Saving the date... and setting the theme!

It is no secret that I have got a tonne of wedding inspiration off the web, from my fellow bride-bloggers! There is something about the plethora of easily accessed wedding porn that makes one question their creative abilities... and the web is my prime resource! Now, I would normally consider myself a fairly creative soul, but let's face it, the left-brain domination inherent in my 9-5 job (or these days, 8-8!) tends to filter the creative juices that would otherwise flow freely through my head at any given time! The engineer in me facilitates the organization of design ideas and plans, sources out appropriate materials, and in general, is skilled enough to carry out any technical components required to complete a project... you see what I mean, left-brain domination!
But, when the situation is just right, I can be inspired by others' right brain magnificence, add a bit of creativity of my own, and come up with a project that I think is pretty cool. This is exactly the case of our Save-the-Dates. I have seen soooo many date-savers that pull on my love of modern, clean, sophisticated stationary, but let's face it, modern and sophisticated doesn't quite set the tone of our wedding. No, it's more along the lines of fun and casual, un-pretentious and quirky, maybe even different. So when I saw this most fabulously right-brained save-the-date from the broke-ass-bride (who I love by the way...), my otherwise scattered creativity came a bit more into focus!

So I too contacted sarahNwonderland with my ideas... a wedding in the mountains of course... and asked her to create a quirky, fun, graphic of Ian that we could use to set the tone of, and bring in a theme for our wedding! I had two ideas in mind... the first was a winter graphic, with Ian and I in wedding attire, but wearing ski boots, with a caption along the lines of "We're busy skiing right now, but we want you to save the date", or, the second would have us in wedding attire, hiking in the mountains, to go with a caption along the lines of "We're almost to the top, and when we get there, we want to share the view with you!". Sarah quickly got back to me (very professional to work with!) with these two sketches:

While I absolutely ADORED the cuteness of the ski-inspired sketch, we decided the summer-version was more versatile, and could be used for many stationary items down the road, so we decided to go with the hiking graphic!

I wanted the entire date-saver project to be inexpensive, and we did consider sending them via email, but I just loved Sarah's work so much, that I wanted people to be able to have a physical copy. So, I decided to go ahead and print postcards... no, like actual postcards that did NOT require envelopes, and when it was all said and done, the project cost $63 for 100 postcards... overall, a great deal! This is the final version that I designed (front and back):

WHAT DO YOU THINK?!?! So far the response has been great... and I, well, just love them!

The moral of this blogger-story... don't be afraid to get inspiration from other bloggers out there... it doesn't mean you are creativity-inadequate, it just means you can get a jump start! Especially for those of us who need a little poke (ie. PUSH) out of our left-brain-safe-haven!!

Save-the-date... yes, that means the date is BOOKED!!

photo from here

So, normally I would not be offended if someone was unable to attend a party I was throwing (yes, even my wedding), if they had prior engagements... it happens right?? BUT, I am mildly concerned about those friends who get engaged AFTER us, and decide to plan their wedding on the EXACT same day as us... even after I have cordially invited them to 'save the date'?!?! Really? Are you serious? This isn't exactly Bride Wars, but I am finding myself quite put-off. This is someone with whom I share professional and personal niceties, and as of late, who has regularly come to me for relationship advice... more specifically... proposal advice. This is someone who requested my assistance/guidance in finding the ring, asking the parents for permission, the proposal date, and now, wedding planning. So I find it difficult to understand how he has missed the purpose of the save-the-date. It's not that I am offended that they are choosing the same date, I am truly disappointed that they will not be able to celebrate with US on our wedding day... yes, it's disappointment.

I know it is not my place, and I need to understand that everyone has their own life/priorities, but is it totally inappropriate to be baffled by this? This is a friend who has shared the most intimate of the ups/downs of my relationship, and vice versa (goes with the territory... office mate!), and we are both taking on very new roles that we have needed support with over the past months... growing pains to say the least! Has anyone else had their own version of Bride Wars?? Who are you most disappointed about not attending your wedding?