Weddingbee Blog

When it came to save the dates, I knew I wanted to do something different. With an influx of engagements and weddings only a few years out of college, I soon found my refrigerator in a sea of save-the-date magnets. I love magnets and will gladly snatch up any free magnets you give me, but I decided if I was going to do this whole wedding thang I would switch it up a bit. (Although I’m quite aware everyone sticks all save the dates—regardless of magnetization—to the fridge.)

I don’t even remember where the original idea behind the inspiration came from, but one of the first things I wanted to do was a photo strip. At first I wrangled with the idea of doing a completely DIY save the date. I Googled photo-booth locations around the city and was convinced we would scout out places and get a real strip (and then possibly a strip steak?). I figured I would scan the puppy in and edit it to my liking.

A quick Etsy search later, after months of putting off the task, and I found a designer with my EXACT concept—a photo-strip bookmark complete with the little ribbon hangy-ma-bob on the top. I thought the bookmark was the perfect touch since I work in publishing and love books. On top of that, I think a photo strip is also very “us” since we are a bit wacko and I associate photo booths with goofy faces and ridiculous poses. (It can’t just be me—can it?)

Image via rgbcolor’s shop at Etsy

After getting my Mac I decided we should play around with the photo-booth app. It took awhile to scout out the right location to make it look photo-booth authentic. Apparently I do not have enough bare walls in my apartment in a place where a laptop can get propped up. Who’d a thunk? After major brainstorming, we planted ourselves on the floor and put my Mac on a snack table tilted downward. (It’s sad how long it took me to come up with this concept.) After a photo shoot later, with us holding up a little blank piece of card stock, we had four suitable pictures (oh yeah, except for the whole visible Band-Aid in every single shot, since I had practically cut my finger off a few days before—whoops!).

Personal photo

I easily edited text onto the blank cards -> SAVE -> THE -> DATE -> OUR WEDDING DATE. (You can do this with MS Paint or any easy photo-editing program. I just used the Preview function on Mac, which automatically opens when you load a picture.) I stuck the jpegs in an email and shot it off to the Etsy seller to let her do her magic. And magic she did…

Did you have to give up overly lofty ideas for a wedding project? Did Etsy save the day after you gave up your DIY dreams?