Save The Dates are usually the first indicators of your wedding vibe for your guests. It feels important that they contain the right amount of information and represent your wedding theme well. It can be really hard to pick a Save The Date that is fun, but also goes with the overall feeling you are going for.

That's why after looking for unique and personalized Save The Dates, I decided to design my own!

I wanted something that had a retro feel but would still make sense in a modern setting. I feel like a lot of Save The Dates out there were very similar looking - despite my hours browsing Pinterest, I never felt like I found one that would have the impact I wanted.

Since Save The Dates are usually a little more informal than invitations, I wanted to go with something a little different: postcards! I think a postcard design really added to the retro and sentimental element of our wedding. Plus, there are lots of other reasons to do postcards! You don't need to buy envelopes and you get a discount on postage.

Now, we didn't necessarily pick postcards based on budget alone, but it sure made the idea even better in our eyes. We moreso thought it would be a little bit more unique than other Save The Date methods.

If you're looking to make your own Save The Date postcard template, I'll tell you exactly what I did!

This post is all about save the date postcard template.

Pros and cons of doing a postcards Save The Date?

As I mentioned earlier, we felt like a Save The Date postcard was just a cute thing to receive in the mail. Since we are going to be sending formal invitations as well, we figured they are going to be receiving a formal envelope later, so might as well switch it up and send something a little more fun and retro. I mean, who doesn't love to receive a postcard in the mail?

Some things to note with postcard Save The Dates...If you are going to forego the envelope, I would recommend printing the Save The Dates on a thicker, more quality paper. Keep in mind without an envelope, these things are going to be sorted with all the regular mail and might get a little beat up. We personally felt that that added to the charm of the postcards, but if you're worried about everything looking perfect, it might be better to do an enveloped Save The Date.

Another thing to think about is since the postcard will be without an envelope, it is more likely that it may get accidentally thrown away with your guests' junk mail. You know how some companies send small promotional mailers? It's possible your postcard could get stuck between a magazine or might accidentally get lumped with some of the other mail. Out of our 125 invitees, only one postcard wasn't received even though the address was given and recorded correctly. So it's not a huge risk, but just something to consider!

Where did you design your Save The Date postcard?

My absolute favorite design tool of all time is Canva! I use it almost every day and it is the easiest, cheapest, and best way to create graphics. I will show you below how to make your own postcard template with them (for FREE!).

Canva is free, which is actually insane for how much they provide. You pretty much get access to everything with a free account. They do have a Pro account option which is totally worth it in my opinion. It unlocks a bunch of cool fonts and more templates/stock photos from their library. It also unlocks some other cool features like Background Remover and Resize which are helpful, but not absolutely necessary to make some cool stuff.

Canva Pro is $12.99 a month. If you compare that to other popular design softwares, it's a total steal. Adobe Illustrator is $20.99 a month, for example.

Another cool thing you can do is sell your completed template or just share it with your friends for free so they can put in their own information.

I'll show you how to make the postcards below!

How did you print your Save The Date postcards?

I printed the completed postcard template through Canva! It was my first time using their printing services, and it was a great experience. You can use any other printing service you want just by downloading your completed template as a PNG, JPEG, or PDF (whatever the printing service requires).

I had a question for Canva about my order and their customer service was amazing! I would seriously highly recommend.

You can always DIY the printing as well but it will take a lot of ink from your printer. I bought the EcoTank printer a while ago and I have absolutely loved it because the ink lasts forever.

Epson EcoTank

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"Greatest printer I've ever had!!! My wife and I use the printer very often. It is very, very economical and environmentally friendly."

This is the printer we have! It does cost a little bit more than regular printers but we've had it for 3 years and have never had to buy an ink cartridge! Isn't that crazy? And each ink set costs around $40, so similar price to a regular ink cartridge. It's so much fun to be able to print whatever I want in unlimited color. It's been so helpful when planning a wedding since I've been able to print colored address labels and wedding mood boards to my heart's content!

How much did it cost?

I bought 150 large postcards with Deluxe Paper (waaay too many haha) and it was $69 (including tax)! I feel like that's pretty good for Save The Dates. It comes out to $0.46 each!

A Save The Date tip

One thing I totally forgot about when I printed my Save The Dates was that you only need one Save The Date for each household. I accidentally printed too many because I figured I needed one for each guest, which is totally incorrect!

You only need one for each household, plus a couple of extra in case there are some errors on sending.

How can I make one myself?

1. Make yourself a (free) Canva account here. Create a new project and type in "postcard". I picked the 5.5" x 4.3" option.

2. Go to the "Design" tab and scroll to the postcard template you like. They should already show up since you have selected the Postcard project. I selected this one. If you would like to use it just type "Gray White Real Estate Agent Formal Postcard". Click "Apply both pages". Edit the design as you see fit. Canva is super intuitive so it's pretty easy to jump in and change photos, fonts, and colors. If you're still needing some help, Canva has some great tutorials on their website here. I ended up editing the template above and turned it into the Save The Date below.

If you like this post you may enjoy this post: 32 Actually Fun Amazon Wedding Registry Gifts That Aren't A Salad Bowl

1. To print using Canva, select "Print Postcards" in the upper right hand corner. Select your settings. These are the settings I chose for my postcards. Large, Deluxe paper, Matte finish, 100 postcards. I actually picked 150 postcards and it was too many for my guest count of 125. If you don't want to use Canva's printer, just click "Share" in the upper right hand corner and download in whatever file type you choose. I usually pick PNG or PDF. Upload this file (front and back) to whatever printer you have chosen.
2. Send out to all your family and friends! Make sure to check postage requirements. For example, I just used standard forever stamps (which cost a little more than postcard postage) because I liked the design of the stamps a lot better! Also note that international postcards require more stamps. I recommend dropping them off at a physical post office rather than a mailbox. Less chance (at least in my mind) of them getting lost. I used some DIY address labels to make the address section of the postcard look a little nicer. Let me know if you'd like to see a tutorial on that!

I don't have time to make one myself, can I use your template?

Yes definitely! I decided to make a template of our Save The Dates so other people could use them! I even made them in 3 different colorways for your own inspiration. You can edit absolutely everything from this template including names, dates, colors, photos, QR codes, sizes, phrases, anything! It's just a jumping off point so you can make it your own.

You can get the ALLIE Retro Save The Date Postcard Template here.

To check out our other Canva templates, including our Wedding Mood Board template, click here.

Conclusion

If you guys end up making your own DIY Save The Date postcards using a template, I would love to see them! I think making something yourself really adds a sentimental touch to such a sentimental day!

This post was all about postcards for save the date.