This seems to be a common topic in our blogs lately. However, we did feel we should explain our design a bit.

We wanted to make a Save the Date design that was simple, yet had elements of the various fandoms we enjoy… a somewhat tall order, given all the things we enjoy. We toyed with a few ideas for quite a while, but as with all good inspiration, the design came together in a couple of days. So, now that the Save the Date cards are in the mail, we thought we’d explain some of the different visual elements.

The ring in the foreground has multiple meanings. The first one is, no surprise, a wedding ring… a fairly universal symbol and rather appropriate for a Save the Date card. However, we altered the image a bit to accommodate one fandom for each of us. The more noticeable change – the thick bands which make the ring a bit more of a disk – involves the second meaning. It is a number system from the TV series “Doctor Who”, which Mike greatly adores and I’ve started getting into myself. We used this number system as one way to show our wedding date. A bit subtle, but workable as there’s another Doctor Who element in the overall design. Starting at the outer most ring, count the number of hash marks within the ring. This gives you the first digit. As you move inward, you build the number sequence. The thick bands represent the period/punctuation. So, by this method, you should get: 2014.02.21 – Year 2014, Month 02 (February), and Day 21. Thankfully, we also give you this date along with our names in readable letters, which tie into the third meaning. I’m a fan of both the book trilogy and the movie trilogy “The Lord of the Rings”, as well as all of the other stories and tidbits of that fictional world. A major element from those stories is the One Ring, which has glowing letters visible at times along the band. We found a font that mimics one used in the movie, basically English with accents on the vowels, that fans would easily recognize and would still clearly get the message across.

The image in the background is the other reference to Doctor Who, but it also allowed us a clever way to include our wedding colors in the Save the Date card. Mike and I both love the color blue, so it’s no surprise that blue is one of our wedding colors. The T.A.R.D.I.S., a device resembling a police box (iconically recognizable by fans), is how the Doctor travels through time and space, and it also happens to be blue. It appears and disappears by means of a fade, as if it just materialized. So, in designing the background on the card, we did a gradient from blue to light sage green to white (meant as a stand-in for silver). This shows our three wedding colors, but also looks as though the T.A.R.D.I.S. is in the process of leaving or arriving. We replaced the “Police Box” text with our “Save the Date” text for clarity as well. We used the same background image on the back of the card, but included a large white space. This provided a nice area for our additional information (and likely how you all found this blog), and somewhat looks like the T.A.R.D.I.S. has opened its doors. Also, the silver envelope in which you received the Save the Date card was the last of our three wedding colors.

And finally, a question a number of you probably asked: “pandakitty?” Yes, we decided to do something a little unusual when making our wedding website. [Actually, I had chosen the name “pandakitty” for our personal website as a Valentine’s gift for Emily. Some women got chocolates and flowers, Emily got a website. – Mike] Instead of using our names for the address as most do, we used a combination of pet names we use for one another. The tiger is a favorite animal of mine (which is prevalent in much of my artwork), and I’ve had others tell me that I sometimes exhibit cat-like behaviors. Mike affectionately calls me a “silly kitty” now and again (usually deserved). Likewise, Mike has an affinity for both the polar bear and panda bear. When waking him from a nap, he often reminds me of a groggy bear, and as a result I tend to call him a “sleepy panda”.

So, perhaps a bit sillier that many of you are used to, but it seems to work well for us. Hopefully this bit of explanation was of some help. You will see similar bits of our fandoms sprinkled among the decoration and favors at the wedding (believe me, we have SEVERAL fandoms that we hope to include), so kudos to those of you who can spot them!

Our Save the Date cards arrived a while ago, and we’ve been showing the proofs to family and friends to gauge reactions and get opinions. No complaints, so we have ordered the full run. They should hopefully arrive around June 17th. Then it’s just a matter of getting envelopes and stamps and putting them into the mail.

The company we’re using for our Save the Date cards is moo.com. I’ve used them in the past for business cards, and I’m really happy with their quality.

It occurs to me that all of these posts so far aren’t going to be seen by most people until we send the Save the Date cards. That’s when people will typically get our website address. Well, at least you’ll all have something to read when you get here! Welcome!

Many people talk about how fun it is to plan a wedding – the joy of creating the look and feel, the thrill of finding the perfect dress or venue, the adventure of bringing ideas to life for what will be one of the happiest days that you will fondly remember. There is a lot of excitement surrounding the preparations for such a day. Unfortunately, there are portions of planning a wedding that are not fun, and can actually be quite difficult, both logically and emotionally. These trying facets are why elopement is never fully off the table (no, we haven’t been driven there yet). One such difficult task, one we are currently wrestling with, is creating the list of invitees.

There are a lot of people who we would want to be part of this event. It’s an important formal event, something of a milestone for many of us, and we want to share that with people close to both of us. Sometimes we are surprised by who all wants to be involved. Sadly, both Mike and I really don’t want a large wedding, with lots of people in a huge space. It’s not who we are. We don’t tend to do things big and loud. We enjoy being surrounded by friends and family, but not quite in a literal sense. For this reason, as well as the size of the venue that we have our hearts set on, there will be people who want to attend that will not be invited to the wedding. There will also be those who want to attend, but will find it difficult due to the date. I know this will disappoint some, but I get the impression that this would be inevitable, despite best intentions.

To counter this, and knowing the social nature of many of our friends, there will be additional gatherings once we return from our honeymoon. Something of a “Meet the Couple” event. This will be more of the relaxed atmosphere of good food, good games (for there WILL be gaming!), and good conversation that Mike and I have always loved. Invitations will be sent out for this closer to the time of the wedding. Please don’t hesitate to let Mike or I know that you want to be involved, and we will do our best to accommodate everyone for this “Meet the Couple” event (or events, depending on the who and where of those interested).

When we started this, I don’t think either Mike or I had any solid idea of what we were in for. Imagine how crazy this would have been if we’d stuck with our original wedding date for August 2013! I’m thankful for all of the advice and support that we are receiving, and ask that you continue to be patient with us as we make our way towards what many of you (for a very long time) have considered to be the inevitable.

Emily and I ordered a small batch of Save the Date cards yesterday. We are using moo.com to have our Save the Dates printed. I’ve used them before to get business cards and such printed, and I like their quality, but we wanted to get a physical “proof” copy before ordering the full batch. Our proof order of 20 cards should be here on 23 May. If everything looks good, then we’ll order the full run and get them out mid-June.

Whee!