Things I never thought would be as expensive as they are: save the dates, invitations, and programs. Seriously, I was not prepared. I’m bringing you tips today to keep the cost down so you can save some coins!
Before we even took engagement pictures I knew I wanted a save the date with a photo of us on it. This is obviously not required but a personal preference of mine. This meant since we had a short engagement that we needed to take our photos soon after to get the save the dates out. Once we got the photos back from the photographer we chose the main photo together. We actually hadn’t planned for our only dog at the time, Reese, to be in more than a few photos and she ended being on the save the date because that was our favorite from the shoot. Now, I truly can’t imagine it any other way. Since we had a horizontal photo that’s where we started when designing the save the dates. There are many websites you can create your own save the date online but they get pricey very quickly. My best friend is a graphic designer and I told her what I wanted in order for her to design it. I chose gold, white, and black as the colors since those were also my wedding colors. It’s great to choose those things early on in order for everything to coordinate.
We added our wedding website to the back for people to reference. We had them printed through a printing company online. It all ended up being much more less expensive than using any website online. I highly recommend using a graphic designer and printing them yourself if possible. We sent our save the dates out about 4 months before our actual wedding since it was a destination wedding. Definitely send them out in enough time for people to make arrangements as needed. Another tip I wanted to add is leading up to sending out the save the dates buy stamps every week. Stamps do get expensive and stocking up a little at a time is a great way to slowly get what you need. Remember you will also need them for invitations, RSVP cards, and thank you notes. I promise you can never have enough stamps during this time in your life!
In keeping with the black and white theme of the wedding I choose the same colors for the invitations and RSVP cards. I opted for a simple and less formal style of invitations. My best friend also designed both of these. We chose a more modern style and wording for the invitations. Remember to include a stamp and return address for the RSVP cards. We kept a list and checked them off as they came in. We requested our cards be returned a little less than two months before the wedding date because of catering for dinner.
Programs are the one thing I really didn’t care about. I feel like everyone just throws them away. This is where I really decided to cut cost. My best friend designed these in keeping with the black and white theme. We only included the wedding party and families. Our ceremony was short so we didn’t feel the need to add the order of events. The total time was maybe 15 minutes. We printed these front and back at Office Depot for less than $30 and while I’m glad we have them I’m also glad we didn’t spend a fortune on them! ETSY would be a great place to find a graphic designer if you don’t know any personally. Many of which have very reasonable prices. This is usually where I get my Christmas cards designed and then print them myself. Let me know if you have any questions about the design process and saving money during it!
Love,
Megan
Published by