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Friday, December 26, 2014
Wednesday, December 24, 2014
Narwhal save the date reveal!
Now that we've handed out a majority of our Save the Dates and the rest have been mailed and received, it's time to show them off!
I designed them in Photoshop Elements 12 with one of our favourite engagement photos. After converting the photo to black and white, I played around with the fonts* we are using on our invitations (sneak peak!) and once the final design was secured and triple checked, I held my breath and hit the purchase button.
We're really happy with how they turned out, especially since they were under $27.00. We have also gotten lots of compliments from our guests, which has been really nice to hear :)
So enough talking, more revealing!
All photos personal. Image in Save the Date by isos photography.
The Front
After playing around with some photos that I thought would suit our Save the Dates, we landed on one of my favourites in front of our cabin. I love that the cabin is subtly in the background since that is where we're having our ceremony and the light in this photo is unreal. We kept the front simple. Save the Date. Our names, our brand, the date and location.
The Back
I also wanted to keep the back simple for the postcard. I wanted them to feel fun while pointing our guests to the date, stating the formal invitation is coming and asking them to visit our website. On the right side I kept a few lines for addresses and our return address is in the top left corner. We saved money by keeping the back black and white.
So, what do you think? We're really excited to see how the invitations come together based on our experience ordering from Vistaprint. I'll probably end up ordering them far too early!
I designed them in Photoshop Elements 12 with one of our favourite engagement photos. After converting the photo to black and white, I played around with the fonts* we are using on our invitations (sneak peak!) and once the final design was secured and triple checked, I held my breath and hit the purchase button.
We're really happy with how they turned out, especially since they were under $27.00. We have also gotten lots of compliments from our guests, which has been really nice to hear :)
So enough talking, more revealing!
All photos personal. Image in Save the Date by isos photography.
The Front
After playing around with some photos that I thought would suit our Save the Dates, we landed on one of my favourites in front of our cabin. I love that the cabin is subtly in the background since that is where we're having our ceremony and the light in this photo is unreal. We kept the front simple. Save the Date. Our names, our brand, the date and location.
The Back
I also wanted to keep the back simple for the postcard. I wanted them to feel fun while pointing our guests to the date, stating the formal invitation is coming and asking them to visit our website. On the right side I kept a few lines for addresses and our return address is in the top left corner. We saved money by keeping the back black and white.
So, what do you think? We're really excited to see how the invitations come together based on our experience ordering from Vistaprint. I'll probably end up ordering them far too early!
Did you DIY your Save the Dates?
*For the font lovers out there, the fonts used on our Save the Dates are Arsenale White, Supernova and Penelope Anne.
Monday, December 22, 2014
diying and saving money on our save the dates
After we received our engagement photos back, I wanted to play around with some of our favourite pictures to work on creating our save the dates.
With my inspiration in mind, I was ready to play. I knew I wanted to have a black and white photo postcard with a splash of colour (which would play on the actual invitation suite I had already drafted).
Since the Save the Dates were a stretch in our budget and not a necessity they had to be cheap. Before I get to the reveal (sorry!) I'm going to share how I went about making ours, and how it ended up saving us a ton of money.
Ditch the envelopes
We decided to do Save the Dates for the practicality of sharing our date with our guests and directing them to check out our website before we send out the actual invitations. Having a postcard design saved us the cost of envelopes. The back gets referenced initially, but most people only care about the front to post on their fridge, so this was an easy thing for me to ditch*.
Handout when possible
To save money we decided to order shortly before Christmas when we knew we would be seeing a lot of our guests. We were able to save quite a bit on postage by hand delivering a majority of our Save the Dates. I liked the idea of getting Save the Dates out pretty close to the new year when people were starting to fill up their new calendars.
Don't think you have to order Save the Dates
Huh? This is a huge money saving tip. Because we were designing our Save the Date in photoshop, we didn't have to order a pre-designed Save the Date. Instead of shopping in the wedding section at Vistaprint, I went to the marketing materials.
How much money did we save? Let me show you!
For the sake of this post, I created the same image for the front and chose a standard back on Vistaprint (which you can do your own custom image for as well). I pretended to order 100 Save the Dates with recycled matte paper and a greyscale back (which is what we did in reality).
Horizontal Flat Invitation in Standard Postcard Size
This STD was selected under the custom Save the Date under Invitations and Stationary. You do have the option to order in increments of 10 for the invitations.
Standard Postcard
This STD was selected as a Postcard under Marketing Materials. You only have the option of ordering in increments of 50 for Postcards.
As you can see they both look the same (the back would be your own custom design). This is where it gets really interesting.
The Horizontal Flat Invitation has five options in paper: premium glossy, premium matte, linen, matte (included) and recycled matte. The premium papers cost an additional $14.00, while linen and recycled matte are an additional $18.00. A standard white envelope is included.
The Standard Postcard has three options in paper: glossy, recycled matte or premium glossy. The recycled matte and premium glossy are an additional $7.00. Standard white envelopes cost an additional $5.00.
The grand difference? $71.00!
That's a huge difference for the exact same thing. Further proof that putting the word wedding on something drastically inflates the price.
*While the envelopes Vistaprint offers are inexpensive, I personally liked the look of a Postcard over the standard white envelope.
**Because of a promotion we paid just over $26 including shipping and tax, which actually got credited to us because of a scuff mark on the bottom of the first ten Save the Dates. This will take approximately $26 off of the cost of our invitations!
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| Save the Date Inspiration // Wedding Paper Divas Genuine Love |
With my inspiration in mind, I was ready to play. I knew I wanted to have a black and white photo postcard with a splash of colour (which would play on the actual invitation suite I had already drafted).
Since the Save the Dates were a stretch in our budget and not a necessity they had to be cheap. Before I get to the reveal (sorry!) I'm going to share how I went about making ours, and how it ended up saving us a ton of money.
Ditch the envelopes
We decided to do Save the Dates for the practicality of sharing our date with our guests and directing them to check out our website before we send out the actual invitations. Having a postcard design saved us the cost of envelopes. The back gets referenced initially, but most people only care about the front to post on their fridge, so this was an easy thing for me to ditch*.
Handout when possible
To save money we decided to order shortly before Christmas when we knew we would be seeing a lot of our guests. We were able to save quite a bit on postage by hand delivering a majority of our Save the Dates. I liked the idea of getting Save the Dates out pretty close to the new year when people were starting to fill up their new calendars.
Don't think you have to order Save the Dates
Huh? This is a huge money saving tip. Because we were designing our Save the Date in photoshop, we didn't have to order a pre-designed Save the Date. Instead of shopping in the wedding section at Vistaprint, I went to the marketing materials.
How much money did we save? Let me show you!
For the sake of this post, I created the same image for the front and chose a standard back on Vistaprint (which you can do your own custom image for as well). I pretended to order 100 Save the Dates with recycled matte paper and a greyscale back (which is what we did in reality).
Horizontal Flat Invitation in Standard Postcard Size
This STD was selected under the custom Save the Date under Invitations and Stationary. You do have the option to order in increments of 10 for the invitations.
Standard Postcard
This STD was selected as a Postcard under Marketing Materials. You only have the option of ordering in increments of 50 for Postcards.
As you can see they both look the same (the back would be your own custom design). This is where it gets really interesting.
The Horizontal Flat Invitation has five options in paper: premium glossy, premium matte, linen, matte (included) and recycled matte. The premium papers cost an additional $14.00, while linen and recycled matte are an additional $18.00. A standard white envelope is included.
The Standard Postcard has three options in paper: glossy, recycled matte or premium glossy. The recycled matte and premium glossy are an additional $7.00. Standard white envelopes cost an additional $5.00.
The grand difference? $71.00!
That's a huge difference for the exact same thing. Further proof that putting the word wedding on something drastically inflates the price.
Adding $27.00 (plus postage)** didn't stretch the budget too much for us, which we're really happy about. We had to use those engagement photos for something! For me, it was totally worth it! On my next post, I'll share what we came up with!
Did you send Save the Dates? Do you have any money saving stationary tips?
**Because of a promotion we paid just over $26 including shipping and tax, which actually got credited to us because of a scuff mark on the bottom of the first ten Save the Dates. This will take approximately $26 off of the cost of our invitations!
Friday, December 19, 2014
tackling the stationary
One of my favourite parts of wedding details are the invitations suites. I just love how they are the perfect opportunity to showcase your wedding before the big day. Considering one of my favourite places to browse the aisles at is Staples, I think it's safe to say I have a thing for office supplies and stationary. Seriously, a new pack of pens can make my day. Don't even get me started on filling out a fresh calendar.
When it came to our stationary, prior to becoming engaged I had done a lot of searching and loving on inspiration for when it was our turn. At the time, I wasn't sure how we would execute the plan. I knew that our stationary budget would be low and that while I had a serious love for wedding stationary, I couldn't prioritize it (over other priorities).
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| in love with the Wallaby suite // Image by Mrs. Wallaby |
When it came to our stationary, prior to becoming engaged I had done a lot of searching and loving on inspiration for when it was our turn. At the time, I wasn't sure how we would execute the plan. I knew that our stationary budget would be low and that while I had a serious love for wedding stationary, I couldn't prioritize it (over other priorities).
I had just purchased Photoshop for my business (just the Photoshop Elements 12 version) when we got engaged. A few weeks after our engagement (when the thrill of planning was still at an all-time high) I started playing around with ideas for our invitations suite for fun. After about 2-3 hours of "playing", I had a preliminary drafted suite. I hadn't decided until that night that we would make all of our own wedding stationary. I now knew I could pull it off, and that I could save us a lot of money by doing so.
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| anyone else still obsessing over Squid's beautiful suite? // Image by Mrs. Squid |
Since our invitation suite is still getting finished up to order, I had to back-up a few steps and start thinking about Save the Dates. At first, I wasn't sure if we would do a Save the Date. Save the Dates aren't a necessary part of planning, but something I have a serious appreciation for. They had to be low in cost to be part of our wedding. If I was making them myself, I knew it was something we could easily squeeze into the budget.
I knew that I wanted to use an engagement photo for the Save the Date, while tying into the invitation suite I had already drafted. I also knew that to keep the cost down, it would have to be a post card (to save on the cost of envelopes). To keep myself busy while waiting for our engagement photos, I did some searching to find the inspiration behind our Save the Date.
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| Mad love for the Hen Save the Date // Image by Mrs. Hen |
I knew that I wanted to use an engagement photo for the Save the Date, while tying into the invitation suite I had already drafted. I also knew that to keep the cost down, it would have to be a post card (to save on the cost of envelopes). To keep myself busy while waiting for our engagement photos, I did some searching to find the inspiration behind our Save the Date.
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| Spoiler Alert: This was what inspired our Save the Date // Wedding Paper Divas Genuine Love |
Once I had the photos in my hands, it was time to create our first piece of stationary!
Did you decide to make your own wedding stationary?
Wednesday, December 17, 2014
wedding website
The wedding bubble is an interesting world to be in. When you're planning a wedding, you're well aware of the trends and the current practices. Sometimes it's easy to forget what you've actually encountered in your every day life versus read about hundreds of times before on the Internet.
Wedding websites are one of those things where it seems like everyone has one. It's common practice in the wedding world; however, I personally have never been to a wedding where there was one.
Since I recently started a business, I was just in the throws of website building. As someone who has been blogging for over five years, I know a thing or two about html and putting together a website. Moving over into wordpress.org was a big leap in skill level and after a few too many moments of frustration, I managed to build a self-hosted website I'm pretty proud of.
Our wedding is fairly atypical, and we really wanted an easy way to communicate with our guests beyond the detail card in our invitation suite (we've already explained everything to the grandparents in person).
The pretty great thing about paying for a self-hosted site (I use bluehost), is that you're allowed unlimited websites. I purchased our wedding domain for $8 and got busy testing out a bunch of free templates for wordpress.org sites. When I was disappointed with how things were looking, I decided to test out the template* I had paid for already for my business site... and I loved the fun wedding version I was able to create!
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| the front page of our website // screen shot |
I decided to break the website into six pages (beyond the home page) to cover everything we wanted to share with our guests before the big day.
The Wedding:
This section covers the location of the wedding and a rough timeline for our guests.
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| The wedding breakdown // screen shots |
The People:
This page simply gives a breakdown of the wedding party.
Parking and Transportation:
Since we have limited parking and are encouraging our guests to hitch a ride with our hired bus, this section contains some crucial timeline and pickup information, as well as information on where to park for those that choose to drive.
Accommodations:
Currently a placeholder for our room block info (something that has been our official wedding nightmare - more on that soon). It also encourages our out-of-town guests to book early because of the Ironman in town.
FAQ:
This section provides answers to common questions (e.g., what to wear, registry, open bar, etc.). I felt most comfortable keeping our registry information within the FAQ section versus on it's own page.
RSVP:
After our formal invitations go out, we will open this section up for option of RSVPing online.
What did you use your wedding website for?
For some more technical information on building your own Wordpress website, be sure to check out Mrs. Hen's post. I found it very useful!
*For the technically curious, the template is Pangaea from Theme Forest. I was also surprised to see it's significantly cheaper than when I purchased it!
Monday, December 15, 2014
somebody stole our hashtag
Alternative title: My first Bridezilla moment. Also note: This was all written in good fun and is not to be taken seriously.
I found it kind of hard to imagine myself ever having a Bridezilla moment. I mean, yes, I love details and I can be a bit of a control freak; however, more than those things, I care about the people around me and would never treat someone poorly in the name of my wedding. I also don't get angry very often.
Well, wedding planning can surprise you.
It's all too easy to lose perspective when you're emotionally invested in something.
So, that's why I lost my sh*t when somebody stole our hashtag.
I love hashtags. I tend to use them in one of two ways. The first, to summarize my post emotionally, usually sentimentally or humourously. The second, to catalogue uniquely.
The cataloguing use of a hashtag is often used for weddings and babies. A lot of parents will pick a unique hashtag to keep all of their photos of their child in one spot and in the wedding world, it allows people to pool all of the captured photos from the wedding.
When we came up with our wedding brand and hashtag #becomingthenarwhals, the first thing I did was make sure it was unique to us. I didn't want it to be lost in a sea of other people using the hashtag.
I started using the hashtag whenever we posted anything wedding related.
So, I'm sure you can imagine my reaction when I posted a new photo and clicked on the hashtag only to find out that sometime in the Fall, somebody had a wedding and stole our hashtag.
I was mad. I was disappointed. And, I totally overreacted.
I can remember the moment quite distinctly because Mr. Narwhal was outside chopping wood and I stormed outside to tell him what I had discovered.
The conversation went something like this:
Me: I am about to tell you something that I am really upset about, I know I'm being irrational, but please just let me be pissed right now.
Mr. Narwhal: What happened?
Me: Some people stole our hashtag last weekend.
Joel: That really sucks, but it doesn't really matter.
Me:
Then, Mr. Narwhal proceeded to hold my shoulders and tell me that he loved me and that on our wedding day we will be surrounded by our most favourite people in the world, that everything will be perfect and the last thing that matters is a hashtag. Seriously love that boy - that moment just might be worth having your hashtag stolen over.
I pouted my way back inside. I knew he was right and that I was definitely overreacting, but it was just one of those moments where you need to vent out some rage, and then you're over it.
I'm still deciding what to do about the hashtag to be honest. I'm trying to think of a clever way to keep it (and I'm not really a fan of numbered hashtags). The other wedding only had a handful of posts initially, but they keep posting random photos within a day or so of any of my new posts. I really don't want to partake in hashtag wars, so I'm looking for an alternative that still keeps with the brand.
I found it kind of hard to imagine myself ever having a Bridezilla moment. I mean, yes, I love details and I can be a bit of a control freak; however, more than those things, I care about the people around me and would never treat someone poorly in the name of my wedding. I also don't get angry very often.
Well, wedding planning can surprise you.
It's all too easy to lose perspective when you're emotionally invested in something.
So, that's why I lost my sh*t when somebody stole our hashtag.
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| raging // reaction gifs |
I love hashtags. I tend to use them in one of two ways. The first, to summarize my post emotionally, usually sentimentally or humourously. The second, to catalogue uniquely.
The cataloguing use of a hashtag is often used for weddings and babies. A lot of parents will pick a unique hashtag to keep all of their photos of their child in one spot and in the wedding world, it allows people to pool all of the captured photos from the wedding.
When we came up with our wedding brand and hashtag #becomingthenarwhals, the first thing I did was make sure it was unique to us. I didn't want it to be lost in a sea of other people using the hashtag.
I started using the hashtag whenever we posted anything wedding related.
So, I'm sure you can imagine my reaction when I posted a new photo and clicked on the hashtag only to find out that sometime in the Fall, somebody had a wedding and stole our hashtag.
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| total rage // reaction gif |
I was mad. I was disappointed. And, I totally overreacted.
I can remember the moment quite distinctly because Mr. Narwhal was outside chopping wood and I stormed outside to tell him what I had discovered.
The conversation went something like this:
Me: I am about to tell you something that I am really upset about, I know I'm being irrational, but please just let me be pissed right now.
Mr. Narwhal: What happened?
Me: Some people stole our hashtag last weekend.
Joel: That really sucks, but it doesn't really matter.
Me:
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| reaction gif |
Then, Mr. Narwhal proceeded to hold my shoulders and tell me that he loved me and that on our wedding day we will be surrounded by our most favourite people in the world, that everything will be perfect and the last thing that matters is a hashtag. Seriously love that boy - that moment just might be worth having your hashtag stolen over.
I pouted my way back inside. I knew he was right and that I was definitely overreacting, but it was just one of those moments where you need to vent out some rage, and then you're over it.
I'm still deciding what to do about the hashtag to be honest. I'm trying to think of a clever way to keep it (and I'm not really a fan of numbered hashtags). The other wedding only had a handful of posts initially, but they keep posting random photos within a day or so of any of my new posts. I really don't want to partake in hashtag wars, so I'm looking for an alternative that still keeps with the brand.
Did you have any silly Bridezilla moments?
Friday, December 12, 2014
branding our wedding
Like other bees before me (notably Mrs. Phonebooth and Mrs. Hen), I really wanted to brand our wedding to help tie everything together. Obsessive? Yes. How I do things? Absolutely.
Branding our wedding was one thing that I knew could have a huge impact on our wedding details, with virtually no cost. It would take minimal effort for me to pull off and it would put a fun spin on our wedding.
The first step for us, was coming up with a name for a wedding. This name would translate to our website, our hashtag and be added to details (e.g., favours) where possible.
A week or so after we got engaged MOH Cass was visiting and the three of us were discussing the wedding and sharing all of our ideas. Since Cass works in advertising, I enlisted in her help to come up with the phrase that would brand our wedding.
Side note: My maiden name is kind of a mouthful. It's eleven long letters of nobody ever getting it right. In the history of time, I have had one person say it correctly on the first try. I hoped and dreamed the boy I'd marry would have the most simple and easy last name of all time. Then, I met Mr. Narwhal with the most common last name ever. Huge score for me.
Back to the story.
After laughing over some ridiculous ideas we started to think of the all too common phrase that goes along with our soon to be shared all too common last name. I felt like we were on to something, and just when we were about to give up for the day Cass said, "yah, something like becoming the narwhals"
We were sold and that's when the wedding brand was born. In order to really achieve the level of branding I wanted, I was sure to have it covered in as many elements of our wedding as possible.
Website url? Check. Our website features our brand within our url.
Hashtag? Check. This was the first way we started communicating our brand, and whenever we do post a wedding related photo on Instagram, the hashtag joins it.
Fonts and common look? Check. Since I am DIYing our signage, save the dates and invitation suite, this was an easy and costless way to keep a cohesive look to our branding.
Happy bride? Check. While this is one of my obsessive in nature planning details, it's probably been one of the most fun things to pull off, and knowing that it will tie everything together gives me great satisfaction.
Branding our wedding was one thing that I knew could have a huge impact on our wedding details, with virtually no cost. It would take minimal effort for me to pull off and it would put a fun spin on our wedding.
The first step for us, was coming up with a name for a wedding. This name would translate to our website, our hashtag and be added to details (e.g., favours) where possible.
A week or so after we got engaged MOH Cass was visiting and the three of us were discussing the wedding and sharing all of our ideas. Since Cass works in advertising, I enlisted in her help to come up with the phrase that would brand our wedding.
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| little Narwhal and MOH Cass at Disney! // personal photo |
Side note: My maiden name is kind of a mouthful. It's eleven long letters of nobody ever getting it right. In the history of time, I have had one person say it correctly on the first try. I hoped and dreamed the boy I'd marry would have the most simple and easy last name of all time. Then, I met Mr. Narwhal with the most common last name ever. Huge score for me.
After laughing over some ridiculous ideas we started to think of the all too common phrase that goes along with our soon to be shared all too common last name. I felt like we were on to something, and just when we were about to give up for the day Cass said, "yah, something like becoming the narwhals"
 |
| image by isos photography |
We were sold and that's when the wedding brand was born. In order to really achieve the level of branding I wanted, I was sure to have it covered in as many elements of our wedding as possible.
Website url? Check. Our website features our brand within our url.
Hashtag? Check. This was the first way we started communicating our brand, and whenever we do post a wedding related photo on Instagram, the hashtag joins it.
Fonts and common look? Check. Since I am DIYing our signage, save the dates and invitation suite, this was an easy and costless way to keep a cohesive look to our branding.
Happy bride? Check. While this is one of my obsessive in nature planning details, it's probably been one of the most fun things to pull off, and knowing that it will tie everything together gives me great satisfaction.
Did you brand your wedding?
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