Save the Dates

There has been a lot of STD talk since we got engaged.

And by STD, I mean Save the Dates.

Get your mind out of the gutter! ;) 

From the beginning, the whole stationary aspect of the wedding (save the dates/invitations/items for the wedding like programs, menus, table numbers, etc.) was actually a really tough one from me.

I'm pretty sure I've spent more time thinking over stationary so far than I did over choosing my wedding dress.  Nuts.

My theory with stationary at first was that this is an area that we can REALLY save money on.

Of course I LOVE to get fancy schmancy invitations in the mail, but I couldn't get past the fact that these things sadly really do just get tossed away.

So, at first, I was bound and determined to find a way to take care of our Save the Dates on the cheap.

The first place I looked was at Peanut Butter Fingers, because I knew she had done some inexpensive and cute Save the Dates.

I browsed the Wedding Chicks website (what Julie used) for a template, and nothing was really striking a cord.

Hmpf. 

Then, all of my savvy married friends told me I should check out Wedding Paper Divas.

I kid you not, I spent HOURS of my life scrolling through the different designs on that site.  It is set up really nicely because you can specify your color scheme and go from there.  Actually, now that I just went back to the save the date page, there are some even cuter options than before.

After spending all of that time scrolling and scrolling, I still couldn't find something that felt personal enough to me.

I wanted to use some of our incredible engagement pictures on the Save the Dates, and none of the options for that were what I envisioned.

I also started to look at the pricing - not radically expensive, but also not radically more inexpensive than the option I had sitting in the back of my head the whole time...

Just Invite Me :)

That's right, just when you thought you had heard the end of me singing the praises of the incredibly talented Jessi Cabanin, she had to go and be a rock star at stationary too.

If any of you watch Say Yes to the Dress, I like to think of my situation with stationary like when a bride-to-be comes into Kleinfeld's already having found a dress she loves at another store.

They can shower her tons and tons of gorgeous dresses, but she secretly already has her mind made up.

I had seen the incredible work Just Invite Me did for my friend (and bridesmaid!) Christina's wedding back in October - and I really did have my heart set on creating something just as wonderful and personal.

So, I got back into touch with Jessi, and we got moving!

A quick summary of how we came to the final design...

First I had to decide - do I want to do a postcard? Do I want to do a card + envelope? Do I want to do a card + magnet + envelope?

I originally thought a postcard would be the cute & most cost-efficient option.

We juggled that around for a bit, but I couldn't get over the way I have seen mail destroy beautiful stationary.  Things that start out flawless can end up at the recipient house mangled & dirty.

So, I opted for the "just right" option as Goldilocks would put it - the card + envelope combo.

Just Invite Me can pretty much create whatever you want (I'm convinced), so I then moved on to do a LOT of searching on Pintrest and various other sites like Style Me Pretty for inspiration.

Some things I loved...

(source: Style Me Pretty)

(source: Style Me Pretty)

(source: Style Me Pretty)

Someone told me when I first got engaged to start an "inspiration book" with photos of flowers, stationary, etc. I was liking.  

They said once I had a lot of things gathered, it would be fascinating how everything would be somewhat the same.  

I think if you look at the above designs that holds true :) 

Very interesting! 

Anyway, so I wanted to combine the simplistic look of the above designs with some of our engagement pictures.

I finally stumbled across a design I LOVED, which I unfortunately cannot share with you right away because the Save the Dates have not yet gone out (I know, I'm sorry!).  

Once I had that design in mind, I worked with Jessi to find the perfect layout/combination of pictures.  

Let me just tell you - patient does not even define the way she worked with me.  

I must have asked for about 1000 different layouts/color combos/fonts over about a 2 month period.  

Jessi never made me feel like I was a bother, which was incredible, because I can only imagine how much of her unpaid time I was taking up.   

Me being an attorney, working under the "billable hours" scenario, I really do understand that time IS money.  So I truly appreciated all of her hard work and attention.  

And let me tell you, did she EVER deliver! 

Jessi showed me every option I asked for and came up with exactly what I was picturing for the Save the Dates.  

She even designed the most incredible front + back address printing for the envelopes - that I may be even more excited about than the cards themselves (and it's going to make our lives SO much easier). 

Another nice thing - I was having a little bit of a neurotic moment after I saw our gorgeous holiday cards from Jessi and LOVED the shiny/metallic paper they ended up being printed on: 

(photos by Just Love Me Photography + Design, design by Jessi Cabanin - Just Invite Me)

(photos by Just Love Me Photography + Design, design by Jessi Cabanin - Just Invite Me)

Jessi had already ordered the Save the Dates on a more "matte" paper, but assured me that she would check the quality when she received them, and if they were not-so-hot, we could re-do! 

Well, not only did she do that, but without me even asking, she sent me a SAMPLE to look at as soon as the STDs came in so I could see the paper.  

That was SO fun & exciting - and I got to see the paper for myself, which I ended up loving so much more with the design. 

That's customer service at it's finest, people! 

So, you're probably thinking - why did she do this post if she isn't even going to show us the CARDS?!

Yeah, I probably should have thought of that before I started.  Whoops. 

Well, here's a little teaser for you: 

(designed by Jessi Cabanin - Just Invite Me)

I will share the rest with you when the cards go out at the end of January! :)

(reveal is now up here!)

Please let me know if you have any questions at all about how I made my decisions about Save the Dates or about my experience with Just Invite Me. I would love to hear from you & I'd be happy to help! 

Something to talk about: What did you do for your Save the Dates? What do you think/plan to do for Save the Dates?  

Just about 8 more months to go until the wedding! 

Keep checking back for more fun updates. 

xoxo

Jess