"up where winter calls to play"

when i started looking at wedding stuff i knew i wanted to incorporate some do-it-yourself details. after lots of hours on pinterest and wedding blogs, i focused my searches on save-the-dates. we haven't really defined a theme for our wedding (besides winter, i suppose), but we have a certain feel and aesthetic we're looking to achieve.

for the save-the-dates i figured we could design something simple and whimsical that didn't necessarily need to match future stationery. i knew i wanted to use postcards, and sean suggested lake placid-themed ones. that soon turned into looking for vintage travel postcards, and we came across lot of vintage travel posters for far-off destinations. narrowing down the search to 'winter' and 'lake placid', we soon found our cards. i couldn't decide between the two designs so i chose both :)

i planned to stamp the message and maybe (big maybe) hand address the cards. i set about looking for custom stamp sets and found a helpful blog that recommended a kit from staples. i was a little worried the lettering might be too small, but when i checked it out in person it was just right. the only adjustment i had to make was turning an R into a P because we needed more than the five they had :P the stamp set was exactly what i was looking for--customizable (you have to carefully set each letter in place with tweezers) and basic (standard font and black ink). of course we didn't want the cards to be too plain, so we added some color with the date and a couple of small stamps. i initially used green for the trees, but it felt too conventional. the light blue looked nicer and brought more of that winter feel; the bear was always great in brown (a little shout out to california).

once i had all the postcards stamped, which i did in multiple stages to allow everything to dry properly, i had to sort out addressing them. at first i thought hand addressing would be a nice personal touch but soon realized my penmanship isn't all that consistent or pretty. also, the space on the cards for addresses was rather limited which would have made hand addressing even more challenging. printed labels it is! ordered clear address labels; set up the label template; printed; addressed; done. bought some pretty hummingbird postcard stamps and sent the cards on their way! within a couple days we were already hearing that people received them :) hopefully everyone that got their cards did as they were told, and SAVE THE DATE!