From the Marfinkes, with Love

One of my proudest wedding creations began with our digital save-the-date.  Since Mr. Marfinkle and I spent our first two years in a long-distance relationship, I decided to design our STD (using Aviary) as a postcard featuring postcards from the places which were important in our lives:

Aren't we adorable?

Since I had so much fun designing the STD, I decided to create place cards for our wedding with the same theme.  Instead of a regular escort card, Mr. Marfinkle and I chose to give each guest a postcard featuring a location to which we have traveled.  Each postcard included a message from the Marfinkles and was hand "addressed" to the guest's table.  We had originally hoped to display our cards in an antique revolving  postcard rack, but instead decided to display the cards on a clothesline in front of the mailboxes at our wedding venue:

We gave each party at the table a different postcard so that people could compare and strike up conversation about why they believed they were given a particular location.  (We managed to pick a specific postcard for each guest.)  Nobody at the wedding was able to view the entire collection of postcards, so here it is for public display:

How I made the postcards:

1. In Aviary, I created a 1200 x 800 template in which I could substitute background, texts, etc.  I then used Google image to find large-size background images from each location to create the backdrop of each postcard, changed the greeting on each card, and added accessories to reflect each location.

2. I had originally planned to print the cards at Staples or Kinkos, but I found that the printing charges would be astronomical.  Instead, I downloaded each postcards as a jpg and printed them off at a CVS photo kiosk.  The result was a glossy, high-resolution 4 x 6" photograph which only cost about $0.10 apiece.

3. Since I needed to create the actual written side of the postcard, I designed another 1200 x 800 template in Aviary.  Using a font which resembles handwriting, I created a design which included empty lines for addressing the postcards.

Here's where this gets creative!

4. In order to create the backing, I ordered a set of Avery 4 x 6" shipping labels.  Using our home printer, I printed the template (downloaded as a jpg) onto each shipping label.  Next, I applied a shipping label to each photo/postcard.  (Note: most of the shipping labels had to be trimmed down to exactly fit the 4 x 6" photo.)

5. Last, I hand addressed each postcard to our guests so that each postcard was unique and personalized.


In addition to creating our save-the-date and place cards, I also designed our thank you notes.  We are still working on sending them all out, but here is a sample of the card:

Thanks for the presents!

The thank you note is an image of the Mr. Marfinkle and I at home in our apartment with our wedding booty.  (Yes, that is exactly what our couch looks like.)  Unfortunately, our beloved dog Tilly (pictured both here and in our save-the-date) passed away a week before the wedding and well after I printed our thank you notes; however, her adorable legacy lives on in these cards.