Save the Date Idea: Thaumatrope!

You know, the Holiday Queen makes the most marvelous things. Including Halloween toys like Thaumatropes!


It struck me quite some time ago that these would make an excellent Save the Date project for a Halloween wedding, so I quickly mocked up how such a thing could work.

One side would be devoted to the Bride:

One to the Groom:

You'll probably want to mail these out in an envelope, and you might want to include a pretty card that explains what a Thaumatrope is and how it works, but once your friends and family twirl it, the image would come together nicely (and somewhat symbolically):



To DIY this might take a little bit of design skill, but you could print them yourself on cardstock. I would recommend getting a large, circular scrapbooking craft punch (examples here -- maybe one of the really big 3-inch ones? Whatever side you want your thaumatrope to be), punching them out, and gluing together (rather than trying to print front to back -- unless you're much better at that than I am... I always end up a little off). Don't forget that you'll have to glue the top of side A where it would touch the bottom of side B - that way they both look up-right when twirled!

Punch a hole in each side, and attach a bit of string. And tah-dah! Save the Date toy.

Here's a nice video of someone making a thaumatrope.

To make a silhouette of you and your intended might be a little trickier. If you can use photoshop, you might consider doing an outline using the pen tool. If not, you could always search out some vintage stock art or get a friend to help.

Of course, that's just my design. Take the idea and run with it!


UPDATE! I figured I couldn't be the only person to have this idea, and sure enough - I'm not. :) I googled 'wedding thaumatrope' and found the following amazing examples:

1. An example very close to, but much prettier than, my quick mock-up above
2. Cutesy thaumatrope invitation
   

Dead Tree Invitations

As always, I can't recommend a vendor I haven't bought from - but I thought this design was worth sharing. Personally, I love the dead tree look.

I think rouxbee had quite a nice, nontraditional aesthetic sense for wedding invitations. They are a bit under-designed, but that's kind of what I like about them. They are very traditional, but with the twisting flower vines replaced with dead trees of the delicate scroll work slightly splattered in a grunge effect.

She and I must have the same design hobbies and internet browsing habits, because I recognize both the tree and the font in the pictured design as belonging to freeware sets I downloaded ages ago:

• I believe the tree belongs to a free photoshop brush kit available on deviantart.
• The font is (I'm pretty sure) one I got earlier this year (while looking for vintage fonts for my wedding) from dafont.com, called Nite Club

By sharing this, I'm definitely *not* encouraging anyone to steal the design. I just kind of found it funny - I knew most of the fonts and brushes she used for her the work posted in her shop.

Her aesthetic sense plays out differently than mine would, but how interesting that we frequent the same sites and pick all the same fonts and brushes.

Save the Dates: Opinions, Part II

I've taken some of the suggestions under advisement. Better? (for the record, my Mom still isn't wild about the picture of me - but I like the fiance pick - I'm so torn... I freakin' hate all pictures of me):

I agree with all the 'sepia' recommendations -- the image is sepia with light "hand coloring," but it doesn't read very well. The Husband-to-Be, however, expressly likes the coloring affects. Since it's the only thing he's volunteered liking without a prompt for feedback, I feel like it needs to keep it.

:) Something has to be his decision. I'm not doing this crap all by myself.

Save the Dates: Opinions, please?

I thought I had out Save the Dates all done, and then I decided I didn't like them.

Well, not that I didn't like them, but that they didn't fit the spirit of the wedding. So I'm trying something a little different... Husband-to-Be likes it (he says), but his excitement level is inscrutable -- his high pitch is flat as Florida.

I don't really have a lot of faith in my abilities, so I need to know -- are these awful for an outdoor Halloweeny wedding where the bride will be wearing a bustle gown and the ceremony music will be old-fashiony?

They'll be sent out as postcards, because I like the informality of it (and love getting postcards). The back will still look something like this, but with details about the wedding in the "for correspondence" section:

UPDATE: My Mom has already written to say she doesn't really like the pictures. :) Ugg. I hate my accursed need for doing something personal, and not just pre-fab.

Wedding Idea: Save the Dates

The Holiday Queen has given me the most fantastic idea for a Save-the-Date! And she doesn't even know it.

I'm letting it burn in my head, and I'll finish the design this weekend. Once that's through I'll post it.

Sorry for the vagueness and suspense -- I'm trying to keep myself honest. Even if my implementation ends up sucking, I think this might have neat potential for other non-traditional brides.

Mentioning it to you now pins me to the accountability board for later. :)