Save the Date!

The next post to follow should naturally be the story about how Mr. Hot Tea and I decided on a date and venue or where I found my dress…but these come with major revisions to the original decisions. Oh, drama.

I'll find the way back to the beginning of our wedding planning adventure someway, somehow. Paper has been a friend all along, and a much easier place to begin is with the final design of our Save the Date (STD) cards.

I’m so excited to share, here's the big reveal!

After finalizing our reception venue at the Boardwalk, I scoured through hundreds of designs courtesy the internet to discover different carnival-inspired cards. Heeeyyyy, Miss Ferris Wheel!

Image via etsy.com / Design by lehanpaperdesign

And how cute are these 'tickets to love' cards?

Image via www.projectwedding.com / Design by Smiles on Paper

I liked the ideas, so full of personality on their own. On the other hand, our engagement photos sat waiting for more exposure (pun!). It was time to reset my google search and find a design that could incorporate one of our e-pics. 


Hundreds of more choices later, we decided to use a template from shutterfly.com. Luck was on my side -- the designs were 20% off at the time and I was able to apply an additional 20% coupon from an email promotion.  I saved almost half off the original price and avoided countless hours of potential frustration and empty color ink cartridges had I printed these babies at home. Score!

[Quick public service announcement - many websites offer online tools where you can customize the text and upload your photo to see a digital proof of the design before you order. As a visual person, the tool made me confident in my decision to purchase online with no stress!]

Most sane couples would address the envelopes, add a stamp, and be done with it. Yet, here’s the point where reading one too many wedding blogs influenced me to attempt do-it-yourself details. I'm not super creative, but I can be crafty with the right tools.  First, I learned about a simple ‘corner rounding’ tool. It’s a punch that elegantly rounds the square corner of a piece of paper. Voila!

Trial, error and persistence paid off. And as those of you who have attempted projects know firsthand, DIY does not necessarily mean cost-effective. Thankfully, my little mistakes weren't too expensive.

At first I thought I could cut the magnets into thirds and enthusiastically divided a whole pack of 10 business card magnets. Oops! The fully assembled STD card slid to the floor when I tried to stick it on the fridge. No bueno -- or in the words of Homer Simpson, 'Doh!' 

Back to the drawing board, a 50-pack of business card magnets from Staples cut in half worked beautifully. Even better, no scissors were required. I could fold the magnet in half to crack it, and then peel and stick it to the back of the shutterfly card.

Then, after a sale waiting game for cardstock and scrapbook paper to go from 69 cents per sheet to 4 sheets for $1, it was time to roll up my sleeves and break out the paper slicer.  Each sheet could make 4 mounting card layers.  After all that cutting, I rolled double-sided adhesive to the back of the STD card/magnets and stuck them to the pink cardstock layer. Concealing the magnet gave the overall card a much cleaner look. 

Mr. HT contributed the idea for the final touch -- a scratch-off sticker to incorporate an element of fun and surprise for the addressee! I highly recommend www.myscratchofflabels.com for the purchase. They offer free samples and quickly sent the labels -- in our case -- 100 pin code labels for $7.50.

Done, right? Well, not quite. These cards deserved an equally pretty envelope. I cut a striped paper for a liner using DIY instructions from the internet. Mrs. Tartlet has a great tutorial here and my process followed a similar one to Mrs. Hamster's here. 

Now we're on the home stretch to getting these lovelies out into the world! I used the PDF design template from marthastewartweddings.com and some inspiration from a Weddingbee DIY post here. I chose vellum paper and punched the edges to dress up the look. A quick crease with a bone folder and a turn through a Xyron 2.5" create-a-sticker machine -- ta-da! Here’s the prettiness that awaited our guests amidst all the regular mail. . .

Whew, that's a lot of steps. And yet, there's something personally gratifying about completing semi-DIY craft project. We received such nice compliments about them, from the envelope to the scratch-off sticker. One of our friends said, "Leave it to you guys to make your save-the-date card something like a lottery ticket!"


What do you think about how my final product turned out? And if you're doing STDs, what DIY elements did/will you incorporate?

* personal photos unless otherwise attributed *