Colour, fonts, imagery and material are 4 things you should consider when designing a save-the-date. They are key to design a wedding save-the-date that tells the right story. Moreover, they will enable you to immediately set the right tone to your wedding. Since this will be the first physical encounter your family and friends will have with your wedding, you want it to be perfect!
Inspiration
Before we get started, it is important you prepare yourselves.
Sit down with your partner and talk about the look and feel of your wedding. Then think about how you could translate that vision into a save-the-date. Gather as many pictures and examples you can find on which colours and styles you like. Put them together on a vision board and keep only those you both truly adore.
For Christian and I, our inspiration was very straightforward since we are getting married in the South of France. Sunny blue skies, the scent of lavender, slow paced, sharing good food and even better wines with family is what we want our wedding to be about. Therefore, our save-the-date is designed to capture that feeling and immediately excite people about what’s to come.
1. Colour Scheme
This may seem like a counter intuitive place to start, but it is not. As humans we feel a strong connection between colours and emotions. When you want to convey a certain feeling or spark a certain emotion, colour is your best friend.
When I think of the South of France, I see lavender fields as far as the eye can see, light blue skies and brown sometimes even copper toned earth. Moreover I think of sun kissed skin, grapes, herbs and linens. All those things inspired our colour scheme.
Furthermore, your colour schemes is an important piece of information that your designer will use to start the design process and create proposals.
2. Fonts
Throughout every day life you might not pay a lot of attention to fonts. Yet they bring soul to your invitation. Just like handwriting, a font reveals a certain characteristic. It can be playful, classic, simplistic or edgy.
Take your time to look at a variety of fonts before contacting your designer. This will allow you to share some clear do’s and don’ts right from the get go. The more clear the instruction the easier the design process. Also, do not hesitate to ask your designer to recreate a proposal with a different font.
3. Imagery
After we’ve sparked an emotion and added some soul. It is now time to align the reader’s imagination. Your chosen images will act as a guideline for the reader’s own imagination. Choose it wisely. You want them to the same place and atmosphere you and your partner have in mind.
4. Materials
The materials you choose are what will bring your vision to life. This is what your guest will be touching. Where you can provide a sensory experience. We opted to go for handmade recycled paper as it has a textured feel, a little bit like linnen.
We also opted for two versions. The save-the-dates of those who received it via mail were placed in a lilac coloured enveloppe. Whilst the save-the-dates for those we see often were placed in a tracing paper with a candle wax stamp and 2 lavender branches. The sensory experience on the latter was absolutely sublime. If I may say so myself.
Above anything else keep in mind that it is your wedding. Follow both your hearts when it comes to any decisions you make regarding your big day. Nevertheless, I hope these 4 key key things to consider will help you design the wedding save-the-date of your dreams.
