Aug 22, 2011

My message-in-a- bottle wedding invitations!

I know that I haven't been posting much, but I have been incredibly busy planning my wedding! I want to show you my invitations. Yes, I made each and every one of these and I am very proud of them and I have been receiving tons of compliments on them.

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I am not the most crafty person. When I saw message-in-a-bottle wedding invites, I wanted them immediately. I started looking at companies that sell them pre-made and they were way to pricey. Then, I began looking at do-it-yourself kits and these were rather pricey too. I happened to find a friend of my fiance's whose band drank beer that was in clear bottles. He started saving all the bottles for me. I love the bottles too because they are engraved and say "The one and only" and it completely fit.  I removed the labels and the adhesive residue and then started washing the bottles by hand. After hand-washing the bottles, I put them in the dishwasher for a cycle. I allowed the bottles to dry for a few days and places a few drops of ocean breeze scented oil in each. I purchase parchment paper from Office Depot and printed my invitations at home. My fiance and I hand-burnt the edges of each invitation to give them an antique look. We had to let the invitations sit out for a few days so the smoke smell would go away.

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After the invitations we smoke-free, we rolled them up and tied them with raffia and left extra raffia hanging. My son was my little helper. He began putting sand in each bottle and then the shells. After the shells, I put the rolled up invitations in the bottle, left a little extra raffia hanging inside the bottle, sealed them with a cork and used the excess raffia to tie around the bottle and make a bow. We tied them so when guests open the invitation, they are able to easily remove the invite by pulling the excess raffia. I purchased adorable labels from zazzle.com and placed those on the bottles, added an extra dot of ocean breeze oil on the corks, and they were complete!

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We had a lot of fun as a family putting these together.  The project went much smoother than I had presumed and I am very happy with the way they turned out.  So what do you think?  Comment!  I love to hear from my readers! 
Kathleen Signature

14 comments :

  1. Those are really cool and creative..happy wedding wishes! :)

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  2. These are beautiful! It was very creative of you to make them yourself. Congrats on a job well done! Much love and luck to you guys!

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  3. Wooohoo! They are wonderful! So proud of you doing all of this by yourself! It's all coming together!!! YAY!

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  4. You should be very proud, those took a ton of work! congrats & best wishes on your wedding!

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  5. love your great idea here. Congrats again on your upcomming wedding!! wishing you love and happiness all the way!

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  6. Oh those are fantastic! I love the extra touches like the burnt edges and oil.

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  7. Very, very creative. I really like them. I am curious though. Are you hand-delivering all the invites?

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  8. Love that your were able to make them yourself (with help from the little guy) & have them turn out so beautifully.

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  9. Awesome!! Each guest will feel all of the love you put into this project.

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  10. OMG! that's the cutest idea ever!

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  11. Wow I am super impressed! I couldn't have thought of such a unique way for invitations and they came out fantastic! I love the idea and love the result. It's also something that you will always remember about your wedding. Job well done Kathleen!

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  12. I'm looking forward to receiving my invitation--they're lovely!
    Best wishes for the future <3

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  13. these are beautiful girl. Fabulous job girl. xo

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  14. I really love these. I just might make my own wedding invitations too if I were to ever get married. : )

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