Our invitations were kept secret from EVERYONE. My parents, sister, friends, everyone. So it was a complete surprise when they showed up in mailboxes. We are both graphic designers but wanted to truly splurge on our invitations. We knew a lot of our invite list wouldn't be able to make it. With the combination of a destination wedding, our family scattered across the country and the economy, we wanted to give all of our invitees something special even if they can't be there to share the day with us. This was our biggest expense vs. what we could have spent but I feel like it's worth it.
Here's what the insides looked like. They were 3D images, so much cooler than what you can see here. The text was in captions along the top of the reel:
We packaged them with a button and magnet set (of various toys inside the slides) and a reply card. We got a tremendous response from our family and I can't imagine doing anything else. I love them SO SO much and look at it all the time! I gocco'd the reply card fronts with a cowboy and encouraged guests to decorate them before sending it back. It is very “us” and I am so very lucky to be marrying someone who is all “Yes. We definitely need VIEWMASTERS for our invites!” Here's a blog I put together for our website for a look behind the scenes.
I recently had a Q&A session with…. myself.. to give you a special behind-the-scenes look at our invites!
iPhone iNvitations
Did OBT member JennyLynne create the ultimate wedding invitations for iPhone fanboys (like moi)? I would say omg yes! Check 'em out...
Q: You look great today, have you done something with your hair?
A: Hahah! Oh, self, you're so flattering, but let's get down to business…
Q: How did you make the photos 3D?
A: Well… We rented this camera from Studio3D for the weekend, set up the shots from stuff around our house on the kitchen table, rounded up some posterboards for backdrops and clicked away. The camera is two digital cameras together at a distance, one upside down, to simulate your eyes. We sent the images, our logo and the text to Studio3D and they hooked us up with the awesome reels.
Q: Did you plan out all your scenes or did you wing it?
A: A little of both! Bobby and I knew that seven frames, with three lines of text, fifteen characters long, wasn't a lot of room. So we first planned out what we wanted to say and grouped it into the seven ideas that we wanted to get across to our guests. We then storyboarded each idea and figured out if we need to buy any supplies. The cupcakes are from Albertson's grocery store, I wanted something colorful without having to bake an entire batch, tint different colors of frosting, etc. The last frame with the cactus was completely unscripted. We had just spent the weekend setting up six elaborate displays and we were a little spent. So we walked outside to the neighbors cactus in our pjs and called it a DAY!
Q: So you bought all those toys for the photoshoot then?
A: Um.. No. we own all of them.
Q: Well surely you had to dig them out of some boxes?
A: Err… No, our house is covered in toys. Every square inch.
Q: I see.
A: What's that suppossed to mean?
Q: Gawd, chill out, Julia.
A: DON'T TELL ME TO CHILL OUT, JULIA!
Q: So after you sent in the files, what happened?
A: We got a GIANT BOX OF VIEWMASTERS in the mail! Who else can really say a whole case of viewmasters just popped up at their house one day? We stuffed them into boxes with homemade buttons and magnets, plus the reply cards and sent them on their merry way! (The typewriter in the slide is the same one used to address the labels on the boxes…)
Q: What are you doing with the reply cards?
A: Right now, we're storing them in this awesome toy reel-to-reel we scored last time we were in Indiana. The card at the top is our most recent addition. We've gotten some great cards, full of creativity and we hope to incorporate them into the reception.
Q: Why did two graphic designers do something totally the opposite of paper invitations?
A: We knew a lot of our invite list wouldn't be able to make it. With the combination of a destination wedding, our family scattered across the country and the economy, but we wanted to give all of our invitees something special even if they can't be there to share the day with us.
Wondering if Julia's wedding lived up to the promise of her awesome invitations? Click here to see that HOLY SHIT IT TOTALLY DID
oh my god, I just wet my pants. This is THE most amazing thing I have ever, ever seen! I'm still squealing 10 minutes after reading this!
I love this inside and out! Each of the set ups for the photos are awesome! MR. T PITTIES THE FOOL THAT DOESN'T LIKE CUPCAKES!!! hahaha–fabulous!
Umm.. a w e s o m e. What fun!
THAT is a wedding I would want to be invited to! Awesome……I feel giddy just looking at the invites!!!
These are the best invites I've ever seen. And I think we own as many toys, but not as many unicorns (we need more unicorns). Perhaps we'll see the wedding photos too?!??!
OMG! This is truly awesome!!!
I work in a creative lab and we used them at our
first anniversary to show our activities, but I have never thought about
them that way. In my mind this would totally rock
with the post-it STD.
heya do you know where i could buy these or at least how much they are?
wow! my friend just told me that the hotel that they're even getting married in a haunted hotel!!!
from my friend: "I've been there. The hotel openly admits that certain rooms, at least, are haunted. (ie they will let you pick a haunted or non-haunted room) I stayed there with a group that had multiple rooms, including at least one haunted room. It may have been psychological, but things were getting kind of spooky.
http://tinyurl.com/lgyrbz
Ah-Freaking-mazing.
These. Are. Incredible.
My paper invitations feel so inadequate now! 😀
YES. YES. YES.
please come plan my wedding 😀
HO. LY. CRAP.
That is all I have to say.
Except that not only are these amazing, they are BEAUTIFUL.
so awesome!! how did you even hear that this could be done? they must look freaking amazing in 3-D! can you please share info on how much this cost? you said it was the biggest expense… and inquiring minds want to know!! 😀
What a seriously freakin' awesome idea!!! I'm so impressed. Very creative and out of the box. I can't express how much I love it. 🙂
HAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!! those are……AAMMMAAAZINGGGGGGGG!!!!I am so jealous that y'all got a visit from the delivery man with a box FULL of viewmasters, but is it also bad that I not only recongnized most of the toys in your slides, but that I own(ed) them as well. fan-fucking-tastic!!!
Speechless! Please tell me you're going to feature this wedding Ariel!
Of course! …it just has to happen first. 🙂
Wow. Just… wow. After having spent most of yesterday looking at invitation books and thinking "Gods, how boring!" this is just… a breath of fresh air! Not that I could (or would even try to) pull it off. But good job!
Those are absolutely amazing and more creative than anything I could ever dream up. I hope that pictures from the actual wedding pop up here soon!
FANTASTIC!!!!
Holy Crap, that is amazing.
So cool. I now want to photograph yo0ur wedding hahahahaha :))
Holyholyholy crapoly! I am completely overwhelmed with your creativity to the point that I literally have chills right now. WAY TO GO!!!
[…] Our invitations were kept secret from EVERYONE. My parents, sister, friends, everyone. So it was a complete surprise when they showed up in mailboxes. We are both graphic designers but wanted to truly splurge on our invitations. We knew a lot of our invite list wouldn’t be able to make it. With the combination of a destination wedding, our family scattered across the country and the economy, we wanted to give all of our invitees something special even if they can’t be there to share the day with us. This was our biggest expense vs. what we could have spent but I feel like it’s worth it. (via Offbeat Bride) […]
Wonderful! Can't wait to see pics of the wedding:) Congrats!
These are the best wedding invites EVEREVER EVER!!!
Sincere, but very funky and obviously, laden with your personality.
Congratulations Julia 🙂
[…] These View-Master wedding invitations will blow your mind [@] Offbeat Bride Share this on del.icio.usDigg this!Share this on RedditStumble upon something good? Share it on StumbleUponShare this on TechnoratiPost this to MySpaceShare this on FacebookTweet This!Email this to a friend?Subscribe to the comments for this post? Tags: Wedding Invitations You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed. […]
LOVE LOVE LOVE these!!! AHHH!
LOVE LOVE LOVE these!!! AHHH!
Sheer effing brilliance.
Brilliance.
[…] I never would have thought of anything like that… I didn’t know you could DO that!! Click here to check out the pictures, if you’re […]
I'm agreeing with alli! I would LOVE to know more about how much the overhead was for everything too! Inquiring minds would love some solid numbers! : )
[…] OMG: Viewfinders! Posted by misscoyle under Wedding Leave a Comment I would LOVE to do this for some reason. Perhaps for the reception… too bad it does not in any way match our theme. […]
[…] can read all about it at Offbeat Bride.. If you enjoyed this post, please […]
o.m.g. I am almost thirty and reserve that phrase for the most bestest of moments — Ariel, thanks for posting this; Julia, you *cracked* me up with this interview! I don't need to tell you how awesome the invites are, cuz clearly you know already — but they are. Ee, wish there was a way to do 3D on a computer monitor…
This is amazing and given me loads of inspiration to make our invites bloody brill too : )
Your view finder brilliance is BLOWING my mind!! Can we be so bold and do it too??!! Where did you order all the viewfinders? The only place I have seen them is on amazon.com…..
congrats to you and yer man!!
paula
[email protected]
Awesome idea! Very original and creative, no wonder you two are graphic designers! A+
Coolest wedding related thing I have ever seen, ever, hands down.
Awesome! That is all.
literally. the. coolest. ever.. i just died.. in a totally awesome way :O)
OMGOSH!! This is SO COOL!!!!!!! Out of curiosity about how much did this cost in the end!?!
I like 3D glasses … I want … good job and beautiful invitation
offbeat brides: ahead of the curve by two years! Go girls!
http://gizmodo.com/5827244/is-your-love-worthy-of-ridiculously-twee-custom-wedding-invitation-viewmasters-for-3450
hello.a very unique invites indeed..i just want to ask where did you bought the view master?thanks
where did u buy the view masters???
Hello- can you share where you purchased the bulk viewmasters?