Wedding Program Inspiration

Getting real creative with my blog posts titles, eh? ;-)

I love wedding programs. I know that sounds like such a weird thing to say, but it's true. I love being able to follow along during the ceremony and learn about who is involved in the wedding. Although I will admit that they are definitely a superfluous expense (like welcome bags or bathroom baskets), I absolutely want them for our wedding ceremony. The problem is there are way too many great options out there and I am easily overwhelmed by all the inspiration. Seriously brides!! Stop making such cute paper products because you are making me want them ALL!

Mrs. Elephant's Passport programs are seriously way impressive:

 Image via Mrs. Elephant on Weddingbee

These cootie catcher programs are hands down the most adorable thing I've seen in a long time:

Image via Daisy Gal on the Weddingbee DIY boards

Mrs. Mink impressed me with her gorgeous fan programs:

Image via Mrs. Mink on Weddingbee

These fabric covered programs are so unique and absolutely beautiful:

 Image via Ruby Lane Moments on Etsy

But at the end of the day we spent a boatload on our invitations  and I decided I wanted something simpler (but still informative!) for our wedding programs. I came up with a few different ideas and we finally have the final version nailed down. Stay tuned!

Are you having wedding programs? Where did you find your inspiration?

Coyote Invitation Cost Breakdown

Now that you've all seen the invitations, I wanted to talk a bit about what went into them. I spent a little more than I thought I would and I probably didn't save any money doing it this way, but at the end of the day I super big puffy heart our invitations and I'm happy I went this route. It all started with the design. I tried to make my own a few times, but nothing I created really stood out to Mr. Coyote, our parents, or me. After many failed attempts I decided that this project was important enough to take to the professionals. After browsing millions of designs and ordering wayyyy to many samples:

(That's only half of them!)

I stumbled upon Printable Press. With this company you can order print ready designs and then take them to a local printer or even print them yourself. The main invitation cost $79, the response card was $35 and the insert card was $37. I took the files they gave me and sent them off to Catprint. After much discussion we decided to go with their heavy cotton card stock and the printing came in just around $150.

The pieces ordered from Printable Press and printed by Catprint.

The directions card was designed and printed on heavy card stock by me. I managed to fit 10 little cards to a page so I didn't go through too much paper. The monogram on the belly band was one I created with help from Wedding Chicks. I printed it on white heavy cardstock and the backing was just 12x12 silver scrapbook paper. The monogram was about 2 inches by 2 1/2 inches and I think I managed to get about 20-25 monograms from each sheet. Let's just say my paper trimmer got a serious workout from cutting out all these little pieces!

I took advantage of a sale at Michaels for 25% off all ribbon and completely wiped out their supply of burgundy ribbon for the belly band. After layering all the pieces I then used tape runner to secure everything.

Finally, the inner and outer envelopes were purchased from Envelopper Ink. They were one of the few companies that offered both sets of envelopes without having to purchase an entire invitation suite. I printed the addresses and return addresses on the outer envelopes and then completely wiped out Michaels' supply of scrapbook paper to use as liners on the inner envelopes (they were having one of their 7 sheets for a $1 sales... How could I resist?!)

The outer and inner envelopes.

Total cost breakdown for 100 invitations:

Invitation, RSVP and Accommodations designs from Printable Press: $151
Printing and RSVP envelopes from Catprint: $150
Inner and Out Envelopes from Envelopper Inc: $53
Ribbon: $15 (This is an estimate as I misplaced the receipt!)
Cardstock for monogram backing and envelope liners: $5
Postage: $110
Total: $484*
Total per invite: $4.84

*This cost includes materials purchased solely for the use of assembling our wedding invitations. Other items such as:

• tape runner
• paper cutter
• plain, white cardstock (used for directions card and monogram)
• computer ink (used for directions card, monogram and envelopes)

are not included in this breakdown because they were pre-owned and used for other projects aside from our invitations.

So there you have it! It's crazy how quickly the costs add up and yes there were things we could have done to lower the costs (been a bit more patient and created the design myself for instance. Or choose a less fancy and therefore less expensive paper for printing), but the truth is I am crazy in love with these invitations and would probably do it all over again if given the choice.

Did you have any projects that ended up costing more than you expected?

Beware the... Momzilla?

Disclaimer: Yes, my mother reads my blog. Yes, a majority of what is in the post to follow I have said to her in person so none of this will come as a shock to her. This is *mostly* meant in jest. If there is one thing you should know about me it's to never take me too seriously. Right mom?!

Miss Mink talked a little bit about mothers not being present during wedding planning, but what happens when you have a mother on the other end of the spectrum? You get a Momzilla that's what happens.

You guys all know how important my family is to me, so I'm sure it won't come as a surprise that my mom and I are super close. Even though we are separated by a three hour drive we see each other often and call each other weekly (although with the wedding approaching our phone calls have increased in frequency).

Momma Coyote and I at my bridal shower last month.

Now my mom is a pretty rational person (most of the time). She has a good head on her shoulders and I've always looked up to her and respected her greatly. But in the months following my engagement something changed and it is clear to me that Momma Coyote has been bitten by the WIC bug. Badly. This lady wants ALL THE THINGS and she's not afraid to say it.

In fact just the other night she called me and said, "You know, I was talking to my friend about her daughter's wedding and they made these bags for the guests who booked a hotel room and put all sorts of fun things into them! Like homemade cookies!"

Miss Coyote: "Oh yea, those are called welcome bags… I've heard of them before."

Momma Coyote: "We should do that!"

Miss Coyote: "Mom, we have just over a month left til the wedding. I still have to assemble the favors and print the programs and menus. Oh and there's that pesky little full-time job that's been taking up a lot of my time. I think it's a nice touch, but there just isn't enough time. I think it's okay to do without."

Momma Coyote: "Well I can do them! We wouldn't really need that many…"

Miss Coyote: "Okay, if you really want to do them you can. But you've got enough on your plate right now and I just think they're going to end up being really time consuming."

Momma Coyote: "No you're right. It's just another thing to buy anyways." Laughter. And a pause. She's thinking. This can't be good. "How about bathroom baskets?!?!"

Miss Coyote: "Sigh."

I love you Momma, but you're drivin' me crazy!

My mom has been with me for every step of our wedding journey. Mr. Coyote is an amazing person and he has many wonderful qualities, but planning a wedding is not one of them. Basically, I make all major decisions, wave them in front of his face for approval and move on. I'd love for him to be more involved in the planning, but he has told me from day one that he's just not that interested. And although my bridesmaids have been super supportive the reality is they just don't care about all the minute details that go into a wedding. And to be honest, half the time I don't really care either! That's where Momma Coyote comes in. This woman is interested in EVERY aspect of wedding planning... Maybe even a little too interested.

Need another example? A few months ago we all sat down together to finalize the menu. Each entree comes with a vegetable and a starch. I thought the zucchini sounded nice for the vegetable side, but Momma Coyote really wanted the asparagus. We went back and forth a bit until I relented. I added it to the list of things-about-the-wedding-that-I-really-don't-care-about and moved on. That is until last weekend when the phone rang:

Momma Coyote: "Miss Coyote? I'm in the car. I'm driving to your grandparents' house and all of a sudden I thought of something. I know we decided on asparagus, but now I think maybe we should do the zucchini. Do you think people would prefer zucchini or asparagus?"

Miss Coyote: "Zucchini. That's why I suggested it."

Momma Coyote: "Yea, you know I'm just not sure. I think people like both. And I think the asparagus will be presented better on the plate."

Miss Coyote: "Right. That's why we decided on asparagus."

Momma Coyote: "But what if people don't like asparagus? Maybe more people like zucchini. I wish we could take a poll and see what people like better."

Miss Coyote: "Mom, I don't care. But we've only got a month left and we need to tell the venue if we're going to change our mind. I don't care which one you pick, you really just need to make a decision." (I can't believe I just said to my mom regarding a decision for my own dang wedding.)

This went on for a few minutes and a decision has yet to be made concerning the asparagus-zucchini debate. In fact, my friends are so excited about the outcome that they are in the process of creating "Team Asparagus" and "Team Zucchini" shirts to don on the big day. It's going to be an all out vegetable war. In the meantime a separate battle has cropped up pitting the penne against the cavatelli. 

Here's the thing. I really appreciate that my mom is so interested in the wedding. Planning a wedding can be an incredibly lonely process when your friends are single and your groom is more interested in Diablo 3 than if the program should have a purple or silver border. I consider myself very lucky to have someone who is genuinely invested in our wedding to bounce ideas off of. And if that means letting Momma Coyote make decisions about asparagus or zucchini or favors or bathroom baskets then so be it. It makes her happy and at the end of the day these decisions are just not that important to me. All I really care about it is that 20 minute little ceremony that will bond Mr. Coyote and me together as husband and wife. Everything else is just fluff.

But for Momzilla, it's the most important part of the day.

Is anyone else struggling with a Momzilla?

I'm in Every Picture!

Right after we booked our photographer Mr. Coyote and I discussed having a videographer at our wedding. I know for most brides this is a less important priority and many couples chose not to hire one, but honestly I just could not imagine not having a videographer for our wedding day.

Why? Because I am a total narcissist and attention whore, that's why. Just kidding. (Kinda.)

The reality is I LOVE HOME MOVIES. My father has had a video camera for as long as I can remember and is constantly filming us. Every once in a while we will pop in an old movie and reminisce about a certain vacation, someone's birthday, a school play. He's recently been converting all of our old VHS tapes into DVDs and sent along this gem:

I told you guys I was a narcissist! Look at that wee little Coyote all up in the cameraman's business! Now that's the only embarrassing clip you're going to get out of me so I hope you all really treasure it. Because I grew up with a video camera around me all the time, it was an absolute must to have our wedding day captured on film. But just like our hunt for good photography, I was absolutely floored by the high costs.

The truth is we had already splurged a bit on photography and there just wasn't that much let over for videography. Apparently in the wedding world my budget for videography will get you nothing more than some schmuck who snatched up the last camcorder on clearance from Best Buy and enjoys filming blurry, wobbly video of their great-Aunt Bessie's birthday parties. Sigh. Finding someone with just an ounce of talent that didn't jack up their prices because every package MUST include some crazy Academy Award winning full feature film was proving difficult. 

Now, because my father has always been known as the guy with the video camera a few of our family members have actually asked him to film their weddings for them. At one point I became so desperate that I actually contemplated going this route, (you know, to save on costs and all) but I'd already asked him to walk me down the aisle so that was out. Damn. Finally, just when I had reached the end of my rope, I stumbled upon Shaw Video Productions. I knew I struck gold when I read the little mantra on his site:

"My philosophy is simple. Your wedding is about you. My job is not to produce a wedding video that is my artistic interpretation of what I think your wedding should look like."

Video via Shaw Video Productions on Vimeo

No frills, no crazy bells and whistles necessary, just the highlights of a beautiful wedding day to relive and cherish for the rest of our days together.

Are you hiring a wedding videographer for your wedding day?

Coyote Invitation Reveal

Well we've already received about a third of our responses back so I'm going to go ahead and assume that all of our wedding invitations have safely arrived at their respective destinations.

We went semi-DIY with these bad boys and even though we hit some bumps in the road I absolutely love the final product. And so, without further ado... It's time for some Coyote invitation porn!

We ran all of the envelopes through the printer (shhhh... I know this is bad etiquette, but I have horrible handwriting and a calligrapher just wasn't in the budget). I went with the boring wedding cake stamps because nothing else really jumped out at me:

I sealed the outer envelope with an envelope moistener that I picked up from Staples for like a dollar. I gotta say, it was totally worth it to not lick 100 freakin' envelopes:

 I used three different types of scrapbook paper for the envelope liners:

And wrapped the whole thing up in a belly band:

It KILLS me to blur out so much of the invitation, but here is the main event:

There were lots of little pieces to our invitation suite and I promise to go into more detail in the next post, but for now, here is the whole set laid out:
 

Whew! Again, they were a ton of work (and I didn't even make them from scratch!), but I am so, so happy with the result. Did you make your own invitations? How did you do it without having a mental breakdown?!