Weddingbee Blog

In my last paper post I wrote about my indecision about invites. I realize I was a little premature with the invite post before the save-the-date post, but I have it set in my mind that our save the dates need to be cohesive with the invitation suite—they just do. I want one element on every single piece of paper used in the wedding. Obsessive, Honey? Yes. That’s why I started with invite inspiration; now it’s back to the drawing board with save-the-date inspiration. Paper inspiration posts are one of my favorites.

I have decided we won’t be using pictures of ourselves on our save the dates…mainly because we won’t have done our engagement pictures by the time we’ll be designing our save the dates. I was kind of bummed initially, because who doesn’t like seeing a picture of themselves on every friend’s refrigerator for six months? I kid. I was actually bummed that we wouldn’t have a save the date like this:

Image via Love vs. Design / Photo by Love Me Sailor

Can’t cry over spilled milk, right? This just means that instead of showing our smiling faces on the save the date, we will get to incorporate them into our invitation suite—yessss. I had to move past all the picture inspiration and focus on creative text and presentation instead.

Creative-Text Save the Dates

Image via Wedding Wire / Designed by West Willow

Image via Style me Pretty / Designed by Marilyn Chien

Image via the Bridal Blog / Template by Wedding Chicks

Graphic-Design Save the Dates

Image via Etsy Westwind Days on Etsy

Image via Wedding Wire / Design by inkOBSESSIONSdesigns on Etsy

Image via Minted / Design by Ashley Moura

Whimsical Save the Dates

Image via Kaboodle / Design by Emandbee on Etsy

Image via Oh So Beautiful Paper / Design by Red Red Orange

Utilizing Custom Stamps

Image via Flickr / Design by Jason Permenter Graphic Design



Image via Instructables

Save the Dates with Creative Touches

Image via This Next

Image via Postcards and Pretties / Design by Ruby and Willow



Image via Dot Girl Blog

Customized and Illustrated Save the Dates

Image via The Flirty Guide

Image via Rifle Paper Co.

Image via Swiss Cottage Designs

See the transition from simple to impossible? Much like my invitation drooling, I started basic and kept stepping up the complication level. As much as I would die to have a custom-illustrated save the date, it’s just not in the cards for the Honeys. Looking at all the other inspiration pictures, I concluded that I like three elements: a graphic background, a whimsical element, and a fun statement…all to be accented with a pretty font and our colors on a little postcard. Quite the tall order. The fact is I could go back and forth on my entire paper design for days months, but the good news is I have made progress and created a save the date that hopefully reflects our wedding vibe, shows creativity within our means (AKA Microsoft Word), and will make our guests smile.

Who else is obsessive like me and started with invitation inspiration before the save-the-date inspiration? Tell me about a must-have element for your save the dates!