Our Save-the-Dates!!!!

I have been so excited to show all of you our Save-the-Dates -- in fact I could barely keep myself from posting pictures of them before now, but my mom put them all in the mail today (Thanks, Mom!) and even used those ADORABLE king and queen stamps that I posted about months ago -- so now I feel like it's OK to post about them!

It wasn't a quick process, but it wasn't too entirely difficult either! I've always really loved DIY projects and this was the perfect way for me to DIY something for the wedding without going overboard!

Me, M., my Mom, Dad and Sister helped make these save-the-dates a beautiful success (if I do say so myself)!!! My mother so kindly collected all of the supplies ahead of time so that we could assemble over the Thanksgiving weekend. Our supplies: 150 Blue Cards printed with gold chandeliers, 150 vanilla colored cards printed with our engagement shoot image & "save-the-date" details, three rolls of ivory satin ribbon, three packages of gold Swarovski-like mini crystals, two glue sticks, one roll of gold wrapping paper, and a rotary cutter.

After the Tuesday Morning fiasco (finding 150 of these pale blue cards from stores in North Carolina all the way up to Wisconsin) we thought long and hard about the many different ways we could play with the cards and make them look super professional without having to pay a crazy expensive price. We eventually decided on printing a vanilla card with one of our engagement shoot pictures and also including some classic script print to include details like the wedding date and our wedding website. We did go to a professional printer for these cards because we wanted to ensure the image and the text was crisp and clear. The printed cards came out just as I had hoped -- I couldn't be happier with the way they look!!

Now for the steps of our save-the-dates....

The very first step of this process was to glue the ivory ribbon to each card. My mom cut pieces of ribbon (all 9 inches) while I applied them to the cards. We went for a "wrap effect" -- the ribbon is actually not wrapped all the way around, but instead around the back and just about an inch on the front of the cards. It was important to give each card enough time to dry because we wanted to make sure the ribbon wouldn't come off!

After giving each card ample drying time we moved on to the next step which was centering and gluing on the printed card. Again, we coated each card pretty thoroughly with the glue sticks to make sure the card was secure and that there would be no chance of it peeling off at the edges or coming off once it was in it's recipients hands!

The last step of each card was to apply the Swarovski-like mini crystals. At first I thought that this step would take FOREVER, but what I discovered was that a pair tweezers really made this process easier! I used special paper glue for this part of the process because a regular glue stick just wouldn't do. A little tiny bit of glue held each crystal on solidly and the effect was really beautiful -- they made each card pop and made them look professionally put together.

After we completed all of the cards we decided to line the envelopes with the metallic gold wrapping paper that matched the gold chandelier motif on the blue cards **This is also a step that makes the cards EXTRA EXTRA special for just a small price. I'm pretty sure my mom purchased the paper for only $5.99 a roll.** My mom made a pattern and she cut out all of the liners. I (and my Dad and sister) placed them in the envelopes and glued them in. The liners completely made the whole look -- I absolutely loved the way that they pulled it all together! Look at my sweet dad helping get the envelopes together!!!

This project was really fun and I am so glad that I created my own look using the special cards that my mom and I worked so hard to get!!!! How do you think they turned out!?


**Side Note: I realize that the cards are BLUE. BLUE is NOT the main color of my wedding, but since the walls of our reception venue are the same pale blue color I felt like it was OK that I used this color in the Save-the-Dates!**

Look how cute my fiancee is at the right -- sealing up envelopes! Such a sweet guy :)

**Another Side Note: My mom somehow discovered a new setting on my camera where it actually takes three quick pictures in a row -- I had to include some of the funny shots she captured!**

Sorry I had to blur out the details on the cards! Gotta be safe though! :) Hope you like them as much as I do!!