LL: DIY Stationery

Topic: DIY Wedding Stationery

Outcome: The 100% recycled and unbleached envelopes, and the card that we used for RSVP postcards did not hold the ink from the laser printer that we used to print them with. Everything looked great when we posted the invitations. The ink rubbed off in transit and we ended up having several of the invitations returned to us by Australia Post, as the address and return address had been obliterated. I have since learned that a few of our friends did not receive their invitations and we now have to chase up our guests to confirm who has received theirs.

The RSVP cards have a similar issue and there is some doubt as to whether we will receive them when posted by our guests. The RSVPs that we have received are smudged and some friends have written our address on the cards to make sure that they find their way home.

Lessons:

• Know your paper. We selected card with a matte finish for the RSVP cards as we thought that the ink would stick better than a gloss finish. Unfortunately it did not stick well enough.
  
• Do a trial run. We would have picked it up if we had. I thought we were covered for the trial run - I checked that our postage was correct before we stuck the stamps down. That was the general concern that I have read on other sites.
  
• Buy enough paper for mess ups. I did, so I can make the few that went missing without having to scurry around for more raw ingredients!
  
• We bought sticky magnets for the invitations. I was worried that they wouldn't be magnet-y enough. They were. Unfortunately they were not sticky enough, but we figured that out before we posted, and restuck them all!
  

Above all, do not stress about it too much. I was disappointed as I like to tick boxes off and not have to revisit them. Our invitations however seem to be robust enough for the job and that is what matters - as long as they get there!