Message in a Bottle Save the Date Invitations! Pictures, Instructions and Prices!!

[janette34]

Absolutely beautiful!!

[Tennyt1]

These are amazing!!! great job!!!

[Bride2BeKate]

I LOVE these!!! I sent you a PM with some questions because I'm going to give it a try myself! Thanks so much for posting all the pictures and information!! 

[anichols8]

These are incredible.

[Maria Ramos]

WOW beautiful. I am so in love and im having my destination wedding in Jamaica so this would be perfect

[ndvidul]

These are absolutely amazing.  I LOVE your detailed descriptions including How To's, price list, and where you got the items.  I'm going to try and order the materials today, so I can make them, too!  Thank you for posting these!!  I can't wait.

[Lanajoy]

They are adorable!!!

 

[CherieY]

I love this idea, and I am currently stealing it to do my STD's!  Thank you for the clever idea!

[ndvidul]

Sooo, this thread was totally inspirational to me.  Thank you SO MUCH!!!  You said you hoped you inspired someone --- well you really did!  I thought since I did these as well, that I'd post some pics plus some input and tips. 

 

I did 90 of them!!  It took me over 6 weeks, several group "dates" of friends/family putting them together, and easily about 35 hours. 

 

P.S.  I used the scented oil WAY too early for the corks.  I suggest that if you're going to do that, then do it at the very end before you seal the boxes and ship them. 

 

P.P.S.  The attachment below is an excel file (which I hope is usable) -- it's a grid of what materials I used, where I got the materials from, and the cost of each material.  The total so far without shipping them is about $360.

 

 

I did the brads/fasteners a different way - vertical -- so I ended not cutting off the ends, which apparently saved me that "nasty job."  I designed the labels.  And I handwrote the "pull tag" copying a font that I downloaded for free called "Treasure Map Deadhand."

 

What it looks like with the bottle inside. 

 

The ribbons ended up being 13 in long.  I also handwrote the addresses instead of putting them through the printer since it seemed easier and more personal to me.  Mainly, I think I didn't want to go through the aggravation of any misfeeds with the printer --- that's one of my worst nightmares!!

 

The raffia length was about 5 inches each.  Then I used a pencil to roll up the invites and did a knot with the raffia.  Then, I trimmed the ends.  You can kind of see it here.

 

I designed these as well.  I got the antique map of the Cancun area from googling "antique map Cancun," and got the idea from another MIB thread on here.  Again, the fonts I used were "Treasure Map Deadhand" and "Caslon Antique Italic" which I downloaded off the internet for free. 

 

I did 3 different types of Pull Tags since I ran out of starfish & sand dollars.   Although the starfish were my favorite, I realized that some of the starfish might have broken as I closed the boxes.  So, I would actually recommend using the mini shells instead.

 

These are the 3 different types of sand I used (since I couldn't find a pink sand suggested on this thread).  I used 1/4 tsp white sand, 1/2 tsp coarser darker sand, and 3/4 tsp of fine beige sand. 

 

We also started putting 2 starfish and 2 sand dollars inside.  BUT then the sand dollars turned out to be too big, and we started filing each and every one down to fit the bottles, so then after a bit, we switched to putting in just 1 sand dollar.  Also, then we started putting in 1 starfish + 1 sand dollar for like the last 10 bottles so that we'd have enough to glue on the Pull Tags.  I would recommend ordering more starfish or sand dollars if you want enough to put in the bottles and for the Pull Tags.  Plus, I would look into smaller sand dollars for the bottles, if they're available!

 

Our dining room table that was convered into a DIY space for 6 weeks!

 

Soooo many, haha!!

 

Casey burning the edges of the invitations --- took about 5 min per invite! Nasty job!

 

Me putting the messages in the bottles.  The most satisfying part!!

 

And VOILA!!!  I hope to send these out this week!!   Finally!!! Best wishes to you all that take on this endeavor!  A final tip --- get lots of help if you can!!  They are soooo worth it.  I can't wait to hear what my guests will say.

[ndvidul]

Ooops - I forgot to say that I only needed 3 bags of wood excelsior and 2 boxes of shipping tags.  Also, on the excel sheet, it says I got oval labels, but as you can see - they are rectangular 2 X 4" ones with curved edges.