Save The Dates are in the States!

With our monogram complete, it was time to start putting together our Save The Dates. I knew I was going to spend a pretty penny on our invitations so I wanted to make the STDs myself. Postcards are sooo IN these days! I create all my graphics on my MacBook using iWorks 09 Pages.

As you can see I just printed the monogram on the front of the card stock and the following on the back:

I have been known to get carried away with fonts. There are just so many beautiful free fonts available! I decided to stick with Snell Roundhand for our names, Baskerville (italic) for the date and location, and Champignon for sentences. I stretched out the fonts to fit by using the 'character' slide, located in the Inspector.

They were printed on the heaviest cardstock the printer had at the time, (hey, I live on Guam, I have to take what I can get) which was not as thick as I had hoped for. Actually they were a bit flimsy, but I kept reminding myself that my invitations were going to be really pretty. Anyway, they were also given a UV coating to keep the ink from running/fading/smearing. I highly recommend this, the gloss effect was a nice touch.

What I forgot to account for was my stamp. I didn't realize when I ordered them from Stamps.com that they would be so big! Wait until you affix your stamp to address the cards!!! I had to scrap about 60 cards and re-do them because the stamp covered the names of my guests.

I sent those babies out in the mail and am happy that they are stuck on refrigerators across the country!

How do you feel about postcards vs. magnets?

It's All in the Details

Well this just came out so darn cute I had to show it off! This is our postage for our Save The Dates!

I mentioned previously that I wanted to find ways to infuse our island life into our winery wedding. I am a sucker for inanimate objects dressed in Bride & Groom, so when I saw the graphic on a local greeting card at our bookstore I knew it had to me mine. I was sure I could find it online, but I bought the card anyway just so I could feel better about snagging it. Thank you Zories Only!

I uploaded the image onto stamps.com, chose the postage, and voila!

What is your favorite little detail?

The Creative Process...

I finally got the monograms that I ordered on Etsy. Totally cute, but not exactly what I was looking for. However, they did inspire me to try to create some on my own. The only problem with that is that I have become slightly neurotic about it. Arranging and re-arranging all the elements to create the perfect piece has now taken up 2 whole days. Like I think someone will actually look at it and think, "Wow, Barrettes should have moved that 'B' a 1/4 millimeter to the right."

When someone else creates something for you, you just accept it, love it or hate it. But when creating it yourself, its hard to accept it unless its perfect...but what is perfect?! Ahhhh! So anyway, I took a break from looking at them for a few days.

This is one of the monograms I had made on Etsy. I added the 'Save the Date' and 'Napa Valley, CA'.

You may be wondering, "What are those mushroom looking things?" Those my friends, are Latte Stones. Lah-tee. Not to be confused with the yummy caffinated goodness. While we are having a winery wedding, I still wanted to incorporate some Guam-ness in there. The Latte Stone is a national symbol of Guam, as the ancient Chamorros built their houses on top of the stones to prevent the structure from sinking into the sand. Presently, they symbolize foundation and strength. *end Guam History lesson*

This is the first one I made myself. It went through tons of changes. I kept changing the spacing, font, and the sizes obsessively. In the end I went with a more romantic font and added a heart. The final monogram came out beautifully!

Did you use a monogram throughout your theme? What kinds of things did you stamp it on?