I mentioned awhile back that I would like to start posting some weddings tips to share the love of what we did with our wedding on a budget. I made almost everything. No big surprise. Most things were really easy and not hard at all and saved us and our family a ton of money.
Save-the-dates
First up, if you're recently engaged or know someone that is you may be thinking about whether or not you want to send out save-the-dates. I say go for it. You can do it for really cheap. I went a different route than what people in Utah do. Sending both kind of make you look fancy but you don't have to spend a lot of extra pesos. I sent pictures with our save-the-dates and not our wedding invitations. This saved us on time and money. Save-the-dates don't have to be sent with a picture. You can just come up with a really cute card and saying, print it out on card stock, cut it and send it out. I use MS Word for all of this stuff. You can use Photoshop or whatever else you are familiar with. I use Word because I am an expert at it but you don't have to be.
I guess the biggest money saver was choosing not to hire a photographer to do our engagement pictures. We don't technically have engagement pictures and you know what? Two years later I don't regret this at all. Although, if you have a camera and a tripod you can do this yourselves or have a family member snap them for you.
People may use someone they know who is in school that wants to become a photographer but unless you've already seen some of their work don't do it. Or do it. Again, it's all up to you.
Decide on what size you want your cards to be and find a label template in Word that will accommodate this. I like to use the label templates because the tables will already be nicely laid out for you. I start with the first box and design my card. I copy that one and then paste it into the rest of the boxes in the template instead of worrying about making sure each one is done separately. If you're a graphic design or print genius you'll have an easier way that suites you better I'm sure.
Keep your content simple, remember this isn't your invite. It's like a little shout-out. I included my blog address so that people could follow our journey if they chose to do so but that's up to you. Some people start wedding sites for there big day you can include that on here if you choose.
Ours said...
Joining forces this Summer
Somewhere in Utah
Invitation to follow
Follow our journey
brandaleeb.blogspot.com
Save it
Tyrone Jay
Brandalee (that's my legal name)
The Day
6.13.09
I printed the cards out on brightly colored card stock paper and cut each of them out. I layered mine with a contrasting color but you can just leave yours on one card. I also used another contrasting color to tack the cards together. These little purple guys were not expensive at all but if you don't want to use them you'll save even more.
I downloaded A TON of fonts from
dafont.com but there are other sites out there too. I like
dafant.com because it's easy to download and is compatible with Mac OSX.
Now, for the picture, I am going to confess that we took this in our dinning room standing in front of our computer using the web cam and Photo Booth application. If you don't have Photo Booth you can use the
photo cabin or
spark booth. I made a few edits and then ordered about 50 of them online at....uhh....hmmm... Walmart.com. It was dirt cheap to develop them that way. Costco is also another cheap place and you never have to tell a soul where you got them from.
Visit our little journey by clicking the pic below
