Weddingbee Blog

I may or may not have decided to rush into the task of ordering our save the dates; within a week of getting engaged it was all I could think about. I had convinced myself that it was logical. Mr. Ticket and I were planning a wedding with a guest list that was over 60% out-of-town guests, so it seemed only fair that we give them ample warning to plan for a trip or at the very least…save the date! With this skewed wedding-brain logic in mind (we were 11 months to the wedding at this point), I set out on the task of finding our save the dates. I loved the idea of magnets; I think they are adorable. My future in-laws’ (hereinafter referred to as FMIL and FFIL Ticket) refrigerator is covered with save-the-date magnets from all their sons’ friends, and I love it.

With this in mind, I began the hunt with sites like MagnetStreet, which have absolutely adorable magnets, might I add. Mr. Ticket and I were particularly fond of the following design:

Image via MagnetStreet

I was completely sold on it—now it was just time to take the pictures for it. It took us a few days to find the time to take the pictures, and in the meantime I was reading through Weddingbee DIY posts, naturally. Among which I found Miss Monkey Wrench’s fabulous save the dates. I was smitten; holding the signs seemed so much cuter and more relaxed than the standard text added to the pre-made STDs. Upon further reading, I found Fabulizz had ordered her STDs through Vistaprint at nearly a third the cost of sites that sell the already designed STDs—further proof that not only are our fellow bees BRILLIANT, but also that it’s always best to do your homework on a project before rushing into a decision out of pure excitement. Now that I knew we could save so much money money by designing our own STDs and getting them printed, I was on a mission to get those pictures taken ASAP so I could start designing.

May I say that I was pleasantly surprised at how much fun we had during this mini photo session. Mama Ticket helped us out by grabbing her good camera and going to town snapping away while we acted silly and goofy, holding up our signs and laughing hysterically as Daddy Ticket made fun of us. Generally Mr. Ticket is a bit camera shy; at family gatherings he hides in an attempt to avoid Mama Ticket and Auntie Ticket’s camera lenses. But not that day—on STD-photo-session day he was hamming it up alongside me.

That night I was a determined woman. I was on a mission to create the perfect design for our STDs, and I didn’t want to waste any time. So with a little bit of help from Daddy Ticket and his Mac laptop with Photoshop, we got started. I played around with coloring and positioning and wording for hours; I wasn’t even really happy with my final design when I went to bed, but it was 1:00 AM and I had work in the morning, so it would just have to wait. The next morning when I woke up, I decided I did like the final product after all, and I sent it over to Sister Ticket because she has excellent taste and is brutally honest with me so I knew I could count on her to tell me the truth about my design skills. They were a little hokey (in a good way), but Mr. Ticket and I decided that was perfect for our STDs. We wanted to show a little of our goofy sides but not in the formal invitation (and it was extra special to us as we have a history of taking pictures every time we see a photo booth).

So that was it. I placed my order with Vistaprint with an excruciating 21-day delivery (the whole point of this was to save money—no point in blowing the budget on rush shipping) and prepared myself to wait. And wait. And wait. AND WAIT. Did I mention the waiting? It was painful. This was my first real wedding project, and I was just beyond jazzed. I’ll admit it—I went a little nutty and started stalking my STDs through the tracking email once they had actually shipped. It teased me mercilessly, telling me they would show up the next day then changing their mind and telling me it would arrive a week later. Needless to say, by the time I saw the “Package Delivered” notice in my email, I was in no state to wait a second longer. I immediately called Daddy Ticket and requested in my most squealy five-year-old voice that he rip open that package and tell me how they turned out.

So imagine my surprise when he opened the package and said, “Uhhh, Miss Ticket…I don’t think these are your save the dates. I think they sent you the wrong package.”

*Cue utter panic and upset here*

I, of course, insisted he send me a picture of what had actually arrived, because clearly he must be mistaken; perhaps he just forgot what they were supposed to look like or couldn’t remember what a save the date really was. And lo and behold, what should arrive to my cell phone other than this?

Personal photo

Daddy Ticket was not mistaken. These are most certainly NOT our STDs! And I don’t know poor Dale, but I imagine he was no more pleased to receive our STDs than I was his tree-ranging-business magnets.

After several phone calls to customer service at Vistaprint (who I must admit have very polite and helpful representatives), we were back on track to have our STDs shipped and arrive in yet another AGONIZING seven days. It would only be a month between the day I ordered them and the day they arrived, but it felt like the longest shipment process of my ENTIRE LIFE.

After the longest shipment process in the history of the known world (I’m convinced the Pony Express could have gotten our STDs here faster!), they are finally here, and I must say I’m quite pleased with the end result. So…want to see? =)

Personal photo

Now all that was left to do was stuff these babies in envelopes (which had been addressed WEEKS ago) and send them off!

Done!

*Huge sigh of relief*

One project down, 5,987,237,164 to go!!!

How did you guys feel after completing your first wedding project? Relieved? Did you miss it?