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I may or may not have implied that there was a bit of stress involved with putting together our Save the Dates…
Don’t worry, it all turned out fine! I just like to be dramatic. You see, this is how it went down:
On a Thursday in November, Mr. Buttons and I picked up some clear Avery labels… return address and 2″x4” shipping labels. For convenience’s sake, I had determined that we’d just print sheets of address labels with pretty font. I found a great font and downloaded it for FREE on Fontspace.com. Done and done.
Not so much.
To make a long story short, the instructions on the labels say to print a test sheet before printing on the actual labels. Easy enough, right? We put a test sheet in the printer…the labels looked perfect when we held them up against the real deal. OK, we were good to go. However, when we put the label sheet in the printer, they came out COMPLETELY DIFFERENT. What the…
At first, I figured I must have hit something on my keyboard and it was my fault. So, we tried another test sheet. It looked perfect… again. So, we put in the real sheet again. And, guess what? It came out wrong… AGAIN!
I walked away for the night, and poured myself a glass of wine. I was frustrated.
Fast forward to the following night. It was time to tackle the labels again. We went through the same process… and ruined three more sheets of labels. Cursing may or may not have been involved. I started pulling at my hair. Mr. Buttons immediately tells me to get the heck out of the room before I smash my computer into pieces.
I took my frustrations out on the labels instead…
So then, I took a breath, and then frantically began to scroll through the template options on my computer… and thanked my lucky stars that they had the right size of envelope included. We tested the printer on one of our precious envelopes (we had 93 to send, out of 100 in the package… so we couldn’t make many mistakes!)… it looked great.
Insert sigh of relief. This can work…
Except for the fact that we now have to print every single envelope one… at… a… time (yes… before you even START to ask me why I didn’t use mail merge… I will explain it later… I promise).
We opened a bottle of wine (sensing a trend???) and got to work. Mr. Buttons assembled the cards, I typed addresses and printed the envelopes.
More than four hours later, we were done! What a fun-filled evening, no? **Cough… cough…**
Did you have any frustrations when making Save the Dates or invitations?
Yes. My frustrations is that people keep getting added to the list… and I don’t have their address, and we are 2 weeks out from the RSVP date. GAH! ANDDDD, I used the same address labels as you for the original batches, and now I have resorted to writing the address neatly on the envelope. Stupid test pages.
i know it probably wasn’t funny while it was happening, but i’m LOL at your pics! good job on finding an alternative solution, and yay for wine.
Aggghhhh I hate those things! Printers in general stress me out to the max. Darn technology not working! I am glad you found a way to get them done!
Blerg, that sounds so stressful. At least they’re done, right?
Wow, that sucks. I bought the avery labels too. Didn’t do a test page, but everything turned out okay so far (I just did the return labels for the RSVPs). Maybe being a maverick and not testing before committing helped? 
Ugh - how frustrating! I love the picture-by-picture illustration though. I’m currently going through my own invitation angst!
that’s really strange that it didn’t work after the test page. But at least it’s all behind you now! And I’m sure some good conversation with Mr. Buttons was had during those 4 hours
oh my. just experienced the print-one-envelope at a time for our invites…was able to use mail merge but still had to feed one at a time 
feel your pain!!
Boo to label stress, Buttons. But sidenote, you are so freaking adorable! Glad you got it all figured out…I think printing right on the envelopes looks better anyways!
yes! i printed out all my save the dates, then i got flack for putting my mobile me website address on it (which is a really weird address) from 2 people i showed the cards to before i sent them out. we decided just to buy a domain name. i had to reprint all of the stinking cards! i think they look better now though, especially since i changed some other parts. the labels were surprisingly easy to make and print for mine!
Do you have the Avery Wizard? It’s a little add-on to Word/Excel/Access and it’s made label making so much easier for me! It is SO frustrating when labels go wrong and you waste sheets of them!
Ugh, I feel your frustration! I bought fancy cream-colored 2.25″ round labels from Paper Source, and I’ve been having so much trouble with BOTH of my printers at home. In fact, I’m worried that I ruined our color laser with running the label paper through there. I finally was able to print them, but I went through so many more label packages than I should have had to use. Talk about a DIY going awry and also getting way more expensive than necessary. Sigh.
Hahaha - love your illustration photos Sorry it was so stressful though!
at least you didn’t have to peel every single label and make sure it was centered!
Thank god I have the best bridesmaid ever who did custom wrap-around labels for me…and made up extras for my thank-you notes.
I have to deal with mail merge and labels at work
@hisbunny: Ok, not that I am happy for your troubles with the labels, but THANK GOODNESS I’m not the only one who had this problem!!!!
@BVsmurfette: Haha, I had to laugh at myself despite the troubles…it all got finished in the end, it just took longer than I expected!
@Miss Hamster: Aww I hope its turning out ok though! I have already had a few invite related hiccups! We can doooo it!
@Miss Pencils: It…takes….foreverrrr!
@Miss Spaniel: You…are smart!
@Mrs. Kitten: Hmmm I guess I don’t! Darn it…that would have been helpful! Thanks for the tip!
@bluestuff: Oh nooo I hope everything is ok!
@AprilBride10: Oooh that sounds awesome
i have had many, many a problem with labels in the past. luckily for our wedding we have a short guest list so this wasn’t a problem, but i do feel your pain.
Your pictures are adorable! The second “thumbs down” picture made me laugh out loud, because Mr. CW says I have a look called “I will light you aflame.” LOL! You are SO doing that look!
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Mrs. Buttons, Clearwater, FL Age and Occupation: 24, "Working on it" Fiance's Age and Occupation: 28, Financial Services Engagement Date: June 13, 2009 Wedding Date: May 2010 Venue: Carlouel Yacht Club About Me: I'm a self proclaimed perfectionist and a professional nomad (seriously, I've lived in TX, WI, MI, FL, NC, and now VA!). I love wine, cooking, curling up with a good book (nerd alert!), spoiling the furbaby, and of course, the wonderful Mr. Buttons! We are planning a lighthearted and whimsical wedding (with a good deal of DIY projects) in Clearwater, Florida, but from a distance of 800 miles away! We are looking forward to sharing our day with our family and friends, and most importantly, starting our lives together as husband and wife!
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