Venue & Invitations

Buescher State Park Recreation Hall!!! Isn’t she a beaut?!

Tex is, obviously, from Texas, and due to the size of his family, versus the number of people I would want to invite, we settled on having the ceremony in Texas as well, out of convenience. Buescher SP is about 45 minutes outside of Austin, where most of his family lives. This recreation hall was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps, which adds to the venue’s appeal since my paternal grandfather was a CCC’er.

The building has lots of character, but also feels rustic and natural, something we both liked about it. What I liked most is that by reserving a park venue, we are supporting the Texas State Parks System rather than throwing wads of money at a corporate hotel chain.

This STEAL was only $250 dollars for a whole day, with tables, chairs, kitchen, bathroom, A/C, & electricity all included.

The patio behind the dining hall. I can’t wait to string up garlands!

After locking down a date and venue, the next step was to order invitations. In case I didn’t mention, we’re trying to do this on the cheapppp! So I went to http://www.Vistaprint.com and made an account. I browsed the templates, and saved a few I was interested in. 

By luck, I procrastinated long enough to receive a special 25% off discount email from Vistaprint since “the items in your cart are about to expire,” and I put it to use on 50 custom invitations, which came with 50 blank envelopes, free. (We’re inviting close to 75 people, but due to cohabitation only need to send about 40 invites). Total cost: $48.50 (after tax & shipping). I will need more (roughly $20) for postage… that’ll come later.

In the interest of saving both paper and money, I decided to skip the Save the Dates, RSVP cards, programs, and other various enclosures. I rationalized that if I sent the invitations early enough, they could function as both a Save the Date and an invite. So I opted to print front and back, at no extra charge. Ahhh can you smell the savings?! I can, it would have cost about an additional $50 to order separate Save the Dates and pay for postage.

How could I skip the RSVP cards? And the enclosures with the maps and directions? Easy… the bottom line on my invitation says:

“Please RSVP to mazichev@gmail.com by 12/30/14. More information to follow via email.”

Easy & free, not to mention sustainable!

These babies should be arriving next week, and I will turn them right around to friends & fam!