I have a confession to make. I am absolutely, completely and utterly obsessed with stationery. I love every aspect of it; paper, card, envelopes, pens, tape, ribbon, stamps… and now that I’m planning my wedding, I’ve been introduced to a whole new world of stationery that I’d never experience before – wedding invites!

So let me just say, that invitation suites can literally give me goosebumps, and letterpress examples can bring a tear to my eye. My heart skips a beat when I can see a marvelously coordinated and unique group of save-the-dates, invites, RSVP cards, thank you messages, place cards, escort cards and table numbers.

Alas, our wedding budget does not allow for me to purchase an extravagant invitation suite (we’ve decided to allocate these funds to our honeymoon instead), so like many other brides, I’ve decided to DIY and get creative!

My first challenge was to create a save-the-date. Given that we’re having our wedding overseas, it was important for us to send a notice to our guest, stating our wedding date and letting them know that it’s going to be held at Wananvu Beach Resort, Fiji. This was sent out early (more than 12 months before the wedding), to give our guests plenty of time to start planning for the wedding, with the official invites to be sent out closer to the wedding itself.

I really wanted to make it a fun and quirky card, one that would incorporate the important elements of our wedding: firstly that it’s in Fiji, and secondly that we have friends travelling from all over the world to celebrate with us. I chose a map design, with cute cartoons and tiki inspired images for a retro look. I also chose to include a road sign motif, showing the kilometers between Fiji and each of our guests’ locations.

In the end, I absolutely LOVED doing this project, and had a really great response from our guests. I am currently designing our official invites… and hopefully, I can come up with a cute and coordinated suite that will set the tone for our entire wedding. And as soon as they’ve been sent out, they’ll be up on the blog for you all to see!

Stay tuned for more soon! x

Photos of my save-the-dates courtesy of Tamiz Photography

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Ms Gingham says: Tiki, retro, maps… it makes me feel like jumping on a plane right now! I really think you’ve nailed this one Katie! Beautiful work!

Katie aka MsProcrastin8: Sydney, Australia, Blogger @ Ultimate Katie Blog; procrastinator; list writer; dreamer; planner; student; wife.

Read Katie’s previous posts here and join her wedding planning journey!