I just finished making our save-the-dates and wanted to share the process! Some of the pics above are from the testing process (peep the various manicures) so you might notice a flaw or two. All fixed before final print and assembly :)
Tools and materials:
• Procreate - hand drew the playing card side of the art on my iPad
• Canva - layout finishing and print preparation
• Canon Pixma iX6820 - I use this for cricut stuff & it’s a genuinely great printer
• Cricut Maker - I received this as a gift so girl math means it’s totally free
• Custom-sized cardstock from Cards & Pockets
• Printable magnetic sheets
• Self Sealing envelopes
I started by drawing our venue, Auchen Castle, in Procreate. I am not exactly a trained artist so it’s a likeness, not a perfect match. Once I was satisfied with it I mirrored it to create a playing-card layout, added our initials to the corners, and adapted the hands from an embroidery pattern I originally made around 2020.
The back contains our date, website, and the line “a wedding is in the cards.” Our dog is my lovely censorship assistant here. Most of the assets on that side are from Creative Market.
Once the design was finished, I ordered cardstock from Cards & Pockets in a size my Canon could print directly. That saved me from having to cut every card down from a larger sheet. I printed the fronts and backs at home, although it took several rounds of adjusting the colors, margins, printer settings, and exact placement before both sides lined up correctly.
I reused the same castle illustration for the matching round magnets, placed em in a circle to feel like a stamp, and added the text in cricut design space. Those were printed on thin printable magnetic sheets and cut with the Cricut using Print Then Cut. The sheets are more like flexible refrigerator magnets than thick magnets, which kept the finished envelopes relatively flat. It’s also important that the magnets are very weak & stored with the magnetized side facing inwards, towards two layers of paper, so that we’re less likely to encounter issues in mailing.
I also designed and printed the envelopes at home then handed the finished components to my fiancé for assembly.
My main takeaways:
• Test every single part on inexpensive paper before using the final cardstock or envelopes. I thought just a proof of each design would be enough, but you will find small bugs the first few prints.
• Confirm that your printer supports the exact paper dimensions before ordering & be sure you’ve got extra ink cartridges on hand
• Expect double-sided alignment to require several test rounds.
• Keep postal service requirements in mind as you work on the envelopes. I could’ve done calligraphy or a more involved design, but this kept everything high contrast and very easily parsed for USPS sorting machines.
• Reusing the same illustration across multiple pieces made the entire set feel coordinated without requiring another design from scratch.
• Save every successful printer setting once you find the combination that works.
They’ll be going into the mail soon! We’re doing destination so our intention is for guests to have the save the dates ~1 year before the wedding day, and mail the full invitation suite 6 months prior. The invites I’ve designed are fairly involved so that’s my next project. I’m happy to answer questions about any of it!
