Wedding Idea: Pocket Invitations - Making Pockets & Ordering Envelopes

This week, I am featuring another wedding idea, DIY invitations.  This was one of my personal favorite projects for the wedding.  Although, I can honestly say there was not anything I did not enjoy doing for the wedding. 

At first, we wanted to order pocketfold invitations, then we considered making them ourselves.  One day while looking through a wedding invitation catalog, I saw one invitation that had just a pocket on the back and liked it better.  Instead of ordering them, we decided to make them ourselves and started early on the project.  This became a family and friends project and I loved the idea that each invitation was handmade.  We had several nights and weekends around the pub style dining room table making pockets, gluing things together, cutting paper and stuffing.  Then we still had the normal work of addressing the invites and stuffing all the invitations.  Although it was a true labor of love for our family and friends, so many of our guests expressed their appreciation for the time and effort we put into our wedding invitations once they actually discovered they were homemade. 

We have been married for a little while now and things are starting to settle down a bit.  I have been meaning to document the instructions on how to make these invitations for quite some time.  Since this project is a little involved, I split the work up into three parts, which is what we did when we actually made the invitations.  This first post will be about how to make the pockets and order envelopes.  The second post will be about all the printed portions of the invitations and cutting specifications.  And, the last part will be about assembling the entire package.  The best news is that these invitations completely sealed and ready for mailing, based on the size and weight of the envelope, only require one stamp for mailing. 



Making the Pocket

Cut two pieces of black card stock, one that is 5 x 7 and another that is 4 1/2 x 6.  I used this nifty cutter I found at Hobby Lobby.  This card stock also came from Hobby Lobby.  We purchased the 12 x 12 sheets in the scrapbook section with the linen texture.  If ordering a bunch and the store is low on supply, you can order the paper up front as long as you prepay.  When the truck arrives with the shipment, you can pick up your order.  We bought all of the card stock while it was on sale at Hobby Lobby for 50% off the regular sheet price.  Also, you may want to match the grain of the paper for consistency.  If doing this the paper grain should be in the same direction for the 7 inch tall sheet and 4 1/2 inch tall piece.  I hope that makes sense, it is kind of hard for me to describe.

Below I have included pictures of the paper as the cuts were made. 

I used these adhesive strips to adhere the pocket to the backing.  This "Peel n Stick" adhesive is thin enough to fit within the folds of the pocket and it is double sided.  You can also use double sided tape for the pockets, but I have found these adhesive strips to work best.

Line up the two pieces of paper with the smaller piece in front of the taller piece.  The 7 inch side of the backing should extend well beyond the 4 1/2 inch piece.  Center the smaller piece so that the edges slightly overlaps on the left and right side of the taller piece.  The overlap will be about a quarter of an inch. 

Fold the overlap down on either side so that it creates a pocket.  Use a bone folder to create a sharp crease in the fold, if necessary.

Using double stick adhesive strips cut to the size of the pocket, place them on both sides of the folded down part at the back of the pocket. 

For a touch of color, I added some of the aqua green ribbon to the center of the pocket, securing it to adhesive strips on both sides.

Then, lining the pocket up evenly, at the bottom of the longer piece, press the two pieces together.  this will create a pocket.

Now you have the pocket!

Ordering Envelopes

We ordered size A7 envelopes (5 1/4" x 7 1/4") from Paper and More in the aqua lagoon metallic color.  These were perfect for our color scheme, they had a nice shimmer to them too.  You can order samples for any of the products Paper and More carries.  I suggest doing this before making the entire order based on a picture from the Internet.  A link to them can be found here.

Picture from Paperandmore.com