Monday, May 3, 2010

Wedding: save the dates

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Something I dragged my feet on forever. We went back and forth--to spend the money or not? How to make our save the dates creative but inexpensive. The end product? A beer coaster that incorporates our accidental theme of wood. I ordered the coasters via For Your Party and the square envelopes from Envelopes.com. After checking with our local post office on size and price, addressing, stamping and dropping them in the mail I was finally ready to cross "send save the dates" off our giant to-do list. Or so I thought! My dad called me a few days later and said all of our save the dates had been returned to their house (in which the return address directed). Furious, I stormed into our local post office and told the clerk what had happened he assured me that it was mailable but needed extra postage for being 4.25x4.25 inches. I explained that I had put two stamps on each envelope and he again assured me that they should have been mailed out.

After some calling around to other post offices I learned that the clerk was mistaken. They were considered unmailable. In order to be mailed one dimension must be a at least 5 inches.

Lesson: the smallest size envelope that can be mailed is 5x3 inches.
Design challenge: Make the solution look like I had planned it to be that way from the beginning.
Solution: Cut out 5x5 inch pieces of cover stock, stamp all of them with the wood grain stamp, cut 3 slits at each corner of the square paper so that 3 of the 4 corners are secured to the piece of cover stock (I decided to leave the top right corner exposed so that the stamps would not be covered up--leaving no room for them to be returned again), adhere with adhesive dots and fini! Up next...invitations.

15 comments:

  1. Congrats! Despite the set back, your save the dates came out great. I love how your problem solving skills kicked in and the use of the cover stock made the invites unique.

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  2. Oh geez! How stressful! Glad it worked out. They look amazing!!

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  3. Those turned out great! I love the woodgrain.

    The same thing happened to us. We did RSVP postcards that I had a printer design and print. They were a 1/4" too small to mail back. Luckily he reprinted them for us for free!

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  4. These turned out so great:) I also love woodgrain and think you did a terrific job!

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  5. How stressful to have to send them all out again! They're absolutely adorable! I love the wood theme, so cute.

    Love your blog!

    xo
    Valerie

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  6. They are beautiful and you couldn't even tell that wasn't how it was originally going to be!

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  7. thanks for the great comments. nikki, good to hear this has happened to others.

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  8. That is such a clever idea! Seriously, those are some of the best ones I have ever seen! They appeal to men and women, which is cool! The post office just makes me nervous, overall.

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  9. Oh these are amazing - so creative and adorable!

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  10. Great idea. These are very creative.

    xo,
    Marcie

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  11. love these! they make me want to get married again (to the same guy of course).

    great job!!!!

    xo

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  12. #1 those are gorgeous! good work!
    #2 that story just wore me OUT ;)

    xx

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  13. These are so beautiful. I can't wait till I get to do some of my own :)

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  14. Oh my goodness ... those are AMAZING!!! Well done!

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  15. What a creative solution! And creative idea for save the dates! I agree, no need to spend tons of money on those. We our own too, with my Gocco print maker. It was fun to be able to DIY part of the wedding, though our invitations will be made professionally. Great job!!

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