3.15.2012

Getting ahead of myself...as usual

So I had been mulling over the location for the whole for a few weeks now. Cal and I decided to host the wedding in Penticton, so I've been tasked with finding a venue for the reception. I thought that since Penticton is the Napa of British Columbia that it would be easy finding a venue for 100 people at a winery. Was I ever in for a surprise. Fact: there are a lot of wineries in Penticton and Naramata. BUT, there aren't many that have the space to host a reception. I even considered taking the reception out to the surround towns such as Oliver, Okanagan Falls, and even as far as Osoyoos. Hosting the reception in these towns brings its own set of challenges. Our ceremony will be a church wedding, and that is to be held in Penticton. So if we were to have the wedding elsewhere, we would need to provide a shuttle from Penticton to the reception. But this means that our guests will have to arrive and leave at a specified time, or we have to provide multiple bus times. Anyway, to distract myself from finding a venue, I started looking at invitations.

I'm definitely leaning towards DIY suites instead of getting ones custom made. This would save us a ton of money. In an ideal world, I would loooove to have something like this:
But at over $7.00 each, I think it's a way too much for us to spend on invitations. I've been playing around with the free DIY templates from Wedding Chicks and it's been pretty fun! I think right now my favourite so far is this style:
I can choose multiple colours, and obviously the customize all the wording. This suite also includes Save the Date, RSVP and the program. The only thing missing in this suite for me is the menu card. I don't plan on having one menu for each guest, since that seems like a waste, so probably just 1 or 2 menus per table depending on the size and shape of our tables.

There are so many options for online DIY invitations. It's definitely going to be a challenge to find a template with the design we like, and also the right price. Hopefully Wedding Chicks will come out with one that's a winery theme! (hint hint).

I've also considered using seed paper instead of traditional card stock. Seed paper is paper that is embedded with seeds. They paper is supposed to sprout when you plant it. I like this idea because it's eco-friendly, but also because Cal loves gardening. Those close to us will understand the personal thought that went into the paper. I found Botanical Paperworks through some googling, and discovered that they do custom invitations, or you can buy DIY kits and print them yourself!


Botanical Paperworks also provides a free template if you want to print them yourself. You don't need a special printer or ink for the paper, so if you have a small wedding, you can totally print them off you ink-jet printer at home.

If we decide to go with seed paper, the company also has place cards, favours, menu cards...the options seem endless. I love these a favours:
They're $138 for 100 pieces, which is completely reasonable. However, with many of our guests coming from abroad, I'm not sure if it's worthwhile since they will not be able to bring it home with them.

So much to think about!!!

xoxo
-Meesh

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