We interrupt this broadcast...

I'll be wrapping up the Honeymoon Hunting series tomorrow by finally spilling the beans about where we'll be spending our first days as newlyweds. I'll give you a hint: we'll be spending one of those first days on a plane. Like the whole. entire. day.

Sorry about the interruption, but I had to get a confession off my chest before I could continue. If you've been reading about my adventures in planning The Backyard Wedding for long, you'll remember my early promises to add some DIY touches to our wedding. Those things are all still happening - the handmade bouquet, the candle jars, the twinkle lights. But it wouldn't be fair to include the Y in DIY. I am, along with other family members, actively collecting jars to use as candles, but I can't even figure out to get the labels off cleanly. And remember my dreadful bouquet attempt? The truth is I'm a DIY failure. I just don't have the patience or inclination, which makes me feel a wee bit inadequate because I'm pretty detail-oriented and meticulous in other aspects of life.

But even with my crafty failings, The Backyard Wedding will still be full of these DIY touches and projects because The Backyard Groom and I have been blessed with some pretty doggone talented friends and family members. So maybe instead of DIY, we should call these projects DIFMP (do-it-for-me-please).

DIFMP Exhibit 1. Non-Bridesmaid C. designed our invitations, and they are AWESOME. Like seriously unique and cool and unlike any invites I've seen. And they are very us, which was really important to me.

On top of designing the invites, she is also screenprinting them herself with the help of a friend, which just makes them even cooler. I really didn't know anything about screenprinting before this, but she said she would send me some photos of the process along the way. Last night, she did a test run. Apparently the first step is to burn the image onto the screen using a high-wattage light and photo emulsion solution. Once the image is burned you wash off the excess emulsion solution, which you can see in the photo below.

Then there are inks and things to mix, which are eventually applied to the screen. (I'm winging the description that goes along with these photos at this point, but maybe I can persuade C. to do a guest blog about the process once it's all completed.)

The test run went well so now the invites will actually be screenprinted along with notecards about RSVP e-mail info and a design on the envelopes. I can't wait to see the finished product.

Do you have any friends tackling DIY tasks for you?