsy find that I though maybe....just maybe...I could DIY.

Here's the original:

Via Twinklebird's Etsy Shop

I love the confetti and the quote! But I also wanted to use my wedding colors, and not have to pay $42 a piece. So DIY I did!

$25 later, and I have 6 of these cute little boxes:

I first gathered my supplies:

1. Colorful card stock. I used shades of aqua, pink, gold and navy to represent our wedding colors and paid between 50 and 70 cents per square.
2. Ring bases. I purchased a pack of 24 for $6 from Etsy.
3. Handheld hole puncher. The office 3-hole punch left the card stock bent and morphed, but the handheld worked great.
4. Mod Podge Dimensional Magic. This stuff is so cool.
5. Ring boxes or small favor boxes. I purchased a package of blue favor boxes for $5 at Michael's.
6. Xacto Knife

Then got to work:

1. Start by punching about a million tiny confetti pieces using your handheld puncher and card stock. My plan was to punch them all during our Thursday night television line-up, but that tiny thing is surprisingly loud so I was limited to commercial punching only. My hands also got really tired by the time Parks & Rec came on.

2. Once you have a sufficient amount of confetti, begin assembling your "jewels." I used some of my scrap booking glue (the same stuff I used for our Save the Dates) to hold two pieces of confetti together. (You could probably also use a bit of the Mod Podge.) I found the best way was to dab some glue on a piece of paper and then run the confetti through it so it gets an even coat. Then I stuck it to a matching piece of confetti because I wanted them to be nice and strong. (This was also helpful for the gold confetti pieces since they had a white back that needed to be hidden)

3. Once you have your double-sided confetti pieces ready, it's time to Mod Podge. This part took a second to get used to, but I found the easiest method was to squeeze gently into a big drop and then to swirl onto the confetti until it was spread evenly across. The Mod Podge begins to dry surprisingly fast, so you have to work quickly.

4. Check for air bubbles in between applications! I set aside an area of paper specifically to drop off bubbles before moving onto the next jewel. If you don't, you'll end up with tiny bubbles in your jewel and it will look like a boob.

5. Wait. And Wait. And Wait. The jewels will be dry in 3 hours, but it's recommended to let them sit for 24 hours before handling. Below are my pretty jewels (I made extras just in case some of them didn't turn out) and an example of what happens when you don't pop an air bubble. (See boob in lower right corner.)

6. In the meantime, assemble the boxes. I created the ring inserts by cutting a square of card stock slightly larger than the lid and then cutting squares out of each corner so that I could fold and fit them into the boxes. The little slit was created using an Xacto knife.

7. When the 24 hours are up, apply your dried confetti jewel flat side down to the ring by using a thin coat of the Mod Podge. (I tried hot glue and failed miserably since it kept drying upon contact with the metal ring and the glue bump it left was too big) Press down firmly for a couple of seconds and it'll be dry shortly after.

I placed my finished rings in their boxes along with some extra confetti for fun and now they're set to go.

They're certainly not perfect, but I think they'll be a fun addition to the bags and the rest of the gifts.

Have you tackled any bridal party DIYs lately?

The Rest of the Bridal Party Gets Popped

Mr. Rucksack was a little concerned about sending his groomsmen "Will you be my groomsman?" gifts. While he and his friends are actually pretty adorable and regularly send each other snail mail, everything he had seen in the way of popping the question to a dude was just a little over the top.

We settled on a simple card that I designed based on a picture I found by typing "men drinking champagne" on the interwebs. However, we also have a junior groomsmen who is only 9 and we had to come up with an alternate idea for him. Little Cousin Rucksack, or GM Brobot as I'm sure he would prefer, is seriously too cool for words. He's really excited about our wedding and even though we hadn't asked him to be in the bridal party yet, he was already busy picking out bow ties for the occasion.

Seriously, this kid is 9 and already way cooler than I'll ever be.

I decided that presenting him with his very own bow tie would be the perfect way to ask him to be a groomsman in our wedding, so the search began. Luckily, Peter Blair was having a $10 tie sale when I happened to visit. Super score! The deal was so good that we decided to get bow ties for all the boys. They'll have the option to wear them to the wedding or to wear one of their own.

Your Service as a Groomsman is Required. Hoity toity and hilarious.

Mr. Rucksack chose each tie based on each groomsman's personality. GM Brobot's is the goldfish tie, third from the right.

Last, but certainly far from least, we needed good ideas for our adorable kiddos. Mr. Rucksack's best friend and Best Man has the two cutest children who will be our ring bearer and flower girl.

After much searching, I decided on a jewelry box for Flower Girl Rucksack, complete with a flower girl version of the star bracelet:

And a pirate chest for Ring Bearer Rucksack. The box is by Melissa & Dog and came complete with gold coins, a pirate flag, and an eye patch. We added a cute card that asked - "Will you guard the rings - and be our ring bearer?"

 The kids were psyched. Mostly because they both received cool boxes with treasure (and secret compartments). Ring Bearer Ruckus, who's only three, didn't totally understand the concept of walking down the aisle, but we were assured he could be bribed with pizza. Flower Girl Rucksack is really excited to wear a pink dress!

Gifts for the whole fam of VIPs:

How did you pop the question to your bridal party?

Asking the bridal party. AKA: Thanks a lot, Pinterest.

Do your remember the Pre-Pinterest days when asking someone to be a bridesmaid was as simple as calling a friend and saying "Hey, dude. Do you wanna be a bridesmaid and help me pee with my wedding gown and stuff?"

I feel like with the invention of Pinterest, those days are long gone. Now apparently you have to "pop the question" to your whole bridal party. I thought about skipping the tradition, but then FMIL Rucksack mentioned it. If even FMIL Rucksack was expecting me to craft something awesome, then I knew it had to be done. (In addition to blaming Pinterest on my "must DIY" obsession, I also blame Minnesota. Those Minnesotans are a crafty people.)

Pinterest is a terrible source for competitive Type A people like myself because when I see something cute my thinking goes something like this:

"That's awesome! I could do that!"
"Crap. It's on Pinterest. I wonder who else has seen it."
"If it's too popular, I can't do it."
"I must do it BETTER."

Which is how on a Wednesday evening I came to be opening up a package of darts from an Amazon package.

You heard me right: darts.

Via Amazon

And then I attempted to paint them with pink glitter paint. (I am only now starting to realize just how crazy that plan was.) It was a total failure and it was at that moment that I used my favorite stress-related phrase: eff it.

It's a phrase I first used when stressing out over finding the perfect brown belt to go with my "meet the parents" outfit when Mr. Rucksack flew me out to Minnesota the first time. After searching through stores for over an hour, I realized his parents wouldn't care or know that my outfit would look cuter with a brown belt. And so, "eff it" was born.

Similarly, my bridesmaids never have to know that my initial plan involved them popping a heart shaped balloon with a glitter painted dart to reveal confetti and a fancy banner requesting their bridesmaids services. I know I'm totally giving up the world's best bride award here, but I know my bridesmaids will thank me later when I'm significantly less crazy and twitchy from craft related stress.

And you know, their gifts are still cute and original:

I made the bracelets and the holder based on ones that I saw on Etsy. The little quote works perfectly since I did theater through high school and college and I ended up using starfish as my stars since it fit with our beach theme. The folded cards were purchased from Etsy seller Charm and Fig.

The best part about my simplified gifts is that they could be sent easily in the mail. With one bridesmaid in Minnesota and one in New Hampshire I was going to have to spend money on shipping a big (although very light) balloon holding box.

Of course, we couldn't leave out the groomsmen and kiddos! Up next, the rest of the bridal party gets their goodies!

Seaside Save the Dates

Can I get a quick amen for all things Etsy?

After months of attempting to design our STD cards, I finally caved in after it became apparent that I cannot paint. I had gotten it into my head that since I can do fairly decent graphic design work, that I should obviously be able to hand paint our cards. So armed with hundreds of dollars of pens, watercolor paper, canvas, and watercolors  I gave it my very best shot. And another. And another.

No dice.

I called my artist uncle for help, but he just scanned and sent me a bunch of old paintings he'd done of tropical beaches. They were gorgeous, but palm trees don't really match our New England themed beach wedding.

I searched online. I searched Etsy. I came up with nothing several times.

And then I stumbled upon an artist named Jackie Maloney and she was everything I wished I could be as an artist. Her work is cool and colorful and nautical, but it also looks so effortless. Like she just whipped something awesome up in a matter of minutes. So I sent her a flattering email with hopes that I could butter her up enough that she might draw something custom for us. Luckily she said yes and within two days, I had a lovely Save the Date in my possession!

The only inspiration I shared with her was this:

Via Momental Designs

But mostly I told her to have fun and to maybe add my dog, The Beez, into the mix.

Words cannot describe the amazing work that Jackie did for us. I think ours are even better than my inspiration pics! You guys ready to see?

I had the cards printed and cut at my favorite local printer, then assembled them at home with navy cardstock and red baker's twine. (Can you spot The Beez playing on the beach in the upper right corner? It's her favorite thing to do!)

All tied up! (Get it? Because we're tying the knot? Ha)

I had absolutely no intention of using address labels, but when the time came to use our customized address stamp, I couldn't find the ring with our new address on it! Of course I had put it "somewhere safe" and after an hour of searching still couldn't remember where that super safe place was.

So I did what any sane girl would do in my situation and I went to Best Buy and bought a printer. I know, I can't believe we didn't own a printer either. I figured it would come in handy throughout the whole wedding planning process anyway and we scored a great deal on a scanner/printer combo that's not only wireless, but that we can print with wifi from our iPads and iPhones. Awesomeness. If you're looking for a printer and scanner, definitely look into the Canon Pixma MG5420. (For what it's worth, it cost us $99 in-store.)

I'm still completely obsessed with our Save the Dates and think they really set the tone for the wedding. 

Would you commission an Etsy artist to create something for you? I love that we can now use the image for other wedding goodies!