Inside the Cupcake Invitations

part one: And... They're... OFF!

Thank you all for the generous and wonderful compliments on our wedding invitations. It is nice to know that all of my hard work didn't go unnoticed!

After I posted about our invites, I realized that I forgot one of the prettiest parts: the calligraphy! This part I cannot take credit for, as this was again done by a talented colleague. Here's an inside look. (I even had the calligrapher do a 100% fake address so that I could show her handiwork in all its glory here on Weddingbee!)


The white ink really pops on the teal envelopes, and ties everything together. I love how the flourishes in the lettering emulate the flourishes in the Albemarle font that I used for our names.

Many of you had questions about the invitations and the process, which I tried to answer in the comments of my last post, but I promised to elaborate in a follow-up post as well. Below are some of the questions I received along with their answers. Please continue to ask if I have missed anything....

Sara asked: how do you get the die cut on the teal layer for the invite? are there vendors that do that for you? or can you purchase some sort of implement to do it yourself?

Answer: the die-cut was coordinated by my engraver. Basically, I sent them the Adobe Illustrator file with the invitation laid out so that a die could be made with the shape that I created. After the dotted-line grid pattern was flat-printed on the teal layer and our wedding date was engraved in the top left corner, the paper was then die-cut with the scroll shape in the correct place. The white layer was engraved with our wedding information, and then layered underneath the teal die-cut layer before everything was die-cut one final time at the final size (5.5" x 8.5") with rounded corners. Any professional printer that you work with should have a resource for die-cutting and be able to assist you or point you in the right direction.

mdarrah asked: I am loving the detailed info in the tri-fold. What all info did you put in there? Is that all directions and hotel info? (if so - WOW you have some uber informed guests!!)

Answer: the 3 inside panels of the tri-fold have directions to the church (from several points) and directions to the hotel/venue from several points. Yes, people can use Mapquest, but as a professional wedding guest myself, I always appreciate directions with clear landmarks to ensure that I’ll get there on time! The outside panel (aside from the cover) included hotel information. This same information was also included on the save the dates we sent out in February, but it definitely didn't hurt to include it again. Our room block has seen quite an increase in bookings since the invites went out!


Arvee asked: What’s the font you used?

Answer: the flourishy font used for our names, "celebrate," etc. is called Albemarle Swash. The secondary block/serif font I used is called ITC Souvenir.

misssweetart asked: Where/how did you get those envelopes? I love the shape of their flap.

Answer: the envelope flap that has the curve to it is actually the trademark custom flap that my company uses on all of its envelopes. We use it for all of our invitations and stationery. However, we do not stock envelopes in the teal color that I wanted, so I ordered the paper from one of my paper vendors at work and had the envelopes custom cut and scored by our envelope converter. They were then sent to my engraver to be engraved. They came back to me looking like this:


...and I had to put them all together with double-faced tape. This also meant that they didn't have the glue on the flaps for our guests to be able to seal the response envelopes, so I had to apply this remoistenable envelope glue to all of them (which definitely worked, as all of the response envelopes that have been pouring in have been sealed tightly!). This project was probably the most annoying, considering I had to put together all of the outer and response envelopes and apply the glue to all of the response envelopes. (The outer envelopes didn't need the glue since I could seal them myself any way I wanted to.)


Miss Cookie asked: Who assembled the envelope liner?

Answer: the envelope liners came printed, die-cut and scored from my printer, but I lovingly (and annoyingly!) inserted and taped them all into place. Another painstaking project that took way longer than I thought it would.

puffykins asked: i like the image of the istockphoto that you have – do you know if i order it, whether i can use that in Microsoft Word? do you the name of that istockphoto image u used?

Answer: I am pretty sure you need a vector-image editing program (such as, but not limited to, Adobe Illustrator) to make use of iStock vector images, but perhaps someone else can correct me? I think the iStock website tells you somewhere, and I know that there are other (less expensive) options than Illustrator out there! The image file number (if you do a search) is 5490598. It looks like this when you download it:


The edges line up so you can copy and paste the image multiple times and make a seamless pattern, and I (obviously) adjusted the colors, as well! When I found the image I knew it would fit the vision I had for my envelope liners, even though the colors make it look completely different in the preview.

Nada asked: i’ve always wondered how non-pocketfold invitations hold the extra cards? Do you just place the rsvp and the trifold in the big envelope?

Answer: the rule I followed is smallest piece in the front to largest piece in the back. MOH Nicole lovingly stuffed all of our invitations, and you can sort of see in the photo below how she has everything stacked in her hands: 1) the response envelope with our address facing out, with the response card tucked under the flap; 2) the "celebrate" reception card; 3) the directions insert; and 4) the invitation.


Here's another shot that helps you to see what the final piece looked like before it got all sealed up:


Although I appreciate the convenience of a modern pocket-fold that holds all of the pieces together, I still love a traditional stand-alone invitation, and the guests won't lose any of the pieces if they keep their pretty envelope around :-)

bugaboo asked: I love that design around all of the writing. Is that a vector image also?

Answer: the scroll shape that I used on the response envelopes and celebration card (which emulates the die-cut part of the invitation), as well as the flourish artwork around our wedding date, is all vector artwork that I created in Adobe Illustrator. I had seen some similar images that I liked and I used those as inspiration to create my own shape. The dotted-line grid on the invitation is something I put together in Illustrator, as well.


Nicole R. asked: Do you have a cost break down of how much everything cost?

Answer: I wish I had a clear answer for you, but since I was able to make use of a lot of my work resources, no number I give you would be a fair representation of what these invitations "should" have cost. Basically, to be honest, I never could have afforded these invitations if I were a paying customer! I did pay for all of the teal paper, the envelope die-cutting, the calligraphy, and the custom stamps. All of the teal cover weight paper and the envelope die-cutting (including outer envelopes, response envelope, and thank you envelopes) ran me around $600. The calligraphy for 127 invitations was just over $300, and the stamps were about $350 (for 140 $1.34 stamps, 140 $0.42 stamps, Zazzle's custom stamp fees and shipping).

The engraving, additional papers and labor were generously donated to me by the engraver who I work with on a daily basis. To me this is priceless, but in reality probably would have cost several thousand dollars. I know this is not a reasonable invitation budget for most brides, and for the favors that were done for me I am extremely grateful.

I hope that all of this info helps to give you a little insight into what went into our invitations! Because I'm still a little obsessed with them, here's that invitation glamour shot, one more time: