Do you wanna help me make my save the dates? And let me tell you something, they’re pretty freaking magical. Because here’s the thing. The theme of my wedding is love story. Because I don’t know if you know about myself and my fiance and how we fell in love. It’s all over my page at this point, cause it’s essentially a fan account for him. Um, but my fiance is from Scotland, I’m from Hawaii. We fell in love long distance. We, um, met for the first time in July for two weeks. It’s solidified that we wanted to be together for the rest of our lives. We got engaged. Um, our love story is just out of this world incredible. I feel so lucky. Um, but we are getting married in January, and so I am going to be sending our save the dates. We’re doing a really small wedding. Um, and they are just because on the theme of Love Story, we are getting married in a library. Like, floor to ceiling Magical. Beauty and the Beast Vibes. Library. I can’t. Yeah. Like, as somebody who has, like, loved beauty and the Beast and reading and been a book nerd my entire life, dream come true. And our save the dates are no exception. They are in here. Um, you’re gonna literally cry. They’re so beautiful. Here’s a quick little glimpse at them real fast. So here’s what I did. I had this vision in my head. That I wanted them to be books because we’re getting married in a library and I wanted it to be a hint of where we’re getting married. And so what I did was, was I found on Etsy this beautiful graphic designer who does digital prints. She designed this book with our wedding colors in mind. Cause we’re getting married, um, in January, so it’s gonna be a lot of jewel tones, um, but still a lot of color because that’s kind of who we are as people. And in my head I knew I wanted it to like, open. Like, I wanted it to be like a book that you open. Um, and I wanted there to be like library cards. Like, I wanted it to be very library card, but I also wanted to be very conscious. I didn’t want it to look like a kids birthday invitation. Like, I didn’t want it to look like weird and kitschy, because I still wanted it to be really mature and pretty. And so I had this vision in my head of what it looks like. And because I’m so, like, weird, I just. I couldn’t figure out why, like, everything I found on Etsy, I didn’t like. It didn’t look like the vision I wanted. It was so irritated I couldn’t figure it out. And then I finally found one that I loved. And what she did was, was she printed it. So she sent me the digital copy. And so it was flat like this. This is what it looks like. I can’t. It says save the date. Our next chapter. Eddie and Mary Friend. January 6th, 2025, was our wedding date. And it closes like a book. This is, like, in my head, exactly what I wanted it to look like. So here’s the front, right? And then this is the back. So it literally looks like a book. And I wanted it to be able to open, which is what it does is it opens, and I want it to be like a book. And so I printed these on Canva. So I printed them, and what I did was, is they came on the greeting card size, but then I had to use my magical paper cutter back there, and I had to cut them down, and then I used an EXACTO knife, and I cut them all myself. So all of these cards I hand cut out. Now, they’re not perfect, but whatever. They’re handmade, okay? They’re all hand cut myself because I wanted them to be the shape of a book. I can’t begin to tell you how much I love these. Save the dates, like, so much. Again, I found these on Etsy. She designed it. She changed the colors to match our wedding theme. It also matches partially the colors of his tartan for his, um. For his Mackenzie clan. So that was also part of it. And so I wanted to be Front and back. And I wanted it to open like a book. And then you open it and there’s a library card sleeve. Now, again, let me tell. Let me tell you about these library sleeves. So I ordered these on Amazon. But you see this little ridge right here where. Where this slides in, right? That went all the way to the top. That’s not the vision I had. So what did I do? I cut out a piece of cardboard, stuck it in there, I did a light EXACTO knife across it, and then peeled it off. Yeah, I hand cut those. They’re not straight. Some of them are, some of them are not. But that’s okay, cause they’re made with love. Because I wanted it to look like this. I couldn’t find ones that were this size for this size of card, so I made them myself. And the inside is just like I. This is oh, so good. So on the inside, this is the actual save the date. And it’s a library card. And on them are all the dates of our, like, the big parts of our relationship. And then at the bottom is the date for the wedding. This was actually my first idea for save the dates, of just doing library cards, but, like, I am obsessed. I actually designed these on, um, Canva myself. And then I printed them on really good card stock at home. And then on the inside, I also put one of our pictures from the beautiful shoot that we did. And then this is the other one that we put. And those will all be in there. These are just actually photos that I got printed at Walmart. Um, and they are just the wallet size. And they come actually printed too, and you just cut them in half. And I wanted to do two photos to put in there cause I just. I really love these pictures. And they’re sending them to his friends and family. And that’s one of my all time favorite photos of us. And I really like this one cause it’s both of us in there. Um, so that’s why I chose those. But, like, the light, I can’t. This is like. I’m obsessed with this and like, I just. It is exactly what I wanted it to look like. And then it goes right inside of this sleeve. And it’s like a library card that’s been stamped. And those are save the dates. Now let’s talk about envelopes. So because it’s a jewel tone wedding, I wanted the envelopes to feel really elevated and pretty. These actually came with envelopes from Canva. I have to tell you, I’ve loved Canva for years. This whole process of printing was really well. I went really well. I think a lot of people have had issues in the past, but, like, use Canva. I’ve used it. I loved it. It was great. So I ordered these on Amazon. They’re like, these like, I guess you could say burgundy, but they got like a slight shimmer to them. So they fit. They are a little bit big. This is a 5 by 7 card that I cut down and so it fits in this envelope. It is a little big. I don’t care. I like the way they look. And then that is the envelope that they will go in. Um, and then I will. I’ll show you how I address them. So here’s how I address them. Did I write that? Absolutely not. I used my cricut. Um, underneath it is just plain text for the address of where he lives. I’m not gonna show it to you because that’s none of your business. Um, but I used my cricut, and let me tell you something, it was a pain in the arse because. Oh my god. Because I have a Cricut. And let me tell you something. I love my Cricut, but I am intimidated by that sucker. Intimidated? It’s a big piece of machinery, okay? So I knew. I tried writing it out in my own handwriting and in the chords of my mother. That’s ugly. Don’t do that. I was like, I know you can use pens for Cricut, so I’m gonna try it. So I ordered these, like, white gel pens, cause I saw it on TikTok, cause that’s where I did my research was on TikTok. And I Found these, like, white gel pens, and you can, like, shove them into the Cricut, because they don’t make white gel pens like this for the Cricut, which is like. And if you get on here and tell me that they do, don’t, because it’s gonna send me into a rage. Then I’d, like, tape these in there, and then it would, like, write it in there for me, but then get this, it wouldn’t complete it. So guess what I had to do. I had to go in on each one with the pen and retrace it to make sure that it was nice and filled in and dark in there. So that’s what I did for each and every envelope. But they came out exactly like I wanted them to. So it’s the calligraphy up here, and then underneath it is just plain text writing. And then the back is my last name and then the return address for the envelope. I just. I love them so much. And even the stamps are festive. Look, they’re like points at us, cause they’re the international stamps. So originally when I was doing this, I was gonna put these, like, really beautiful wax seals that I got, um, with our shared initial. Cause I was just putting an M, cause that’s. I’m gonna change my last name when we get married. Um, originally I did that, and I was like, I’m gonna put these on the back. But it was Gonna be too much of a pain to mail because 99% of the envelopes are going to the UK. And it was just gonna be too much of a pain. So I think I’m gonna figure out how to do them for the actual invitations, cause I’ve also got those picked out. I’m using them from minted. They’re so beautiful. Um, but like, I just. It was too much of pain. So I actually have those in my. My wedding kit. And when I say my wedding kit, I mean just an Amazon box that I put all my wedding stuff in. I did buy a really cool trunk yesterday to put all my wedding stuff in, um, from TJ Maxx. Um, I also bought some of my bridal earrings yesterday at TJ Maxx, which was a shock because all the ones that I found on Etsy were like 90 1 hundred dollars. And I found pairs for literally twelve dollars yesterday. And they’re so gorgeous. So I’m putting them in their envelopes, I’m putting the stamps on there and I’m gonna mail them tomorrow. I am so unbelievably excited about this and that it came out like this is exactly what the inside of my brain looks like. And the designer on Etsy nailed it. She. I just. So. I’m just so happy. Ah, they’re so beautiful.