Wedding: Our Save the Dates

After two bridal breakdowns our Save the Dates are miraculously out. (Click image to enlarge.) The first bridal breakdown which I knew would be inevitable at some point (every bride graduate had warned me about it) was after I realized I had ordered the wrong paper. I didn't have time to send back the paper, get the correct paper shipped to me, assemble them, and have them shipped out in time. I was already pushing the Save the Date window by getting them out so close to when the actual invites should be sent. So after I had my mental breakdowns and regathered my thoughts, I figured I'd have to make due with what I had. Granted, I had to change my original design idea and opt for something I could just print out quickly and send.

I've been saving images of ideas I liked for our Save the Dates so I consulted those for inspiration. I came across one Save the Date that was pretty much the what I had in mind regarding an apple tree with our initials carved in the trunk. Then ironically enough I found a blog that had the designer of the Save the Date featured. And the designer was kind enough to provide a downloadable template! God was definitely on my side that day. They are inspired by Shel Silverstein's, "The Giving Tree" cover image, which I love. So with a few tweaks in Illustrator I was able to customize it a bit to fit our "you picked me/apple" theme. I didn't design the artwork entirely, but did assemble and print them out ourselves. It truly saved us a lot of money in the end.

I I truly am indebted to all the wonderful bloggers in blogland that aren't stingy with their designs and encourage them to be used to help spread the love of creativity and in my sake, help save my sanity.