Creative Minds:: Ashley Gain Brides

Want to know what I love the most about weddings? It's not the flowers, the cake, or who designed the wedding dress, it's the bride and groom.

I love the two people who fell in love and want to start their lives together. I love hearing stories about how they got engaged, when they want to start a family and why they are getting married.

It's their personal fairy tale that makes me love what I do.

An Ashley Gain Weddings couple Angela & Peter were married on October 23, 2010 at the Desert Botanical Gardens.

The overall theme romantic vintage pulled through each and every detail of their day. While their talented photographer Miss. Diana Rothery completes the editing of their stunning day, Angela & I decided it would be fun to give you a glimpse into one of the MANY creative details of their wedding.

Angela's wedding invitations were some of my favorite! Below she shares with us her "how to" on creating the darling *anthropologie* inspired invites.

{Angela individually wrapped each invite in brown kraft paper.

She was sweet enough to send her planner *ME* one!!}

After trying multiple envelopes (and realizing all of them were either too snug or grossly oversized), I decided to make our own using kraft paper and scrapbooking memory glue. It was easy enough to come up with the template. Just be sure to check a sample by your local Post Office to make sure it is deliverable.

{Angela picked beautiful upholstery fabric that matched her *honey* colors and details that were weaved throughout the wedding from the table linens to the favors}

Your wedding day begins with the invitation. For your invitees who are unable to attend your wedding, the invitation is often the only piece that they will get to experience. I wanted to send out a very personal invitation and, thankfully, have a very willing family to help achieve this. My mother and mother-in-law spent two days helping me cut out, line up, iron, and sew the fabric envelopes.

{I am obsessed with this little grizzly bear!! How adorable and whimsical is this design?}

I stumbled upon A Printable Press and was instantly enchanted with her whimsical designs. She helped us custom fit one of her designs to our wedding theme. To print the invitations, we chose Greener Printer since they use environmentally friendly inks and recyclable papers.

{The punched out *heart* on the insert card was a simply sweet detail that I am obsessed with. Sometimes it's the most simple details speak the loudest.}

The little brown insert card served a few purposes: it helped unify the kraft paper that wrapped the invitation and it solved the problem of whether or not to print accommodations, maps, registries, etc. If most of your guests have internet access, this is an excellent way to avoid the tackiness of including a registry list and, in general, how to fit endless amounts of wedding information on a few sheets of paper.

{Angela's final invitation thoughts.....}

If you have the time and the ability, it can be very rewarding to design something unique for your invitation. The internet is full of DIY projects for EVERY budget. A well-thought out invitation demonstrates that all of your guests are valued, no matter how they happen to RSVP. Along with this, you'll have a beautiful keepsake to help remember the day for years to come.

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