Save the Dates Parte Uno: The Inspiration

Some might argue that Save the Dates are unnecessary.  After all, the first question folks as when they find out you're engaged is, "when's the big day?"  Everyone important in our lives has already saved the date, especially after almost a year of engagement.  So what's the point?  Many would say that it's just a formality.

I disagree.  A Save the Date is your guests' first impression of your wedding.  It's your announcement to your loved ones that this is really happening.  It provides an opportunity to set the tone for your wedding.  Guests are clued into your theme, the entire vibe you're trying to convey.  I thought about doing a photobooth strip magnet, because we're planning to have a photobooth at the reception.  I thought about using some of our engagement pictures (more on that later).  But then I decided to take advantage of this opportunity and do something WAY more complicated.

You may recall that we got engaged on a hot air balloon.  Balloons are so whimsical, and that's definitely an element we plan on incorporating into our wedding.  I googled "balloon" and "save the date," and came up with a lot of boring stuff, a lot of expensive stuff, and this:

Source: Office Optimist via For Print Only via oh happy day!

How FUN is that?!  I loved the novelty of it...I'm sure none of our guests have ever seen anything like it.  I also loved how it involved the recipient.  Sister Lioness always says that I'm trying to make our wedding an "experience," and I think that's a good way to put it.  I want all of our guests to feel involved.  This was a good way of engaging them.

My only issue with this design was how the balloon was the only element with the actual date on it.  The back of the card also had useful information on it, but not anything about the actual date.  What if the balloon popped before the recipient had a chance to write down the date?!  Wouldn't that defeat the whole purpose?!  Then I found this:

Source: Wedding Chicks

This is from a free template on Wedding Chicks who, by the way, have lots of free goodies on their site.  If you haven't checked them out yet, you should!  I loved the simplicity of this design.  The fonts were gorgeous...romantic with a hint of whimsy, exactly what we were going for!  Perhaps if I combined the simplicity of this design with the uniqueness of the balloon design, I could create something just right for our Save the Date.  How will it turn out?  Stay tuned!