The Doxie Programs: Keeping Our Guests Informed

Though the DIY process for our programs was not quite as involved as our invitations, they still caused me a bit of stress.  You see, I had a pretty good idea of the way I would have liked our invitations to turn out before I started to make them.  This was not the case with the programs.  I knew I wanted a booklet, but as far as the design or what to put in them?  No idea.  In fact, other than the names of the bridal party I really didn't know what to write for our programs.  A timeline of the day?  Well, that required me to finalize the ceremony.  So much involved, and with about a month left until the wedding I figured I should probably get started.

First things first, I gathered my inspiration.  I searched Weddingbee for posts on other Bee's programs and fell in love with the sewn booklets made by Mrs. Cream Puff.  Seriously, so cute.  I tried a few mockups and, while cute, just took way too much time.  Not to mention I was worried my sewing machine would have a hard time sewing through two layers of cardstock and multiple layers of printer paper.

After a bit of fiddling around, this is what I came up with.

A small booklet, approximately 6" by 6", folded instead of sewn and bound with baker's twine.  I had planned on incorporating the date into the cover design, but I liked the simplicity of the heart.

After folding and goccoing 120 covers, it was time to figure out the words that would fill our little booklets.  For this, I turned to Spaniel's amazingly helpful program post. 

Even with Spaniel's help, it took forever to get our wording just right.  I came up with enough content for 8 pages. 

Page 1 was our introduction. 

It means so much to us that you are celebrating with us today.  Whether youv'e travelled 1000 miles or 10, we sincerely appreciate the effort you've put into being here.  We are lucky to have been blessed with such amazing people in our lives!

Most of you are aware of our special circumstance:  Due to the immigration process, we were required to become legally wed on October 26, 2009.  It was a lovely ceremony, but we always knew that we would "seal the deal" by exchanging vows in front of the people that we hold nearest our hearts.

Today is the day that we will consider ourselves to be married, and today is the anniversary that we will celebrate.  After many years have passed, we will look upon this day with fond memories because we are able to celebrate our relationship with everyone that we love.

Thank you again for coming.  We are forever grateful for your love and support.

Page 2 listed all of our immediate family whom weren't a part of the wedding party

Page 3 listed the members of our wedding party.  Please ignore dirty fingernails... gross!

Page 4 was our ceremony outline, including the important event music.  

Page 5 is the poem we chose for our reading: i carry your heart with me by ee cummings.

Page 6 was for various announcements, including when to use our wedding bubbles, a reminder to visit the photobooth, and an extra thank you.

Page 7 was a dedication to our loved ones who have passed away.  This was very important to us; there isn't a day that goes by that I don't miss my big brother and my grandparents.  I know that Mr. Doxie feels the same way.  

Page 8 was a bit of a cop-out.  I couldn't think of anything else I wanted to add, so I didn't add anything.  I'm not sure how many people even noticed this page, to be honest.

I laid each page out in Illustrator, then figured out in which order they needed to be on each sheet so that they would be in the correct order once they were folded and assembled.  Not gonna lie, I needed to make a tiny booklet, number each page and then disassemble for this step.  Printing and cutting each sheet was the most time consuming part of this project.

As soon as all the covers were dry and all of the pages cut and folded, it was time to bind them.  I could have done something fancier, but I really wanted to keep it simple and conserve time.  I precut the baker's twine, and simply tied it around the center of an unfolded booklet.  I tried to keep the string as taught as possible, and then I knotted it at the bottom.  I cut the excess off so that about an inch of string hung from the program.

Once they were all finished, they went into a basket I picked up from Ikea.  The ribbon around the basket was supposed to be red, but I ran out and didn't feel like making another trip to the store.  

All in all, I really like how our programs turned out, and I heard a few guest comment on them, too.  They were a lot of work, though!  

Did you make your own programs?  Did you make a booklet, too, or did you decide to do something a little different?  Were they a complicated DIY?