Do it yourself Programs and Placecards

ABostonBride’s been a busy lady. I had a wonderful engagement photo session this past week (more on that in the future) and I’ve been wrapping up details on the gift bags/hair stylist/music/you-name-it.  I’ve also been having the most fun making programs and placecards believe it or not. I really wanted to keep with the theme set in our invitations / favors (read about that here). So here’s what I did:

1. I took the sheer enclosure from the invitation, opened it up, and scanned that into an image with a red paper behind it. What that did for me is create a graphic pattern I could use with the programs and placecards that matched the invites, yet started to break into the fun red color I have for the bridesmaids. The header on my blog is made from the pattern.

2. With that, I created a layout in Photoshop that is 4″ by 10″, the program length and height I wanted. I added the pattern, created a red band that matched the David’s Bridal Apple Red (copying the color swatch on their website), and then took the same “ALS Script” font we got from 1001 Free Fonts (which we also used in the invitations) to build the image for the front of the program.  Once we had a front we liked, I doubled the width of the canvas in Photoshop to 8″ and basically copied the front to the backside, removing the names and changing the Church/Place/Date to a thank you message.  After that, I exported it to a jpg and mailed it to Kendall Press who printed them on cardstock for a really reasonable price (less than print yourself at Staples).

3. We’re working on the text and information for the inside of the programs, but we’re basically creating a 2 column layout in Word and using the fonts we used in the invite (ALS Script as mentioned above and another more standard font called Candara).  We’re making the layout printable at home in black ink so we don’t need to have that professionally done.

4. For placecards, I thought about doing calligraphy work again like I did for the envelopes, but I like the consistency of the printed font for the smaller space that a placecard has. To tie it into the theme, I once again took my pattern in Photoshop and replaced the color with the darker red.  I also took the scrolling border from an image on our wedding website (thanks to the Knot) and matched it to the color of the pattern. I then added the names and table numbers in our script. As an added fun touch, since these are foldover, I printed a cow, chicken, or kid cartoon icon on the back folded part so the servers know what to serve.  They run about 4″ x 3.5″ folded, 4″ x 7″ flat each, so we can fit 6 on a standard 8.5″ x 11″ sheet. Once all the seating is figured out, we’ll send these over to the professionals to get printed as well.

In total, we’ll probably have spent no more than $50 on this project, which is a real steal for 80 – 100 people!

Swallowing the David’s Bridal Pill

(Image from RackedNY)

ABostonBride has lots of friends who have used David’s Bridal to cover all their bridal needs and have had good experiences with them. You can’t beat the fact that they are located all over the place, so bridesmaids everywhere can look at and order dresses without being near you.  The same is true for Men’s Wearhouse. If your bridesmaids and groomsmen are spread out geographically, these are great options.

ABostonBride, however, chose to get her dress at the Filene’s Basement Running of the Brides sale for a great $250 price tag. David’s had lots of great styles, but they can be moderately expensive for what you get.  $700 may not seem expensive for a wedding dress, but the styles have become very common. I’ve been to 2 weddings with the same exact style…2 years apart!

David’s offers so much in one place, which can be convenient for the busy bride. On the other hand, I’ve gotten my veil, shoes, and other accessories from online places and other stores for significantly less than what David’s charges.

In the end, I decided to use David’s and Men’s Wearhouse for only bridesmaid and groomsmen wear.  I like having a more unique dress, but having a common color for the bridesmaids helped a lot. For example, all the wedding vendors we talked to knew exactly what David’s Bridal Apple referred to – from the tuxes to the florist to our cake baker – and that kind of consistency really helps. So maybe a David’s dress isn’t in your cards, but for bridesmaids dresses, it certainly seems the way to go!

Help us create the perfect Boston Guest Welcome Bag

I’m still looking for ideas for my Boston wedding hotel guest welcome bags. Fiance and I were talking and we thing going with edibles is the way to do it. You know the BostonBride is budget conscious, so here are some ideas she’s exploring:

• Plain old bottled water. Nothing beats a few bottles of free water when the hotel tries to charge you $5 for some!
• A couple bottles of Sam Adams!
• Boston Baked Beans. The candy! For $5, you can get a box of 24 small boxes.
• We’re thinking about Necco Wafers too, though not sure people will get that they are originally a locally made product. They are quite more expensive at $32 for 36. I’ve seen the mini rolls on eBay for $5 for 30ish.
• Boston Tea Party Tea

Any other ideas? What would you appreciate most if you were an out of town guest?