DIY pocketfolds made of envelopes

envelope pocket love.

I am planning on having five bridesmaids (and a possible sixth depending on the Peace Corps and the price of flights from Guatemala) and I asked them via phone, email or text message last week. I told each girl to wait for the "official invite" which would come in the mail.
I printed up 4 different cards for each girl: 1. who they were, 2. what they might be wearing, 3. the events they would be attending and 4. "I promise to not be a crazy-nut bride". Each card was typeset in Photoshop (that lovely font is Susie's Hand) and then printed onto an A6 card.
I made pockets out of two envelopes by sticking the flap of one envelope into the other and then "lining" the part where they overlap with a piece of paper that was about 6.25"x8.5". This is an old Paper Source trick that I am fairly certain Caroline invented. It works great when you have a lot of different pieces to an invitation.
The four cards fit neatly into the envelope pockets.
The envelope flap that did not get tucked in was glued down to the "front side" of the other envelope. I tied the package with ribbon and stamped and signed the back.
These would be just perfect hand delivered, but as my girls are all across the country, I slipped them into larger envelopes and mailed them out.

All supplies from Paper Source: A6 gravel envelopes, A6 superfine soft white cards, bracket stamp, heart stamp, cream patterned paper, ribbon and tangerine Colorbox chalk ink not listed.

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I have had requests to share the text on the cards :

Attire:

Dress - I plan to find something that will flatter each of you and allow you to be in a tie for the second hottest girl at the party. I will have you each choose from a few different styles of dresses, all in the same color family. It is not a big deal to me that you match exactly, just that you all feel fabulous in what you are wearing.

Shoes - you are responsible for finding your own that match the dress - if you already own them, that is fantastic. If you find something you love, email it to me and I will yay or nay. (This feels so much like rush, I can’t believe it.) Please, no black shoes. And no match-matchy. Your shoes should not be the same color as the dress. We’ll chat.

Hair - do whatever you like. I think most of you are the hair down sort of people - which works for me. My hair will be up, but please do what you wish. I am hoping we’ll be able to get some stylists for the day of. We may also schedule a practice round... we’ll see.

Makeup - you all know what you look best in. Again, I am hoping to bring someone in to at least do mine, if you are interested in that, I am sure we can arrange it. Let me know if you start to see anything you love. I may love it too.

Expectations:

The only events that you are required to attend are the wedding, the reception and the rehearsal.

The ceremony/reception will be April 24, 2010 in downtown Sacramento. Everything will start at 4PM, followed by cocktails, followed by a sit down dinner and dancing.

The rehearsal will be at 5PM at the church on Friday 4/23 and will be followed by a fabulous dinner thrown by Paul’s parents. You will not need to worry about transportation to any of the events. Between my family, Paul’s and the friends we have in Sacramento, we should be all set.

I realize that most of you are out of towners so I will be in touch about hotel arrangements for Friday-Sunday.

I imagine there will be a bridal shower or two before the wedding that you will be invited to, but there is no obligation to make it to those. I totally understand the expense of flying back and forth.

I would love to have a grand bachelorette party - maybe Vegas? Maybe 901 club? Maybe Sacramento? I will let you all plan as much of that as you are interested in. I would love to combine the college and high school girls for a big bash, but let me know what works.

You are more than welcome to bring dates. You will be sitting with your dates and friends for the reception, so no worries there. I won’t make you sit at a front table, but I would love for you to make a toast or say something if you are interested.

I Promise:

To not turn into a bridezilla. I do understand that this day is about Elise and Paul. Not dying flowers or a bad spray tan. I promise to keep things light and fun and exciting. I will count on you girls to tell the jokes and BE HONEST about if I look weird or if I am getting too worked up. Or if I really need to NOT wear a blue bird on my head.

Thank you for being part of all this! I am so excited to spend so much of it with you five.

The six of you:

This card included each girls' name and email address plus a little blurb about how I know them, etc. It was a "get to know each other" card. And they all promptly started emailing each other so it worked.