Crafting the Save-the-Dates: The Finished Product

After much trial and tribulation and a few frustrating Adobe Illustrator moments where I was sure I was going to throw the computer into the sun, I have completed our custom save-the-dates! In my last entry I mentioned that I was inspired by save-the-dates which feature simple silhouettes which I thought added personalization while incorporating our 18th century Versailles/Marie Antoinette theme. Without further ado, I bring you our save-the-dates:

This is the "edited for Weddingbee" version. The original version obviously has our names, wedding date, address, and wedding website. The real version also has a full bleed area around the edge so it doesn't look cropped so close to the sides. 

We are having them printed from Moo because I've always been really impressed with the quality of their products, specifically the Moo MiniCards that so many previous Bees have utilized in their invitation suites. I realize I am jumping the gun by sharing the design before having the finished product, but I was so excited about finishing this project to wait any longer! Considering I started it over Thanksgiving break, it certainly has taken me some time to put together. Thankfully I think I've mastered enough challenges that when I start on our invitation suite I will work much more efficiently. 

The intricate trim on the front of the postcard was taken from a Ladurée macaron box because I'm a little obsessed with Ladurée macarons and I wanted to infuse some of that Parisian flair into our paper goods. Whether it makes a reappearance on our invitation suite remains to be seen! The wreath graphics on the front and the bird/wreath graphic on the back were from a Dover ornaments book which were scanned and vectorized by me. The fonts used are Mardian (the cursive) and Brain Flower and both were downloaded for free at dafont.com.

I made the silhouettes myself. I took profile photographs of myself and Mr. C and traced them on Photoshop. I have a Wacom tablet which made this process a lot easier. I then imported the graphics into Illustrator and vectorized them. In order to give it a more worn, weathered look I used a watercolor texture behind the graphics. 

If you are not familiar with graphic arts or Illustrator, vectorizing a graphic is essentially making it a graphic that can be resized without ever losing any detail or quality. It only really works with graphics or fonts.

Well, that's about it! I hope the postcards look great when they arrive and I hope our guests enjoy them!