Design + Print: save-the-dates gone wild

When we started making custom wedding stationery in the mid-90s, save-the-dates were hardly a blip on the radar. But over the last few years, we’ve seen them bloom into a commonplace component to the wedding planning process. Save-the-dates get your wedding on the busy social calendars of guests near and far, and are especially helpful to those who will need to travel for the festivities. Because they’re a fairly new wedding tradition, there aren’t many strict etiquette guidelines to follow. Save-the-dates can be mailed 6-12 months before the wedding, as soon as you have the date and location nailed down. One firm rule: every guest who receives a save-the-date must also receive a formal invitation. No pre-inviting your distant cousins, then pruning the mailing list for the invitations proper.

In recent months, we’ve had the pleasure of working with couples who came to us with really fun ideas for this first element of their wedding paper parade. Molly and David, who are planning a destination wedding in Arizona, wanted to include a cactus and a calendar on their announcement. The petite 3.5×5 announcements are letterpress-printed in warm colors on plush ecru paper, and paired with a sunshine-yellow envelope (click on the photo, above-left, for a larger view). Elizabeth and Will, who live in New York but are getting married at Minneapolis’ Mill City Museum, wanted their save-the-dates to have the bold, gritty feeling of a concert poster. We combined an image of the old buildings near the museum, including the distinctive Gold Medal Flour sign, with distressed type. The image and text are reversed out, so the negative space is letterpress-printed in bold orange ink on smooth thick white cardstock. We let the ink coverage run a little light, to enhance the weathered feeling of the finished image.

Leah and Jeanie are planning their wedding ceremony in Canada, followed closely by a reception in the Four Season’s Dance Studio just down the alley from our store. Inspired by the international nature of their affair, the couple asked us to create a save-the-date that looks like a U.S. passport. A golden eagle adorns the front of the folded card, and the inside bears the brides’ stats passport-style, “stamps” for each of the events, and even a custom illustration of the iconic Spoonbridge and Cherry. And we couldn’t have asked for a more perfect paper than Neenah Paper’s navy and white columns duplex cover.