DIY Wedding Challenge-Message in a Bottle Invitations

(community article)

To go along with our passport STD's, we wanted our invitations to be something our guests had never received before and would get them excited for the upcoming trip to Puerto Vallarta.  So we decided to make message in a bottle invites.  I designed our invitation to reflect kind of an old style map of sorts...something you would find in a pirate movie.  After weeks and weeks of tweaking, it was finally perfect!  Next came the hard part...assembly line time!  FI and I hunkered down for an evening of wedding fun.  First I cut the paper to size: 5x15.  Next I printed it and as it came out of the printer I spread clear embossing powder ALL OVER the invite.  Then it was FI's turn to take the heat gun and "set" the powder (He did an amazing job!). When all the invites were printed and embossed, it was time to take our bone folder and fold each invite.  We folded them in two parts so that the contents of the actual invite were hidden from view until opened. 

Next it was time for FI to roll each invitation so that it would fit in our bottles.  As he rolled I cut a long piece of raffia that we would use to tie the scroll.  The raffia had to be long enough to extend all the way outside the bottle to attach to a label.  After each invitation had been rolled and tied, we then took some mango scented oil and poured a few drops in each bottle.  Next came the sand and the seashells and finally our invites were ready to go in.  Once all the invitations had been placed inside the bottles it was FI's turn to seal those puppies (definitely a man's job!).  He and our handy dandy cutting block ensured that all the corks were pushed in flush with the bottle top but not before a final dip in the mango oil. 

Next it was time to attach the sticky labels on the bottle and hang the labels from the raffia.  Lastly, we took a handful of raffia, placed it in each shipping box, lay the bottle inside and sealed the box, placing our address label on each one.  Then it was off to hand deliver our beautiful creations!