Save the Dates

The “Save the Dates” were my first DIY project for the wedding and also my first inkling that I was going to be admittedly difficult, picky, and perfectionist-y about wedding details. I knew I wanted a post card; I knew I wanted our pictures on it, and I loved this mini – envelope idea from Martha Stewart :

A friend had done wedding thank you cards with the bride holding a large white foam board that said “Thank” and the groom’s said “You!”, which I thought was adorable – so another idea was born. I made the signs using letters printed in a super large font and cut and glued onto the foam board. And finally, we wanted to introduce the Outer Banks into it - so we had my mom take pictures of us holding the signs at various spots on the grounds of our venue. Transferred the picture into Zazzle (super easy and great to design postcards in), and viola, the front of the Save the Date postcard complete. We were standing in the exact spot where we will get married!


Next up - designing the back of the card. I used this site to make sure that all the postal requirements on size, border, depth, postage area, and postal markings were met. I did all of this design with Zazzle as well, picking a font, making a cute little calendar icon in PowerPoint, putting return address (those nice people in the postal service returned un-deliverable cards to me, which is not typically done for post cards). And after a round of proofs, where I tweaked placement, my post cards arrived and were BEAUTIFUL!!

Now for the little Martha inspired envelope. This is where I have the most regrets, though I LOVED how it turned out, it took SO MUCH TIME and many mistakes. I couldn't find a premade envelope that fit my size (2 x 2.7) specifications. So okay – I’ll make an envelope, no problem. I created a template, and then cut each envelope from sheets of scrapbook paper, assembled and glued each, then glued to the postcard. I was very worried about the envelope getting ripped off the postcard in the mailing process, so I used a super strong adhesive roller thing. Making the inserts for the envelope also (are you surprised) was a process – I had to cut each insert out, glue it to the colored paper backer and tie together. I had good help for that part from my future Maid of Honor (I was auditioning her for the part – she passed with flying colors). Put the inserts into the envelope, glue envelope flap with a special temporary glue (again Martha product), stamp (with a full, not postcard, stamp), and done. Final product looked like this:

Top picture is the back (with the nice post office persons writing "please forward") - you can see the bar code on the bottom, the red hand cancel on the top, and faint grey on the top as well.

Bottom picture is the inserts in the envelope with our venue, date, and website info.

Insanely, I did not create any extras to keep, I was just focused on getting the required number FINISHED and then never looking at them again. The picture above is one that was mailed and got returned as a bad address, so you can see how they look after surviving the postal process. Everyone LOVED them, and they all arrived intact. (Though you can see in the picture that my finger doesn’t have a ring on it!! :))