So much for delegating

When I started this wedding project I had made the definitive decision to ABSOLUTELY NOT design anything for my wedding. If you know me... then you know what I'm capable of doing: costume/clothing design, lighting design, interior design, graphic design including invitations - save the date cards- place cards - mailing labels - the list goes on.

Why should I not design anything? Because it's too much work, and I don't have that much time. I've made invitations for other people's weddings and other events in the past. I've curated gallery exhibits. I designed my new bathroom and acted as the general contractor on the project... it's all very energy and time consuming. I wanted to sail through this wedding planning process without the added task of having to be creative on top of all of it.

Then I started looking at Save the Date cards, just yesterday. The problem is - I want what I want. I can't walk into a store and just buy "whatever." I really want what I want. I had an appointment at Union Street Papery. The girl pulled out two boxes of sample cards and I immediately rejected all of them because they require a 2 to 3 week turnaround for offset printing and we don't have the time. So I have to print it in-house and go for the 3 day turn around. I was immediately disappointed by the sample prints from the in-house inkjet and laser printers that they showed me. But I just had to suck that up. Then I started looking at paper. I figured, if the printing was of a lesser quality I could dress it up with a nicer card design. I spent an hour and half in the store and found something that I liked which involved illustrations or illustrated design motifs. Then I saw the envelope that came with it and it was the cheapest thing I'd ever seen; the color of the envelope did not even match the color of the paper. I had to leave the store to go to a floral appointment (which you can read about in a different blog entry). After an hour-long floral appointment I schelped around to two other stationary stores trying to find something that fit my ideal: burgandy, silver, white, cute, appropriate for a Save the Date wedding card, not too crazy, ideally had metallic accents, wasn't bright red, was the right size to fit the information, came with a decent envelope, could be run through the laser printer and didn't cost more than a dollar fifty per item. Forget it. You can't find that in one day. I came across a lot of illustrations of the Golden Gate Bridge, which I liked because that is in the view from the lawn in front of the Legion where the ceremony might take place. But the illustrations were always a little strange, a little off, or not how I would have drawn them. And then I realized, that if you want something done right you have to do it yourself.

So I bought plain card stock and a very nice envelope (which cost a third of what it would cost to buy the "designed" card with the crappy envelope) and I went home and drew an illustration of the front facade of the Palace of the Legion of Honor. I'm a designer. I can't help it. It's like a compulsive thing. Once you've made something the in the way that you envision it - that's it. You always want to do it that way. Thank goodness I didn't get this epiphany when I was dress shopping. Or I'd be buried underneath an unmanageable wedding dress project right now. I think my true calling is illustration and graphic design. Because when it comes to that stuff, obviously I just can't help myself. I have to do those things exactly my way.

I'm very excited about my Legion of Honor illustration. It looks exactly how I want it to look and it's very personalized to our event. Writers and marketing people are fond of reminding you that the Save the Date card sets the "tone" for your event. I interpret that to mean that how you handle the Save the Date card is an indicator of how the remainder of the event will go. Probably true. Or maybe not. Maybe I read way too much into things. Either way - I got what I wanted: something in my color palette, with a design that is very personal and appropriate for our event. Sometimes it's good to just do it yourself. I also saved about $75 by just doing the text and layout myself as well. And John was a stellar copywrite editer on the project. He whipped that text right into shape. Why would we pay someone to do this, when we are so good at it ourselves? Maybe we should start a new business...