Save The Date

All day I have been getting the best messages that our save the dates have been arriving in the mail! That's a relief considering it was Ryan's job to mail them out...good to know he isn't getting cold feet on me : )

And incase you are wondering, here is how they got to your mail box...

I have been working on our save the dates for a month of so. Using the photos from our engagement session I put together several options for Ryan and I to choose from. In the process I started brainstorming on some sort of logo/branding to carry through out the papery. I've thought about using an image of an adirondeck chair or perhaps a monogram  letter 'B'. But because save the date cards are more casual I decided not to use any logo on them. However I did find a sweet address stamper that has the adirondeck chair image I was looking for. I bought it on invitationbox.com, its an awesome website for making your own invitations and cards.

 

Once we decided on which save the date design to use I printed some test prints. I ended getting them printed at FedEx Kinkos. $35 later I was not happy with the results. In my eagerness to cross things off my list I approved the printing. Well that was a bust. So I decided to try using a photo paper in my office printer. The results were 300% better! I was so surprised by how much better it looked compared to the ones from Kinkos. You may not be able to tell from the picture. But the color rendition and gradiants just didn't look right. It was very green and grey, not very cheery for a save the date.

left side: home printer, right side: Kinkos

Just printing on the photo paper didnt feel substantial enough. So I took a quick trip to Michaels (ok there is no such thing as a quick trip to Michaels). I found for $.19 a sheet some nice scrapbook paper to mount the picture on. It frames it nicely and added some weight.

A couple of Sundays ago was my official "assemble day".  It took MUCH longer then I thought. Using Microsoft Excel and Word I figured out how to do a mail merge. I put all the invitees in a spreadsheet and formated them to print on to the envelopes. There were several mishaps. My printer kept jamming if I tried more then five at once. And even with five I had to pull them out one at a time to prevent it from jamming up. The process was slower then I hoped but it's cheaper then going to a printer and faster then writing them by hand!

 

Once I had all the pictures printed I cut them out individually using my awsome new "chopper". I bought it at a wedding invitation workshop I went to earlier this winter. It is the best! It trims all the smallest pieces. 

"chopper"

With the pictures cut out I used scrapbook adhesive to mount them to the backing paper. I figured using the hand held tape roller would be easy...unfortunately I bought the cheap 3 pack and regretted it immediately. They jammed up and didn't roll on their own. I had to hand crank it to get the adhesive out for every piece...not fun. No one EVER buy the brand below!

About an hour of thumb-rawwing, tape wheel turning all the pictures were mounted on the brown scrapbook paper. Time for another round of chopping! Using my favorite cutter again I cut out all the complete cards. As a last minute decision I made the little cards with the reminder to check out none other then MY WEDDING BLOG!!

All that was left to do was stuff and seal the envelopes. Luckily my fiance was there to help!

There you have it folks, that is how your lovely save the date from your FAVORITE couple got to your mailbox. 

And now I need a manicure....

My new Petoskey sweatshirt!

P.S. On an exciting note, last week Ryan and I purchased our flights for our honeymoon. Italy here we come!!! Or should I say "L'Italia qui veniamo"!!!