Monday, February 28, 2011

Save-the-dates: a collaboration of love.


So after plenty of brainstorming, tedious sketching, and trips to the University's media lab, Sean and I have produced a successful collaboration: our save-the-dates. I have to admit, I'm super proud of them. Sean did the initial heavy lifting after I asked him to sketch out two deer with the buck's antlers forming a heart. He took that idea and exceeded what I had imagined, once again begging the question: why wouldn't I want to marry this man? After that, it was a matter of me puttering around in the studio making tracing paper overlays, sketching banners, and gouaching hearts on the (almost) level floor at the arts center. The result, I think, is well worth the time and effort of making custom save-the-dates. Of course, since it took us longer to design them than anticipated, we may just save them and use them for our invitations instead and skip the save-the-dates altogether or do electronic ones. It would certainly help to shave down the wedding budget a bit.

I wish I had a print of it to show, rather than just the design. As a printmaker I get very excited about paper products, and we want this design to find it's home on some chipboard, so it really will look quite different once it's printed on that toned background. I also have had a recurring dream of this design being letter pressed (I am drooling right now just over the prospect of it) and thankfully one of my lovely bridesmaids did some legwork and sent me an email chock full of links to different print shops willing to letterpress your personal designs for you. The forerunner right now seems to be Cranky Pressman Printery & Bindery. They have penned all the information on their site in an affably cantankerous manner, and this actually is to their advantage; everything appears very straightforward as opposed to sites that opt for a more flowery and polite approach. It's also an Ohio based shop, which means I can check convenience and support of local vendors off my list as far as invitations. An online form makes it convenient to request a quote.

I am so excited that these are finished, not only because I have been anxiously awaiting the finished product since this ideas birth, but also because I get to check another little box off that monstrous bridal to-do list that stretches for miles, it seems. But hey, it will all get accomplished by June 11. And I get to celebrate a thousand tiny victories, such as this.