the stuffing, stamping, and sticking party…

Before we could begin the actual stuffing process, I had to address all the outer and inner envelopes (actually pockefolds). We had planned to use a printer, but now that it is all said and done, I am glad I actually hand addressed all the invites. It made it a bit more personal (or I hope everyone feels that way.)

On Saturday, March 3, a team of seven descended upon my house to start working on the invitations…Once people started arriving, I put them to work. :)

Step 1: Mom numbered all the Response Cards. She did a great job! I gave her some very tedious projects, which she is always amazing at.

(I have the best mom ever! She was actually scheduled not to be here to help, but she surprised me and came to help! Yay! Best birthday surprise!)

Step 2: Place the invitation in the pocketfold. In a war between the high tech glue gun and a team of brains (Sarah and Cynthia), Cynthia and Sarah prevailed and showed that gun who was boss. Here is some of the epic fighting:

After the fighting was over, they stuck every single invite in the pocketfolds!

Step 3: Stuff the Response Card, Details Card and Draft Card in the addressed pocketfolds that match the RSVP number. I put Ashley and Courtney to work on this. Courtney made sure the numbers matched as Ashley stuffed the pocketfolds. A perfect team for this project!

Step 4: Place the bellyband around the invite with a glue dot. Mom mainly did this job with some help from Sarah.

Step 5: Match and stuff the outer envelope with the pocketfold AND put the RSVP envelope inside the bellyband.  Courtney and I mainly did this project. I was very careful to make sure all the names matched (and as far as I know we only messed up two…haha. We actually forgot to include the RSVP card in two envelopes = Sorry Stephen and Andi AND Gary and Claudia!!) I like how the only job I had was the one that had two errors (that we know of….).

Step 6: Seal the envelopes – LICK THEM ALL. Lori and I sealed all the envelopes and we both still appear to be alive…because we used a glue stick :) I did not get any photos of Lori working. Sorry girl!

Step 7: WAX SEALS! Sarah and Cynthia were the right women for this job. They had just finished sticking all the invites when it was time for the wax seals. Cynthia was very excited while Sarah was not. (Sarah has a funny/terrible wax seal story that you should ask her about sometime, but she was excited that Cynthia wanted to do it and she could assist!) They worked together as the best wax seal team ever made. Check out the results!

Step 8: Apply stamps to be mailed! Courtney and Ashley were my girls here again. They stamped them all!

THE END! What a process, right?

Here are a few shots of the working girls:

Thank you all so much for coming to help! I could not have done it without you all! You are the best friends and family any girl could ask for. I love you all!

I do want to give a special shout out to our chef for the day! The entire time we were stuffing, stamping, sealing and sticking wedding invitations, Doug was making Gumbo! We all got to eat his yummy gumbo once we were done. Thank you Doug! (Check out his huge, new gumbo pot!)

P.S. he only tried to kill us once when he was cooking the boudin…the spice aerosolized and we all started coughing. :) Typical!!

Love and Hugs, Lizzie