Ever since we designed our Savannah invitation suite for this inspiration shoot in collaboration with Camille Styles, it’s been one of our most popular invitations to date. This adaptation of the Savannah design is for the DIY couple that wants a custom suite on a budget. This design is soft and elegant with gorgeous floral accents: our version of a traditional invitation! – Bailey and Emma of Antiquaria

For the foundation of the suite, we used our Letterpress Printed “Savannah” Invitation design. Adding in one piece of letterpress stationery really helps elevate the entire suite. While the single piece is still a bit of a splurge, your savings comes from all of the special DIY details that help complete the look and make it special and unique.

Step One: Since the invitation piece is ready to go…the first step is to cut your cards for the reply postcard and monogram tag that you will be using. With a self sealing mat, ruler and craft knife (X-acto), cut cards to 4 x 6″ (postcard) and 2 x 3.5″ (tag). You should get 2 postcards and 10 tags out of 1 sheet of patterned 8.5 x 11″ paper (we used our Magnolia Branch Patterned Card Stock).

Step Two: We added a cute little corner detail to the monogram tag! To do this, simply line up the corner of the card on your mat in the 45 degree triangle and make the cut with your knife against the ruler. Flip and repeat the cut on the other side. It may take a little time to get all the corners trimmed but it’s definitely worth the effort!

Step Three: Lay your  4 x 6″ patterned postcard down on a firm surface (pattern facing down). Ink your stamp (we used our Calligraphy Accent Reply Postcard stamp) thoroughly and center it over your card. Once it is positioned correctly, press down to make a print. Use both hands to ensure even pressure. Lift off and let the print dry. For a step-by-step video tutorial about this printing process go here.

Step Four: How cute are these little tags! Not only are they adorable with this suite but the extras would be great to use as gift tags as well! To make them, punch a 1/8″ hole in the top center of the 2.5 x 3″ card. Then you will print your monogram stamp (we used our Antique Monogram stamp) using the same print technique as in Step 3. Lastly, add those adorable kraft hole reinforcements to your hole punch and the tags are done!

Step Five: One great way to save money with your wedding stationery is to stamp your return address! For this design, we embossed our Wildflowers Return Address Stamp with white so that it would be super opaque and “pop” on the kraft envelope. Place your A7 envelope on a stable and firm surface with the flap facing you. Ink your return address and center the stamp over the flap. When ready, press the stamp down with moderate pressure to make the print. Lift the stamp off and quickly move on to adding your embossing powder.

Once you’ve made your print, immediately cover it with embossing powder by sprinkling it across the envelope. Shift the powder around until you have covered the entire image. Now, you will pour the excess powder off of the envelope onto a scrap piece of paper so that you can reuse it for future prints. Heat set the print, using an Embossing Heat Tool. You will be able to see the powder melt into an opaque and solid color when it’s done. For more information about how to emboss using stamps, please watch this instructional video.

Note: One key thing about embossing is that it is wise to try to closely match your ink color with your powder color. By doing this, you will get much more crisp and opaque results. For example, we used a white pad with white embossing powder on this envelope.

Step Six: While not crucial, adding an envelope liner can really pull your invitation suite together. We kept this liner traditional by using solid tan text weight paper and simply stamping the same monogram on it that we used on our tag. Trace the envelope liner template on your paper, cut it out, stamp it (we used our Antique Monogram stamp) and use double sided tape or stick glue to affix it to your envelope. It’s that simple!

Step Seven: Now all that’s left is the finishing touches! We tied the suite together with tailors ribbon, addressed the envelope with opaque white ink and affixed our postage (we love these new vintage inspired seed packet stamps). Now they’re ready to send on their way!

Materials

Savannah Letterpress Invitation on Pearl White with Kraft Envelopes, colors: Warm Grey & Nude

Calligraphy Accent Reply Postcard

Antique Monogram Stamp

Wildflowers Return Address Stamp

Magnolia Branch Patterned Paper in Cover weight

Text Weight Liner Paper

Envelope Liner Templates

Stamp Pads in Antique Pewter and Frost White

Ribbon

Embossing Powder

Heat Embossing Tool

1/8″ Hole Punch

Kraft Hole Reinforcements

Self healing mat, Ruler, Craft Knife, Pencil & Scissors

Postage Stamps

Anti­quaria is a mem­ber of the Designer Rolodex – you can see more of their beau­ti­ful work right here or visit the real wedding invitations gallery for more wedding invitation ideas!

Photo Credits: Antiquaria