DIY Entry #27: Save The Dates

Happy Monday everyone! We hope you are having a great start to your week, and to make a sunny Monday just a smidge brighter, we have a beautiful free printable save the date from The Lovely Dept. to share!  The beautiful watercolor wreath is a lovely touch for any spring or summer wedding, and I just adore the light and airy green and yellow color palette.

I sent out the last save the date this morning!

So it must be Save the Date week at EAD, I believe I am the third blogger this week to present hers!

After the church and reception venue were booked and the date was set, it was time to think about our Save the Dates.  Matt and I were talking one night and decided that we wanted to create a map chronicling the paths we each took to find each other and where we are now.  We both went off to college, moved across the country after graduation, and met as two midwestern kids in NYC before getting engaged and moving to Memphis. And now we were planning a wedding in Louisville. Whew.  It wears me out to just write it.  I mentioned our idea on Pretty Bride and soon Laura Hooper came to the rescue.

To save money, we opted to do an electronic save the date. Most people in my life didn’t even think that was necessary, but with 80% of our guest list being from out of town, and a family history of disorganization and lack of planning skills, I totally ignored them. I also thought it’d be a good way to get the word out about our website, which has a lot of information about our event and San Diego.

When it came time to think about our save the dates, I knew I wanted something casual yet classy that tied into the vintage feel of our wedding. But the most important thing to me? The budget, of course!

Looking for a creative save the date or invitation idea?  How about a fabric postcard? Eco-friendly, cost-effective and completely unique – I’m in love.

It’s been a busy week.  I got my dream job offer, flew to DC, found an apartment, and have packed 7 fridge-sized boxes since yesterday in preparation for my big move to DC this weekend.  Although this means my fiance and I will continue our long-distance relationship for another 6 months or so before we re-evaluate our next move, NYC (where he lives) is a lot closer to DC than Africa was (where I was living last year).

Cyd and Nole were both in a Gocco mood today so I thought I’d join in!  Angelique created these absolutely fabulous Gocco save the dates – she printed on wood laminate cards and encased them in gorgeous fabric pouches.

I love letterpress, but wedding budgets don’t always allow for letterpress or engraved invitations, particularly in today’s difficult economic environment.  For brides still seeking custom invitations, the Gocco (or now the Yudu!) can be an excellent, and more economical, alternative.  Some brides choose to go the DIY route, but for brides who don’t feel comfortable DIYing, there are a few invitation studios that specialize in Gocco-printed invitations.

Yesterday was my birthday and after a long search, I finally found and purchased a Gocco as my birthday gift to myself. I’ve basically been on the fence about purchasing a Gocco for a year at this point and naturally, by the time I realized just how much I wanted one they were completely sold out basically everywhere. Oops! Oh well, after some sleuthing and a shout out on my blog and some great tips from my readers, I found one and it is supposed to ship today. Hooray! So in the spirit of all things Gocco, I thought I’d share some of my favorite Gocco inspiration.

Throughout the planning process, I mentioned before that I wanted to stay sane and delegate where I could.  That included finding a florist who I trusted to do just about whatever she wanted, letting my parents be in charge of the catering and the alcohol, and letting my bridesmaids choose much of their own outfits.  However there was one thing I couldn’t let go of – I wanted to make the invitations and other stationery myself.  Naturally, that began with Save the Dates.

As I may have mentioned before, M is an English teacher and I an avid lover of books and literature. This common ground proved to be one of the first things we truly bonded over as I made it my goal in life to prove to the English teacher that I, a mere mortal, was actually more well read than he. It took some time and some effort, but he finally relented that my years as a bookworm as a kid while he was honing his pitching skills on the baseball field did, in fact, make my book collection far vaster than his. Luckily for me, his ego was able to handle it and we’ve been trading books back and forth ever since.

OK, OK, I know I’m a week late with this! But better late than never right? Here’s the tutorial for making my RSVP tin treasure boxes. I’m going to give you instructions for my specific design, but obviously you can change it up to go with your theme! This post is long, buckle up. :)

One of our favorite gals, and prior guest bloggers, Kimberly, sent us a very cool save the date idea!

Dani created her save the dates using her engagement pictures and some Photoshop skills! Beautiful, easy, and cost-effective!

One area where we decided we could save money was in all of the print materials. I had a pretty specific idea of how I wanted the final invitations to look and knew we could create a simple look on our own.

We were so happy with our engagement pictures that we decided to use them for our save the date cards. A few years ago I received an invitation to a work event in a vellum envelope. I loved how the graphic on the card showed through the crisp envelope. I held on to that invite and thought it’d be fun to do something similar for our save the dates!

I am incredibly excited to say that my guests seem to have received their Save the Dates and happily, I can finally share them with all of you, my incredible readers!

We love giving updated uses to simple techniques, and these splatter-painted notecards from Rebekah J. Murray fit the bill!