Save the Dates: Budget Breakdown

Okay, so here is the cost breakdown for the save the dates. Prices are before tax, obvs!


A2 White Envelopes (Staples) - $15.60
Wrapping Paper (to line envelopes) (Dollarama) - $1.00
4 x 5 White Cardstock Cards - Free!
Alphabet Stamps (Dollarama) - $1.00
Polkadot Stamp (Michaels) - $1.50
Black Ink Pad (Michaels) - $1.75
Yellow Ink Pad (Michaels) - $1.50
12 x 12 Yellow/Black Print Paper (Michaels) - $1.69
1/8" Round Hole Punch (Michaels) - $4.75
100 Yds Black and White Twine (eBay) - $3.98 (Used less than half)
100 Custom Magnets (Vistaprint) - $8.99
Miscellaneous (pens, double sided tape, paper cutter) - $5.00

Total for 60 Save the Dates: $46.76
Stamps for 40 Cards - $21.00 (The rest were hand-delivered at Christmas)
Grand Total - $67.76

Price per Save the Date (without stamp) - $0.62
Price per Save the Date (with stamp) - $1.13

So all in all, not too expensive. I think if you don't include the cost of stamps, $0.62 for a save the date isn't too bad. I think it definitely was a huge learning process and it has definitely shown me more of what I want to do for the invites (colour!). Also, we have leftovers of almost everything, because we had to order 100 magnets and the envelopes only came in packs of 50. Also, a lot of the supplies we used can be used in future projects, so those were necessary costs that won't have to be repurchased for the invites.

So, I'm happy with how they turned out and I'm glad to see the costs didn't get out of control. Especially since everything was bought in bits and pieces, and I didn't look at costs until now. Phew!

Did your Save the Dates turn out how you anticipated?

Special Delivery

They're done! Hallelujah, the Save the Dates are done. Now, time for the big reveal...

Hand addressed envelopes

A few polka dots to add detail

Who's that peeking out? (And notice the lined envelopes)

There it is! All wrapped up in a lovely twine bow.

Take off the magnet to put it on your fridge, and voila!

The whole package

So that's them. My very first DIY, aww! They were pretty grueling to do, but so far they have been well-received, even if a lot of people aren't sure what a save the date is. I definitely learned a lot in making these, and will keep a lot if things in mind for when I do the invitations.

Some thoughts:

1. We printed the cards using our home printer, and while they look okay, they still look obviously home printed. I'm not sure what our invitations are going to end up looking like, but I think we will definitely look into having them professionally printed to save ourselves the hassle and so they look nicer.

2. While the overall look is pretty cohesive, I wish there was more colour. I wish we had used a coloured envelope instead of white. Another bad thing about the white envelope was that you could kind of see through it. No bueno.

3. Hand-addressing all the envelopes was TEDIOUS. Until I got the hang of it, I kept making silly little mistakes and having to start over. Annoying. And even though the overall 'calligraphy' isn't hideous, I'm not sure how worth the stress it was. So maybe we will hire an actual calligrapher for the invites, or I'm thinking some funky wraparound labels.

Anyways, I know they're not the best of the best, but they're cute, and the most important part of the whole package is the magnet which I love. I'm just happy they're done and gone!

So what do you think?

Next, I will put up a cost breakdown because I'm curious as to how much this little project cost!

Random Musings

A few things...

1. I'm dumb. D and I went to his mom's house for dinner on Sunday, and she was showing us something on her camera so I started scanning through the camera looking for pictures of me trying on wedding dresses. Duh, why not? So I found a group of pictures that was from our very first shopping trip back in April. And what was the first dress in the picture? MY dress. Like, the dress I ordered and am patiently waiting to come in. I have NO memory of trying on this dress during this trip, but I obviously did, and it left zero impression on me. Is that something I should be worried about? How can MY dress have been the first dress I ever tried on and it left no impression on me? Ugh, bridal brain.

2. The Save the Dates are in progress. The magnets are supposed to arrive tomorrow, and I've finally collected all the supplies I need to make the cards (after literally, about 5 trips to the craft store). So yesterday I decided I couldn't procrastinate any more and it was time to start putting it all together. Starting with envelope liners. Ugh, how annoying are envelope liners? But at least they are pretty... So yesterday was spent tracing, cutting and folding envelope liners. Tonight I am taping those suckers in, and then it's time to start the little tags that will be stamped with our wedding date. Save the Date tutorial still to come. Why am I wasting my time with all these details that people will likely not notice? Hopefully you all will appreciate it!

3. D is home for the holidays! I'm a happy girl. He came home last Thursday, and is here until early January. He was lucky to finish his exams super early and just has to finish a paper by the end of this week. It's weird to have him around all the time now, but awesome. And it was awesome when he cut out half the envelope liners last night. And even MORE awesome when he called our venue coordinator to 'lawyer' her. Oh, yes... story about that drama to come!

What has been going on with you all? I'm off to save-the-date it up! Jealous?

Save the Date: Too Late?

Is it too late to make and send out Save the Dates for our July wedding?

I know a lot of wedding timelines say to send them out 6-8 months ahead of time, so we are still well within that limit, but I feel like it is cutting it too close and would just be a waste of time, money, and paper.

Our families are all pretty close and well-connected, and everyone else who lives out of town or far away is pretty in the loop in regards to our wedding plans. So we're okay there.

But... they're so pretty!

I've been saving inspiration for a loooong time, and these are some of the ideas I've saved over time.

Love the kid pictures and twine in this one!

The classic photo strip (from here)

Cute calendar save the dates (from here)

How about one using our (hopefully, soon-to-be-seen) e-pics! (from here)

Or how about combining awesome e-pics AND a calendar? Loves it! (from here)

I actually already created a save the date template and was super close to ordering them from Vistaprint, but I haven't done it yet. I'm not sure what stopped me, but I feel like deep down I wanted to use engagement pics in them? So we'll see once we have our e-pics backs, if I decide to jump the gun and order some. Like I said, we have about 8 months to go from now. That's still plenty of time to order and send out save the dates, but I can't help but feeling like it's a waste of money. Indecisiveness strikes again!

What do you think I should do? Is it worth it to send out save the dates? When would the best time be to send them out for our July wedding?