Date Saving Failure

I decided to get a move on early with regards to save the dates, since the wedding is a holiday weekend and a decent chunk of guests are from out of town. Even the in town ones tend to go to beach houses/lake houses on the three day weekend that marks the beginning of summer. Therefore, I felt it imperative to get my date out there.

I looked around the interwebs for some inspiration and found these adorable STDs with pencil and all:

Via Melangerie NYC on Etsy

Being extremely impatient and a bit impulsive I opened my favorite program for my beginner skills with graphic design- Powerpoint. I laid it out to make 2 per paper, ran out to buy card stock, and started printing. Once printed I cut them to size, rounded corners (a slight obsession of mine) and ordered personalized pencils. I left everything with mama Elk, as her handwriting is a million times better than mine and she very graciously offered to address the envelopes.

Personal Photo

Now, while we waited for the pencils and envelopes we had ordered to arrive, I couldn’t help but dwell on the fact that I HATED these save the dates. I hated the fact that I made them on gray paper. I hated the font I used. I hated the wording I used. I HATED how unprofessional they looked. ARGHHHH I just hated them. They in no way felt representative of the event I want to have. They were so dreary! Even though the cost of making them was only the card stock (20 dollars for like 150 sheets), I felt really bad ditching them because we had ordered pencils and envelopes, which brought the total cost of the project closer to 80 dollars. So I sucked it up and waited it out, but every few days I had a twinge of dread when my thoughts wandered back to the ugliness that would soon be greeting my friends and relatives.

When the pencils and envelopes finally did arrive, mama Elk brought up a concern we had never really considered- would the postal system even allow for a pencil to be sent? She very wisely decided to send a test run to me before mailing them to everyone. Want to see what arrived at my doorstep?

Personal Photo

The envelope was ripped, the card was wrinkled and the pencil never even made it! I guess a normal person would have been upset, but I was relieved. Back to the drawing board I went and boy am I glad it worked out this way! My save the dates version 2.0 are SO much more what I was going for! I’ll leave you with a sneak peak of the newer, better versions.

Personal Photo

Did you rush into a project only to be disappointed with the results?

And do you have any ideas what I should do with 80 personalized wedding pencils?