Save The Dates

In order to craft your Save the Dates exactly as you envision them, you may want to consider working with a professional graphic designer to give you the exact artistic look and feel that you have in mind. While traditional templates and pre-existing designs will work for most purposes, working with a professional artist to craft a custom design that will truly set your save the dates apart.

The first step is to find a professional designer or artist to work with – in fact, you don’t have to find an artist that specializes in save the dates, as long as he or she is able to produce high quality designs that can easily translate into a printed product, working with a professional printer. To start, you may want to ask you friends for recommendations on local designers and artists; chances are that your social network has a few creative artists in it already, even if you don’t know them. Once you have found an artist you believe you can work with, schedule an appointment where you can discuss what you envision for your particular design, as well as the medium you want it printed on. In most circumstances, the artist should be able to provide custom art to apply on nearly any format – for example, if you are printing on custom wine bottles, then your artist can provide an electronic label to the company, so that you can get exactly the look you have in mind. In many cases, the printers will also have their own in-house design team, so you can consider working with the company directly, or, at least, inquiring into the services they may offer.

Once you select an artist to begin creating the work, you should establish guidelines include your budget, time line and process – most people have a rough estimate of their budget but have fixed deadlines for submitting the save the dates for creations. As a result, you’ll want to ensure that the artists fully understands not only the date of the event, but also the lead time that the printer will near in order to create and deliver the items well in advance (so that you have time to sort and mail them out according to your own deadline.) Because of this, you’ll want to consult with an artist well in advance of your own internal deadline, so that you have time to make revisions and work through a creative process to get exactly what you have in mind. Specialty printing (such as wine labels or golf balls) can take weeks or, in some cases, months in order to complete on time. As a result, you’ll want to focus on getting the process started as early as possible.

Have the artist you select provide several examples of styles for your review, so that you can give feedback during the process and end up with the right finished product. You’ll find the collaborating with an artist means that your vision can come to life with better production quality and can ensure that your save the dates are of the highest possible quality.

You’ll want to leave your guests with a parting gift so they will always remember the excitement of your special day. While you will, of course, have pictures and videos of the event, you can leave your guests with special save the dates mementos that they can keep and cherish for years to come:

Collector’s Event Coasters
A great way to incorporate wedding favors with a special message is to imprint a custom text or engraving on coasters or tablemats. That way, you can create a functional piece that provides a number of benefits during the event itself, enhancing the presentation of the tables, as well as providing your guests with a gift they can keep in their homes.

Specialized Wine Bottles
Most wedding events feature wine that is carefully selected by the bride or groom – you can take this idea a step further by printing custom wine labels that reflect the event, as well as providing a sense of customization to the event. Just think of the possibilities: rather than having just a traditional Merlot or Shiraz label, you can create a special label just for the bride and groom, taking a traditional red wine to new heights.

Wedding Photo Albums and Picture Frames
One of the great benefits of having a special event are the timeless memories that are created, and hiring a professional photographer to capture the events is a great way to share in the celebration with those you care about. While sending out digital copies of photos or even physical prints with a thank you card is a good idea, you can take it a step further by giving each guest a custom photo frame or album to give the pictures a special placement.

Creative Table Seating Assignments
Taking table seating to a whole new level, you can utilize the seating assignments to provide a special ambiance to the event. You can use virtually any type of item to denote the table assignments, and should focus on items of particular important to the bride, groom and families. For example, if the groom is a baseball player, you may want to provide a mini-stadium with the guests in a particular section, and if the bride is an attorney, you can create a virtual mini-courtroom for her guests’ seating assignments.

You can take your save the dates idea to a whole new level by employing a creative format. The key to getting creative with your idea is to envision a final product, and then look at the various options for the format that you utilize. Once you have a vision for the style, you can then begin to select a format that will allow you to showcase the particular design in question:

Interactive Puzzles
By taking the various frames of your design and having them printed on a puzzle, you guests can enjoy putting together the pieces of your save the date. Individually, the pieces aren’t clearly related to any particular idea, but, once put together, they will see the complete details and design that you envision. Puzzles are great because they serve an entertainment purpose well beyond their original construction.

Photo Strip
These aren’t any regular photo strips, however – you can send you guests a personalized version of those viewers with images that provide all the details of your special event, supplemented with picture of the happy couple, the location of the event and, even, pictures of your with select guests! Strips range from custom comics to sideshows, all tailored to your specifications.

Digital Scavenger Hunt
You can go digital with your save the date, by having your guests to on an on-line scavenger hunt for clues. By sending them to an initial website, they can work their way to a hidden page on your wedding site, where they can find all the details of your special event!