The detail that can go into wedding planning is mind boggling. For something as simple as "save the date" cards there are many considerations. However, in the grand scheme of things Save the date cards are trivial items -- most people will see the cards and toss them away within a few minutes. Thus our goal was to spend only the minimum possible to get the point across.

Magnets! We really liked the idea of sending "Save the Date" magnets with our picture on the magnets. Magnets would be very handy because they can go on the fridge but they turned out to be too expensive. In my cursory web search magnets cost around 80 cents - $2 each for bulk orders -- out of our price range. Even at the cheapest rates add 42 cent stamps and a few cents for envelopes is about $1.30 per person and you haven't invited them formally yet.

Photo cards! Photo cards would have been nice too but even from the big online printing services like Zazzle, Snapfish, and Kodak Gallery these cards cost go from $1-$3 each, excluding postage. That's crazy!

Do it yourself! I wasn't really thinking about it at first but a photo card is essentially a photograph on better paper. With a little photoshop magic and a cheap printing service we could make our own cards for a fraction of the cost of the professional stuff and achieve the same end.

• A friend who takes photos as a hobby helped us take a few pictures around picturesque areas with his fancy camera. We bought him dinner as gratuity. (~$30)
• Used Photoshop to add the text (free)
• Print proofs to Meijer to do a test print on 4"×6" matte photo paper because I don't have a proper color printer. Meijer has machines that print digital photos for 25 cents each and we got the pictures within about 2 minutes, literally.
• Adjusted the picture because the text ran off the photo
• Did another test print on 4"×6"
• Sent to online printing service like Kodak Gallery or Snapfish which can print photos for 8 cents per photo.
• Bought some envelopes and stamps to send in the mail.

Resources (as of 12/1/2008):

Snapfish - 8 cent prints

Kodak Gallery - 15 cent prints / 10 cents if you pay $24.99/yr

Shutterfly - 10 cent prints

Meijer - We don't have a color printer so we printed some test pictures at the self-service kiosk. It only cost $2 and 2 minutes for 8 pictures. Meijer also does prints by mail for 9-15 cents each via Snapfish.

Target - for test prints, if you don't go to Meijer.

Zazzle - make your own cards using templates. Lots of choices. Nice idea but expensive.

VistaPrint - make your own cards using templates. Not as pretty as Zazzle but cheaper.