I'm STD free

Well, it finally happened, we sent out the save-the-dates.

They took way longer to put together than I ever anticipated. But, in the end I am extremely proud of the result.

The entire process started with my FH and I conducting our own photo shoot in the stairwell of the building where we met. We used a timer to take the shots, and after 2+ hours we had some usable images. Here's an example:

I didn't want to use the full colour images, so my FH used photo shop to convert the image to black and white (leaving the brightly coloured wall behind us in all its orange glory). The orange backdrop was what brought us to use the stair well in the first place - it matches our colour scheme!

We attached the photos to the front of the card stock using photo adhesive squares. We stamped the card stock using our save-the-date stamp and white embossing powder, and then heated the embossing powder with a heat gun such that we were left with a perfectly embossed image. We were going to finish here, but I realized that the front of the card didn't indicate for whom they were saving the date. So, using a nice big hole punch, we created circles that contained our names, wedding location and date. 

 (Names blurred for privacy)

Inside we typed our save-the-date poem in a great font (called Just Another Stamp) that we downloaded from dafont.com and attached two stickers we made (that were inspired by the great Martha Stewart). 

We didn't do anything fancy with the envelopes - we decided we'd save that for the actual invites. Instead, we just used address labels that were made snazzier with some free damask clip art that we found online.

So here's the final STD:

 All images in the post are taken by me.

I'm excited to be free of these save-the-dates. It's so nice to be able to cross items off of our long DIY list.

Is it strange to be happy to be free of the save-the-dates? Shouldn't I be sad to see them go?

That which we call an orchid, by any other name...still looks weird on my envelopes.

Ok, I think I'm starting to go a little crazy with the wedding details. You see, my FH and I have managed to finish (mostly) our save-the-dates (herein referred to as STDs as I'm too lazy to type it all out) and now just need to address millions of envelopes, affix postage to said envelopes, and send them out.

Problem is I don't like the postage stamps Canada Post offers.

I know that no one will really care what the postage looks like...but I will. We spent hours putting our STDs together. We had a photoshoot, learned how to emboss, printed each card in our malfunctioning printer, cut to size all the photoshoot photos, designed and printed all the little STD stickers (which took hours because Avery templates suck) and used bucket loads of double-sided tape to stick everything together. I don't want to ruin all my hard work with this:

Image via Canada Post

I know they're not horrible, but I hate them. They'd be perfect for a pink, tulle wedding. But my wedding is modern and black and white.

What I want is these beauties:

Image via Picture Postage

Custom postage. You just take a photo (we could use one from the photoshoot), upload it to the Picture Postage website, choose a frame and the format (i.e. number of stamps/sheet) you want and ta-da!!

Now, the only problem is the price. I'd need about 30-40 stamps for my STDs, 50 stamps for my invites, 50 stamps for the RSVP cards, and 50 stamps for the thank you cards. So 200 stamps, or 5 sheets (40 stamps/sheet).  That works out to $201.50, whereas regular postage would only cost $114.00

My FH doesn't really want to go this route, as he thinks it's silly to spend an extra $100 on something that most people won't notice. But I love them.

So, what do you think? Dole out the extra $100 to have stamps I love? Or go with the orchids, and hope no one notices?

Chemistry is everything.

In case you missed my previous Save the Date posts, I'm planning on using a poem I wrote that gives a very brief history of how I met my FH. Despite the lovely rhyme, we've been having a great deal of trouble finding a picture suitable to grace the cover.

Then I had a light bulb moment...

What if we took a picture in the building where we met? Dressed up as scientists no less. CUTE!

Even better, there's a bright orange wall (yay for not renovating since the '60s) in the stairwell adjacent to my research lab that would act as the perfect backdrop (our wedding colours are black, white, and orange, if you recall).

Here's how I want us to be posed:

Image via http://hanssietrainorphotography.com/

Can't you just picture it with the white lab coats, goggles, and maybe even a beaker or two?

The issue of a picture, says a thousand words.

So, today I decided that I needed a picture to grace the front of our save the dates. Unfortunately, the FH and I have not had engagement pictures taken, and every picture we do have together is either a poorly-taken self portrait (you know the ones), or a drunken and messy party/bar picture. What to do?

Well, if you're me, you get frustrated. You question the entire wedding. You worry that maybe this is a sign. You decide not to send out save the dates. You even cry.

If you're my FH you come up with a plan. You call the photographer on campus and arrange for a mini photo shoot. You tell me that everything will be fine.

Ah. Funny how not having a photo for our save the dates makes me realize I'm marrying the perfect man.

BLISS.

I'm a poet, and don't I know it.

Here's what I've come up with for the Save the Date wording. Conjugate is a chemistry term meaning 'bring together', so I think it works.

In a research lab many summers ago,
The love between two chemists started to grow.
On October 30th the two will conjugate.
They'd love to have you with them, so please mark the date.

Save the Date.

Now to create some sort of unique, fun, whimsical and relatively cheap (or FH will start sweating) save the date cards. I've read in several places that your save the date cards are supposed to be less formal and speak of your (the couple's) personalities. As such, I've decided to make mine a craft project.

I want to use rubber stamps, as I think they're easy enough to use and are much more personal than anything you can create on a computer. I also want to include a date sticker that can be placed on the receipient's calendar (I think I originally saw this on Martha Stewart's wedding site). As for the text, I'm planning on writing some sort of poem. Cheesy, I know, but that's me.
I think I'll make them a bit more 'halloween-ie' than the rest of the paper products.

Here are the stamps I plan on using:

I've purchased the Save the Date stamp ($9 CDN) from Michael's and have ordered the Pumpkin Trail stamp from 1-2-3 stitch for only $7.64 US plus shipping. DEAL!

If I can find some suitable card stock for cheap, I should be able to knock these out of the park for less than $50 total.