Cheap Save the Dates
At the end of the summer Ben and I held a congressional apartment hearing on the state of the wedding budget. We’re just under a year away from the big day, but rapidly approaching a fiscal cliff. There’s no real need to panic—the majority of the budget has been spent on the majority of the big planning stuff. Still, this congress is in budget scrutiny.
This is why I’m on a bridal high from my this “craft” project: our $20—card and envelope included—save the date project. Yes $20, minus postage of course because at $.49 cents a pop we’re gonna have to forego a Friday pizza night or two to send these suckers. Did you hear that, Ben? DROP THAT HOT AND READY.
All it takes is a middle schooler's worth of knowledge in Microsoft Paint and access to a good drug store photo printing kiosk. You can print anything from a Kodak kiosk—you know as long as it's 4x6. Here are my tips for making this DIY invite/announcement/mini poster project happen:
1. Create your canvas
I made a 1200x1800 pixel canvas in Microsoft Paint. It's much larger than 4x6, but scales down to the same dimensions without distorting anything. Working large helped me make sure everything was aligned and colored correctly. Previewing small gave me the confidence my design would print legible and clear.
2. Use good ingredients
Standard Microsoft Paint fonts felt flat to me, so I used a free font downloading site to spice up my text. I also auto-edited and resized my photos in Microsoft Photo Editor. Keep in mind not all photos print in true color.
3. Treat it like a photo
I saved my final design as a JPEG—the same format most images from my camera save as. You can save your designed card as an image on your camera SD card or upload it right to a drug store photo site for printing. I found both worked just fine.
4. Test before you go bulk
Walgreens glossy and matte for that matter printed like a dream while Target's in-store kiosk gave me discolored and streaky photos. If you have the time, test a few kiosks and photo finishes to see what you prefer.
5. Hunt for coupon codes
When I ordered, Walgreens was running a $.15/each sale on 4x6 glossy photos (down from their normal $.20 price). I preferred the matte finish just slightly, which I could order online only for $.12/each. My total order was around $10.
6. Consider the whole package
I was hoping to find a store that would print on photo paper with no text/images on the back so I could send my cards as postcards. While Walgreens had a super small serial number/date on the back, I opted for envelopes. I bought a box of 100 at 4 3/4 x 6 1/2 off Amazon for an additional $12.
I’m not only thrilled with the cost of this project, but these really did turn out lovely. They're fun, casual and feel most like us—all the things I hope our wedding day will be. Now if I could only figure out how to score postage stamps on the cheap...
This is why I’m on a bridal high from my this “craft” project: our $20—card and envelope included—save the date project. Yes $20, minus postage of course because at $.49 cents a pop we’re gonna have to forego a Friday pizza night or two to send these suckers. Did you hear that, Ben? DROP THAT HOT AND READY.
All it takes is a middle schooler's worth of knowledge in Microsoft Paint and access to a good drug store photo printing kiosk. You can print anything from a Kodak kiosk—you know as long as it's 4x6. Here are my tips for making this DIY invite/announcement/mini poster project happen:
I made a 1200x1800 pixel canvas in Microsoft Paint. It's much larger than 4x6, but scales down to the same dimensions without distorting anything. Working large helped me make sure everything was aligned and colored correctly. Previewing small gave me the confidence my design would print legible and clear.
2. Use good ingredients
Standard Microsoft Paint fonts felt flat to me, so I used a free font downloading site to spice up my text. I also auto-edited and resized my photos in Microsoft Photo Editor. Keep in mind not all photos print in true color.
3. Treat it like a photo
I saved my final design as a JPEG—the same format most images from my camera save as. You can save your designed card as an image on your camera SD card or upload it right to a drug store photo site for printing. I found both worked just fine.
4. Test before you go bulk
Walgreens glossy and matte for that matter printed like a dream while Target's in-store kiosk gave me discolored and streaky photos. If you have the time, test a few kiosks and photo finishes to see what you prefer.
5. Hunt for coupon codes
When I ordered, Walgreens was running a $.15/each sale on 4x6 glossy photos (down from their normal $.20 price). I preferred the matte finish just slightly, which I could order online only for $.12/each. My total order was around $10.
6. Consider the whole package
I was hoping to find a store that would print on photo paper with no text/images on the back so I could send my cards as postcards. While Walgreens had a super small serial number/date on the back, I opted for envelopes. I bought a box of 100 at 4 3/4 x 6 1/2 off Amazon for an additional $12.
I’m not only thrilled with the cost of this project, but these really did turn out lovely. They're fun, casual and feel most like us—all the things I hope our wedding day will be. Now if I could only figure out how to score postage stamps on the cheap...