Time to Get Serious

About STDs. (Because, of course STDs are no laughing matter hehe - I mean, really, who came up with that acronym?). And, by STDs, I mean Save the Dates, of course.

My wedding books, websites, newsletters, and checklists are all telling me it's about that time to start thinking about STDs (hehehe - the novelty hasn't wore off yet). According to the wedding police, we're supposed to send our STDs 6 - 8 months from W day. We're 7.5 months out now, but seeing as we've passed on the news about our wedding to my out of town relatives via word of mouth, we're leaning toward the 6 month mark. (Oh sidebar: Its totally unbelievable/freaky that there is even a 6 months moment on the horizon.)

As to avoid our STDs getting mixed in/lost in between Christmas & holiday cards, we're planning to send 'em out in November. That really isn't very far away folks, so it's time to get serious.

Confession: looking for STD inspiration is completely overwhelming.

I'm a graphic designer for a living, so I feel like I'm under so much pressure with our wedding stationery. Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled about designing everything, and I definitely could not picture anyone else creating something this important besides myself, but. . . But I feel like there's all this pressure on me to deliver with our Save the Dates (mail pun totally intentional).

I guess the best way I can describe it, because not everyone understands graphic design, is if you were a pastry chef and were baking your own wedding cake. No one would push you to do it, but you'd want to do it yourself, because, simply, its what you do. You'd want a cake you'd be proud of on display for your guests, not to mention the co-workers who are also bakers, and your baker friends. . . Your friends who are pretty arrogant about their work (I think this is a pretty common trait among designers, this wasn't a hit towards chefs, I promise,).

It's kind of overwhelming, for sure. On top of this, the real problem is that I cannot decide what I want our STDs should look like. I have a million and one ideas in my head, but its so hard because I want something modern, but that makes the day look less formal; and I want something hip, but too hip wouldn't be well received by our older guests; I want to use Helvetica, but Mr. Giraffe wants a more formal look. It's super hard to find a balance and to pull myself back in on this.

So what am I doing to avoid freaking out on this? Same thing I'd do for any other tough design assignment: research! I've been looking for some super hip and pop and fresh, modern style STDs for inspiration. The only 'requirement' I kind of had is that we 100%, for sure, want to do a photo STD so I was on the look for that.

Here's the goods!

I love the back of this one from Red Stamp (image source also here).
I absolutely love this one (image source also here). I love how colors and shapes are use to break it apart and keep the emphasis on the photo of the couple.
What I really enjoy about this STD (image source also here) is the full photo that bleeds of the card. It looks really swank to have such a large photo with a rock star label on top.
How 'bout another (image source also here)? Okay! This simplicity of this one just emphasizes that lovely photo, and I love how the cropping of it makes it look so panoramic. It just looks like a rock star STD, for realsies. Also, the generous letter spacing on the type just gives it so much character.
That last one was from minted.com. Has anyone ever seen Minted.com? It has some amazing designs! How amazing? Well, here look at this save the date montage! (all photos from minted.com).









Annnnnnnnd end montage! I know, gorgeous, right?

I'm not sure when I'm doing with our Save the Dates yet, and all this inspiration kind of makes it a little more difficult because it adds to my inability to decide on anything. Regardless, feel free to scroll back up and drool over those babies a little bit longer?

Anybody else gettin' serious about their STD inspiration?