DIY – Save the Dates – The Reveal

After a few hours fighting with Adobe InDesign and Photoshop to get the look I wanted, I started dropping graphics and text into a post card template I had created in InDesign.  I create two documents; one for the front of the cards and another set to landscape for the backs.  I then created a 3rd document with the accommodations instructions that the wedding party would receive in addition to the Save the Date cards.

By this time I was running out of time, and patience so I saved both files as PDF files.  We ran these down to the local big Office Supply store and had them printed on heavy ivory cardstock which gave them a bit “older” look.  While these were being completed for us, I ran home and printed out the accommodations cards on some gray cardstock, cut the page into 4 cards and rounded the corners to make them look a bit more finished.  We used corresponding gray Paper-Source envelopes which I lined with Amy Butler print scrapbook paper.  Printing and cutting were our biggest expense but the whole project for 100 cards cost around $65 (including postage).  They were pretty far from where we started, but we were both happy with how they turned out.

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I didn’t create detailed instructions because I wasn’t sure anyone would be interested.  I will be glad to email you the InDesign template, or answer any other questions about creating DIY postcards if you send me a message.

3 thoughts on “DIY – Save the Dates – The Reveal

  1. Hi! I am also having a vintage wedding and need to send out my save the dates very soon. I saw that Office Max sells post cards with a vintage look. I am thinking that I might use them . Could you send me your template for the part that you write the address and details ? Thank you again .

    Sincerely,
    Debbie O in Idaho

  2. First of all thank you for your comment…I’m just getting starting with the blog and I LOVE comments! 🙂

    My thoughts are that your save the dates don’t have to exactly match your invitations. Think of it this way, your save the date is just a tiny glimpse , a film trailer if you will, into your wedding and your invitations will be more of a pre-screening. I haven’t posted our invitations yet but they really don’t “match” the save the dates, but they do follow the same “theme” in that they use the same fonts & color scheme.

    Our save the date post cards used a photo of the same view of the inn that our guest would walk through to get to our garden ceremony, and our invitations were very simple with a letterpressed light blue flower accent to draw from all the beautiful flowers in the garden.

    When we designed our save the dates we also felt like we needed to get them out that week, so they were quickly thrown together months before our letterpress studio designed our invites. We did however know we liked several fonts and the general color scheme…so it all tied together in the end.

    I think my biggest suggestion is to keep it simple. It’s much easier to have complimenting paper products if they all are fairly simple (less is more is my motto since I think that helps keep them elegant, even for our vintage/rustic/shabby-chic theme) and follow several factors: same fonts, same colors used consistently, use of a consistent monogram or other “icon”, and obviously same color paper. If you want to design/create both your save the dates and invitations…then go for it! I will tell you there is a nice feeling having someone compliment then and being able to say I designed it/made it/etc. BUT, that said don’t feel like you have to. If you keep your save the date postcards true to your wedding vision and somewhat simple you should have no problem blending them to your invitations, or having someone else tie them to your invitations.

  3. Hi Crafty Smurfette – I absolutely love your vintage save the date postcard as well as your invitatons. I am in desperate need of some guidance. I plan to marry May 2010 and our wedding planner has explained that the save the dates must be sent out late November. We our going for the vintage wedding theme and I’ve been searching for save the date postcards without any luck. I know I will have to create it myself in order for it to be perfect. So this means that I will need to do my invites as well so that they will match. Could you please give me some suggestions?

    Thanks in advance
    Artaveya

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