So I figured I’d choose a simple design off the shelf from an invitation company, and the fancy paper and printing would be the focus. But when I started working with Pier Gustafson on the monogram, he sent me some samples that were printed on an inkjet printer at a very reasonable price and looked great. Better than great—they looked AMAZING.

from snippet & ink

I realized I could either put our resources toward engraving or letterpress and give up a unique look and feel, or I could put the money toward custom design and print them myself, relying on Pier’s guidance on ink and paper so they won’t look chintzy. Guess which I picked? Put it this way: I can’t wait for the invitation printing and cropping and assembling madness to begin…not. But it will be worth it in the end!

The best part about the visit (besides the invitation mockups that I am SO excited about) was seeing Pier’s studio! It was like something out of a Dickens novel. Every inch of wall was covered with drawings, doodles, inspiration, half-finished monograms, and snippets of image and text. He has collections of antique typewriters and binoculars and other old dusty things.Gathered together, these anachronistic devices were as beautiful to me as a bouquet of flowers. I love old things, imperfect things, and things that “go” (but don’t match), and Pier is a man after my own heart. Check it out (sorry they’re so blurry; I took them on my iPhone):

Save-the-Date Widget provided by Bridal Guide

How it works:

You simply fill out a short form here with the names of the bride and groom, as well as the wedding location, date and time. Once you fill out the form, the program generates code that you can cut and paste to your wedding website or your Facebook page–or anywhere else you can think of.  After you post the widget to your site, your guests simply click on the “add to my calendar button” to automatically add your wedding date to their calendars.

Only thing is, I am not so technical and I couldn’t figure out how to add it to Facebook. And I can’t add it to our wedding website because WordPress won’t let you mess with the code…help? Anyone?

Anyway, it seems to be pretty comprehensive from your guests’ perspective. Here is a list of all the calendars the widget works with:

* 37signals Backpack
* Airset
* Apple iCal
* Contactizer
* Buni Meldware Communication Suite
* Facebook
* FirstClass
* Google Calendar
* Jalios JCMS
* Joint Contact
* Joyent Connector
* Kickstart
* Lotus Notes
* Microsoft Entourage
* Microsoft Exchange Server
* Microsoft Office Outlook 2007
* Novell GroupWise
* Nuvvo
* Rainlendar
* Sun Java Calendar Server
* Westlaw (TWEN)
* Windows Calendar
* Windows Live Calendar
* Wrike
* Microsoft Works Calendar
* WebTrain – Web Conferencing Meeting Reminders

Special thanks to Brenda of Brenda’s Wedding Blog who found it first.