Save the Date!

To recap, we used a friend (Bridesmaid Lemon) to take some pictures of us to use for our save the dates.  My original plan was to order them through an etsy seller and then print them ourselves.  There are a lot of options for sellers who let you upload images to their design and then you can print them yourself (or they will print them for you - for a hefty price). 

Well, as usual, saving money got in the way of this plan.  I stumbled upon a Groupon for Vista Print.  They had a number of save the date options so I decided to change my plans and go this route. Of course on the day I decided to actually order the save the dates, I hated every design.  What's a bride to do?  Design them herself, that's what!

After researching different photo editing options, I decided to purchase Pixelmator, which is basically Mac's cheap version of Photoshop.  In my head, I would easily be able to compile pictures and put some words on them and call it a day.  Boy, was I wrong.  I spent an entire Sunday afternoon and hated everything I did.  I'm sure this program is good for people who know what they are doing, but it was a horrible experience for me.  I am still angry thinking about that day - it was seriously awful.

No worries, though - Lemon to the rescue!  She told me about PicMonkey, a much easier program - and it was free!  Truth be told, she told me about this the day she took the pictures and I thought I knew better.  It was so easy to just choose what layout I wanted and then pop the pictures into it.  It even had a lot of options for what kind of text box I wanted.  Super easy!

So, without further delay, here we have the final product!

The front -

 

Personal photo.

      
The back -


Personal photo.

There we have it!  I uploaded the design to Vista Print and then quickly realized their Groupon pricing is higher than their regular pricing.  Oh well, lesson learned.  I ordered the postcards and they were in my mailbox in less than a week. 

On my way to the post office I called Mr. B to give him one last chance to back out.  He didn't answer and I left a voicemail along the lines of: "I was calling to give you the opportunity to change your mind.  You didn't answer so you're stuck with me!  Bye!"

Having that off my plate was a great feeling.  This also means I have the guest list pretty much finalized, which is awesome.  Is this save the date unique enough for us?  I hope so!  Did anyone else have trouble turning their vision into reality?