Magnetic Save-The-Date Cards

Save-the-date cards have become a standard part of wedding planning. According to Emily Post's Wedding Etiquette, Fifth Edition (copyright 2006), save-the-date cards are for "giving advance notice of an upcoming wedding [and] can be very helpful to guests who must make travel plans" (p.142). Though traditionally printed on postcard or single sided invitation card, save-the-date cards have recently undergone a magnetic transformation.

Save-the-date cards printed on magnets have become really popular lately. And it makes perfect sense! Who can keep track of a single sided invitation or postcard? No one, honestly. A magnet will be stuck right to your guests' refrigerators as soon as they come in the mail and be seen every time they grab a snack.

While magnetic save-the-dates are a really practical idea, ordering these from a professional printing service can cost a small fortune. Some online stores sell them for as much as $1.49 each, with a minimum order of 100. For the bride on a budget, this is simply out of the question. However, magnetic save-the-dates can easily be made at home.

You can purchase blank sheets of magnetic paper from most office supply stores. Avery offers such a product for ink jet users that can be found at Staples. Once you have the magnetic sheets, you simply need to design your save-the-date card in Publisher or another design software on your computer, like this one done by some friends of mine. Be sure to include the wording "Save the Date", the names of the bride and groom, the date of the wedding, and the location if you've decided on it. Dress up the magnet with images that represent you and your groom, making them both decorative and informative. Print several to a sheet, cut apart, and mail.

You'll have created not only a save-the-date card, but also a small keepsake from your wedding. Your guests will love how practical your save-the-dates are, and you'll love stretching your budget while still having a fun and interesting way to announce your big day.

Skipping the Guest Book & Keeping the Love

Guest books are a staple of most weddings. Traditionally, they've been used as a way for guests to share their feelings of happiness and love with the bride and groom during their wedding day. The book is then kept as a keepsake for years to come.

While this is a great way for guests to wish the newlyweds well, guest books can be very expensive. Personalized ones can run more than $50.00 a piece! For a couple on a budget, this would be an easy way to save money. But, just because you don't have a guest book, doesn't mean your guests can't still share their love with you.

Try this idea, borrowed from my best friend's wedding in Holly Springs, North Carolina. She incorporated her version of a guest book directly into her place settings. Every place was set with silverware, a lined sheet of green paper, a wedding program, a pen, and a candy bar.

The candy bar and pen were favors, but the pen also allowed guests to fill in their green lined paper. The green sheet requested that each guest "please share your best wishes and advice for the couple as they start their life together". Guests used the sheet to wish the couple well, remember happy times spent together, and celebrate the couple's love.

Sheets were collected at the cake table throughout the reception. The bride's mother and aunt collected the sheets after the reception, and kept them safe for the couple during their honeymoon. After her honeymoon, the bride used the sheets and pictures from the wedding to create her own memory book. She matched the sheets with the pictures of the people who wrote them, then bound everything in a scrapbook. This way, when she and her husband look back at their wedding memories, they have more than just the words of love from their friends, but also a face to match with those words.

The bride was able to print all the guest sheets on her own computer, using paper that matched her wedding colors. Using sheets allowed her guests more room to express themselves while helping her stay in budget. Matching pens with the sheets added function to her favors, ensuring that all her guests could take part in the fun. This pocketbook-friendly idea creates a keepsake you'll treasure for years to come.

Fortune Cookies

I believe in getting the best value for your dollar when planning events, which oftentimes means doing things yourself. Now, I have to admit, I'm not a terribly crafty person. But I did find a really easy way to make cool favors with stuff I already had in my house. Inexpensive, fun, and cute - a perfect combination for any event!

I found this Fortune Cookie recipe on AllRecipes.com, and decided to try it out for a dinner party I was throwing. The first thing I did was to write the fortunes. Actually, my friend and I wrote them, putting silly messages like "You're jeans look very sassy today" and "You're AWESOME" on them. After finishing the fortunes (which took about 20 minutes because we were so amused with ourselves that half that time we spent laughing hysterically), we followed the recipe as posted. Everything came together pretty easily, though we did find out a few things that might be helpful.


The fortunes went into the cookies easily, but we found that the paper fortunes ended up sticking to the cookies when they dried. To avoid this, we used a spoon handle to create a center in the cookie. While the dough was still hot, we folded the dough in half around the spoon, then in half around the spoon in the opposite direction. This created enough space for us to slip the folded fortune into after the cookie had cooled. We also didn't have a muffin tin to put our cookies in while they cooled. Instead we used a tea cup. It worked just as well, and allowed us to stack the cookies on top of one another.

This Fortune Cookie recipe can easily be used to create simple, fun favors for a wedding. If you want your favors to match your wedding decor, simply drop a little food coloring to your dough to change the color of the cookies. It's safe to eat and will add that extra touch to your special day. For the fortunes inside, print slips of paper with your wedding date and a small thank you to your guests. Everyone will appreciate that you thought of them in such a unique way. Coating one side in chocolate is another interesting addition to your favors. Add some sprinkles to your chocolate coating to add extra color. Any of these ideas will give you an amazing favor with a personal touch, while helping you save some dough for other things.