Our save the dates are finally off! I began the design this past autumn, printed them between Christmas & New Years, addressed them by hand & adhered 400+ vintage stamps to each in between other projects, & dropped them off at the post office yesterday. :: sigh of relief :: I am in love with these & cannot wait to begin designing our invitations, but first things first!
Some of you may recognize the image of the horse & fence from June's Press & Post. Our wedding location, Pineland Farms, is a working dairy farm with an equestrian center. I created the illustration with the intent of using it for our save the dates, but simply could not wait to print it, so it became a Press & Post edition {so, actually, I guess I began designing our save the dates in the Spring...!}.
I wanted to incorporate calligraphy into the design & commissioned Grace Edmands to calligraph "Save the date" & our first names. I absolutely love her work & recommend her to anyone & everyone. I will be incorporating more of her calligraphy into our invitations & she will be addressing the envelopes.
Originally the design was going to be a simple card, but of course it became so much more. Somewhere along the line someone convinced me to do a magnet, but I did not want it to have our photo, so I made my own magnets. I purchased magnet "paper" & cut it down to business card size & attached the small cards I letterpress printed with thin, double-sided adhesive. The magnets were then attached with a little glue dot in between two little swallows which appear to be holding it in place. The back of the main save the date card included accommodations information. Again, I was originally not going to include this because it is on our website, but I quickly realized a few family members were...let us say old school when it comes to technology. But it worked out quite well & will be much more convenient for our guests, as almost 75% of them will be traveling from out of state.
With no detail spared, I used stamps from my vintage collection for the postage. Pineland Farms is nestled in the woods of Maine & home to many animals including horses, cows, & birds, so I chose stamps to reflect the location & the design of the save the date.
Everything was letterpress printed on my new favorite paper. It is so soft, 140lb., takes a beautiful impression, & is locally made. It also comes in an abundance of sizes, for those who not have a reliable paper cutter. I want to print everything on this paper! I used a combination of soft sage green, warm chocolate brown, & bright coral pink inks & paired it with 100% recycled brown kraft envelopes. I had a rubber stamp made for our return address using Grace's calligraphy once again, & stamped each envelope with chocolate brown ink.
One more thing crossed off the wedding list!
Oh, my! These are absolutely beautiful. I bet your guests will be even more excited for your wedding once they receive these. Lovely!
Posted by: Meredith Perdue | February 02, 2010 at 02:01 PM
wow! you are so awesome!
Posted by: ellie from mint | February 02, 2010 at 02:33 PM
Sarah, these are so gorgeous!! Well done in every way :)
Posted by: carrie | February 02, 2010 at 02:35 PM
These are so luxe! Perfect. I love the little dots of pink in the sparrows. Awesome job!
Posted by: Thao | February 02, 2010 at 05:27 PM
Wow! They are beautiful, Sarah . . . from the color and calligraphy, down to the stamps.
Posted by: Laura | February 02, 2010 at 05:29 PM
the absolute most amazing save the dates i've ever seen! i love your use of calligraphy! so much detail - i can't wait to see what detail your wedding holds.
Posted by: Bonnie | February 02, 2010 at 06:22 PM
gorgeous! every detail is perfect!
Posted by: suann | February 03, 2010 at 07:46 AM
Sarah, they're stunning - beautiful design and beautiful work!
Posted by: Maggie | February 03, 2010 at 08:47 AM
Perfectly crafted and well-chosen color combination. They are indeed stunning.
Posted by: Andre Nievo | February 03, 2010 at 11:24 PM
these are beautiful! you did such a great job. but i expect nothing less from such a talented girl :)
Posted by: lyndsey | paper girl | February 04, 2010 at 10:21 PM
Hello.
The wedding is one of the most important dates in the life of a woman so I really like this theme .. I'm about to marry my boyfriend and I like to see various decorations, costumes and other things. Very nice blog .. Thanks
Mary Rose
Posted by: generic viagra | May 14, 2010 at 06:42 PM