My Wedding Planning DIY Series: Save the Date

Crocus

 
The real question is, "Why bother with a "Save the Date" card or email?"  That is exactly what I asked a number of times in addition to what form this notice should take.  According to my daughter the bride-to-be, "All of my friends are so busy that they need to have the date on their calender 6 months ahead."  I remember when I was young, I did have plans every weekend and holiday.  Now that I am retired, I love having nothing planned.  After having gotten the "Save the Date" cards out in the mail, I can identify some positive outcomes of this tradition.
1.  It forced us to get our "invite list" done.
2.  Thanks to the online wedding planner "the knot" the bride and groom-to-be and I were able to work on it virtually from different geographic locations whenever we had time. We’ve used the  online wedding planning tools to enter the name of each person being invited, the email address, street address, and the same information for his or her guest.  This same list will serve as a database for bridal shower information, wedding invitations, rehearsal dinner invites, thank you notes,  place cards, tracking replies etc.  etc.  It is work getting set up, but once it is done, you are set for a well organized event.
3.  This database also identifies how many cards and envelopes you need.  We have 113 people invited, but we only need 65 save the dates and invitations because not everyone has a guest.
4. It also enable to get any problems with addresses identified because the post office was kind enough to return to me all of the envelopes with problems.  We only had 3 returns out of about 65.  Not too bad!

There are a number of formats that you can use for the "Save the Date".  If you do a quick search in the knot, you find there are lots of commercial options form traditional paper postcards, postcards you can email, magnets, etc.  The knot even provides a free email option for you.  Personally, I would have selected that one because it works seamlessly with the website and it is free.  My daughter on the other hand really wanted something that her friends could hang on their refrigerators.  Go figure! If you go that route, there are many choices and companies to select from.

Save the Date Magnet

My daughter loves my handmade cards so she insisted that I make her  "Save the Date" magnets.   Using the wedding colors is part of this whole save the date.  It should also give a hint of what the event will be like.  The wedding colors are  lavender, green, and gold.  The wedding is taking place on the beach and the reception will take place at a facility there is a view of the Delaware Bay and Atlantic Ocean.  The groom is wearing a suit so it is dressy but not a black tie formal event.  The bridal gown is long and lacy.  Enough information to come up with the design!

I used the 2 main wedding colors make up the foundation of the card.  The purple is the bottom layer and the green is glued on top.  I used high quality paper from Stampin' Up.  I also used some of their linen thread to give the card a casual feel.

Martha Stewart has a starfish punch that I selected to create starfiish with gold Stampin' Up paper.  Notice how I am pulling in the gold color and the beach atmosphere.  I used real starfish, but they did not hold up well in the mail so I would recommend paper starfish.  In retrospect, I would do a test mailing to see how your card wears postal service travel.  I did weigh the card prior to the mailings so I new I had the correct postage.  Also, make sure to put your return address on each so you know if there are any address problems.

I selected brown ink that looked like gold to pull in the linen thread and starfish.  The bride prefers cream to white so everything connected to this wedding is cream colored including table linens and wedding gown.  Cream colored paper makes up the top layer of the card.

The final step involved placing magnets that I purchased from Michaels on the back so that these save the dates can be hung on refrigerators as the bride-to-be requested. All of the cards were then mailed in high quality cream colored envelopes that I purchased from Stampin' Up.   I think that wording on these DIY "Save the Dates" give a hint of the wedding theme and style.

I must warn you that before you jump into a DIY project like this that experience making cards and making tables with a word processor are probably skills that you should have.  I have been making and selling cards for awhile on my online BayMoonDesign Etsy store.

I am making the invitations too.  Stay tuned for that!

My Wedding Planning DIY Series: Wedding Colors Reveal

Thistle Plant

What colors do you think my daughter selected for her fall wedding on the beach?  I like to select colors by looking at Mother Nature.  This is a great time of the year to look around at all of the color combination found in flowers and vegetables.  Lavender and green is one of Mother Nature's favorites.  My daughter Christina has always liked purple.  She had a purple bedroom, lilac prom gown, lavender 18th birthday cake and now a lavender and green wedding colors.

Christina's 18th Birthday Cake

I have to confess Christina selected the colors for the cake.  I selected the photo. A good chuckle was had by all at the birthday party.

roundlobe hepatica plant

You might think that everything is smooth sailing now that we have the wedding colors selected.  No!  Now,  look at the different shades that Mother Nature has for just these 2 colors.  It is important to collect swatches of materials and preview samples of paper stock etc. to make sure that what you are using is exactly what you envisioned and nothing clashes.  Sometimes purple with a blue hue  doesn't work well next to a purple with a red tint in it.  Nothing is easy in wedding planning!


The next blog will show we worked the wedding colors into the save the date cards.

My Wedding Planning DIY Series: Wedding Colors

Happy I Do Day Card by Bay Moon Design

Planning for a wedding is a time to showcase your skills and talents.  My daughter is getting married in October 2012, and she wants  to use my skills and talents to help her with the save the date cards, wedding invitations, bridesmaids gifts, wedding decorations, and the list goes on.  She thinks I do a great job in those areas.  I am flattered and retired.   My warning to all who think they can take on some of the projects in this series is --you need time in addition to ability!

Before you can begin on any of these projects, it is essential to have your wedding colors selected.  You can't change your mind without much cost and loss of time so think a lot about what you like, the season, theme, mood etc.  There are many websites that can help.  The Knot is one that I would recommend.  Just type "wedding colors" in the search box and you will betaken to lots of webpages with great photos and  ideas.

What colors do you think my daughter selected for her fall wedding on the beach?