Save the Date

I definitely do not think "simple" when I think of weddings. I think of extravagant, fun, time consuming, exciting, painful, thrilling, just to name a few emotions. I didn't know it was possible to feel so many mixed emotions about one event, but I do.

Through the good and the bad, it is still crucial to make the best of everything because this time only happens once! So when I thought of sending out save the dates, I wanted them to be different. I love the magnet save the dates, but so many people use those. I searched on Google and many wedding websites and finally found an idea I loved. The concept was from Miss Duckling's Blog Post and Red Shoes & Snowflake Marshmallows. These two blogs give amazing, detailed step-by-step instructions on how to put these together. They made the time consuming process, simple.

The first step was already taken care of, engagement pictures. One of my very good friends owns her own company, Dandilynn Photography. I was a bit nervous for Chelsey when we went to the session because I knew our Boxer, Kia, would not cooperate. She of course didn't, but Chelsey was amazing with her and I think we got some really good shots! You can check out our mini engagement session here!

Onto the actual save the date. I ordered Classic Natural Cream Card Stock and A7 Classic Natural Cream Envelopes online from Paper and More. The Baby Chocolate Envelopes were ordered online from Paper Source. The ribbon and the pink scrapbook paper for the numbers were both purchased from Pat Catan's, but can be purchased at any craft store. Chelsey formatted two pictures as one 4" x 6" image, I printed the images at Kinko's, and then cut them in half. Caution: be careful with scissors while doing this part. I poked my eye and was out of commission for an hour. Oops!

When it comes to graphic design, I have no clue what I am doing. Not only does Chelsey provide photography services, but graphic design services as well, so she was more than happy to help me out. It only took us a few hours to get the design perfect. From there, I was able to print two save the dates on one sheet of paper and then cut down the middle. 

The most time consuming part of the entire process was cutting out, punching, and stringing the numbers for 100+ save the dates. First, we cut out the numbers. Thank the heavens above one of my bridesmaids let me know that her sister owns a Cricut and cartridges and she let me borrow them! I am so grateful to both of them for that. After all of the numbers were cut out, they were punched with a 1/8" hole punch and strung through the ribbon. We also got a heart shaped hole punch and punched out hearts from the extra scrapbook paper to put as a divider between the numbers. Those also needed hole punched. 

Like I said: time consuming.

After the numbers and hearts were strung onto the ribbon, they were folded so the first number was on the bottom and the last number was on the top with extra ribbon on each side. A knife was used to cut a slit through the back of the chocolate envelope and the beginning of the ribbon was fed through, and taped to the back. Then, a small piece of the ribbon was left out of the flap of the envelope so the guests could pull out the numbers. After they were all stuffed, I glued the envelopes and the pictures onto the save the dates with a permanent glue stick.

I was getting so anxious toward the end because the stickers from I Love Dielines Studio took a while to come in. When they finally did, they were placed on the flap of the envelope to seal it shut, then they were out the door!

  

They turned out better than I could have even imagined and I couldn't be more happy with them! 

A HUGE thanks to my mom, maid of honor, Tina,

and bridesmaid, Sarah, for helping me put all of these together! 

I couldn't have done it without them!!