How I Made Our Save the Dates

If you didn’t already know, I’m getting married this year. And unless you can shell out a stack of money for a wedding planner, this means that, as a bride, you take on the role of scheduler, budgeter, accountant, researcher, designer, and so much more. For some, this is overwhelming and why so many brides transform into “Bridezilla” but for me, it meant that I got to indulge in many different hobbies I’d never gotten to try before.

Though it wasn’t intentional, my wedding is becoming more and more DIY. I’ve had quite a few projects up my sleeve and I’d like to document these processes mostly for my own memory. So if you’re interested in following my process or my wedding planning or just creative things in general, get ready.

When you get engaged, the first question people ask you is when. And when you finally figure out when, and where, you want to tell everybody. Or, at least, everyone that is invited. Enter Save the Dates. These little extra invitations seem to be a fairly recent invention that may or may not be necessary for every situation. When you’re planning an international wedding, however, they seem fairly necessary. If you’re asking people to travel over an ocean, they should probably know well in advance.

So the search began, as many of my wedding searches did, on Pinterest and subsequently Etsy. I won’t lie, I’m kind of picky when it comes to wedding things. When planning a wedding, it’s really easy to fall into what is trendy and cute and Pinterest-worthy, but when you’re searching for something that will be both personal and memorable, what do you do? Because James and I live in separate countries, we couldn’t exactly take engagement photos and use those for our Save the Dates, so we had to go in another direction. The ones that kept catching my eye were clean, simple illustrated designs that incorporated the venue where the wedding would take place.

These ranged from line drawings to full watercolor portraits and I loved them. I thought they were unique and special and added so much to what could otherwise be kind of boring. The more I looked at designs, and the prices of paying someone to do them, the more I began thinking, “Maybe I could do this myself?” I’m not a great artist but I can draw decently when I have a picture to work off of, so that’s what happened. I said I’d try.

Inspiration for Wedding Stationary

So I downloaded a lot of pictures of our venue and got to work. First, I drew a large line version of the building. This took maybe a morning to accomplish. I wasn’t seeking perfect, just something that would generally capture the essence of the venue.

The First Sketch

Then I traced it in pen; then I traced it again on a new piece of paper. Then I scanned it in and turned it into picture format. And then I inputted it into the design I’d made with the fonts I’d download on a Word Document. Then I turned that Doc into a PDF.

Digital Mock-Up

Then I sent it off to be printed by this shop on Etsy. And then they arrived in cute little blue envelopes that I addressed myself (not sure I’ll be doing that again).

The Final Product

Overall, I’m pleased with how they turned out and grateful that I have a special piece of our story to keep forever.

*Some information has been blurred for confidentiality reasons.