Trying to figure out the Save the Dates

Since we have a small guest list, we initially thought we wouldn't send out save the dates. We figured most people would hear about the date beforehand anyway, and we'd just send the invitations a little early. Once we found out that the 34th Annual Marine Corp Marathon is scheduled the same weekend as our wedding, we thought we better send out some advance notice (with hotel information) if we wanted anyone to make it to our wedding and have a bed to sleep in!

So for the last couple months I've been thinking of ideas and running them past Mr. Fairfax. We're building our decor around the photo below, so we wanted to tie the tree and/or apple theme in to the save the dates (and eventually into the invitations).

source

So after many hours perusing the internets for ideas, I've got a few to share with you:

1) Simple black and white with a great picture taken by a friend of mine.

I'm not sure how we'd print it out, either on glossy photo paper or on white paper with a black backing.

Here's the other option:

2) For this version we'd print it up on brown ink on off-white paper. I did the little heart graphic myself in Microsoft Paint, but if we decide to go with this design, I'd get a pro to make it a little more polished for me (ps--it's supposed to be like a heart carved into a tree with initials to tie in the whole tree/apple theme).

So tell me what you think!