That’s right, pamphlets. We’re doing a pamphlet for our Save the Date; which in wedding-world is abbreviated to STDs. *ahem* Lets all try to keep a straight face here as I work on designing a STD that I’m sending to 286 of our closest family and friends :::snicker:::. (Yes, 268… the guest list “bloomed”)
Focus Courtney, Focus….Since we’re getting married in a semi-destination location, especially in the summer, we thought it would be important to give our guests as much of a heads-up as possible. Lake Coeur d’Alene (Core-Duh-Lane) is a regional magnet for summer vacations and we hope our guest view The Blessed Event as an opportunity to incorporate a fun day or two on the lake and enjoying the area. The Pamphlet will serve as combo Save the Date and Chamber of Commerce brochure which will inform our guests as to where to stay, what to eat, and what to do.
Early last spring in the pre-planning stage (read: no left hand hardware) and when a wedding at the Livingston, Montana train depot was still in consideration, I stumbled across this pamphlet, which advertises visiting Yellowstone National Park via the Northern Pacific Rail Road’s “Yellowstone Park Line”. A lightbulb went off. Regardless of where we tied the knot, what a fun way to encourage our guests to attend our wedding and give them information about the area they’ll be visiting! And hello, history nerd alert- old photos and old timey stuff are awesome!
I kept surfing away, and found the interior of the NPRR brochure, which gave snapshots of the buildings and explained what business was in the building. I’m a visual person, and so knowing what the building I’m searching for actually looks helps me feel more confident that I can arrive where I’m supposed to go. Brilliant!
Sometime this spring I mentioned this to DJ, and he thought it was a good idea. Then this summer we were working on packing stuff up for The Big Move, and I asked DJ if he wanted to still hold on to the 50 or so National Park Service brochures he’d collected after years of visiting places like Moab, Arches National Park, etc. Um, yes! He guards them like the baseball cards he has stuffed down in the crawlspace. And as I teased him about it another lightbulb went off (it has gotten bright around here), what if we merged the Railroad brochure and the National Park Service brochures? What if we essentially made Lake Coeur d’Alene our own personal landmark for the wedding (with a whole cast of locals in it)?
Super dorky photo. DJ's haircut is very high and tight, and I lost those earrings somewhere...
I mentioned our goal to get the Pamphlets out to our guests by January 1. Some might wonder why we’d like to add to the pre-Holiday craziness by setting this self-imposed deadline. Well, the only hotel in Harrison doesn’t take ANY reservations until January 1. Like I can’t even block out rooms until then, a reminder for which I have set on four different reminder tools. Nope (although they’ve agreed to call me if anyone calls mentioning a big event in town that weekend). Did I also mention that the only hotel in town only has 15 rooms? Maybe now you understand why I’m hoping the BOLD and underlined MAKE YOUR RESERVATIONS NOW point really gets across to our guests right after January 1.
With this in mind, Pamphlet making is in the forefront the next few weeks. I’m on the “Where to Stay” and “Where to Eat” sections; DJ’s on the “What to do” sections, and we’re both working on the “How to Get Here” sections. My awesome friend Alli finished her degree in Geographical Information Systems this summer, and is in the process of making us maps. One of the women on the board I run at work does pen and ink drawings, and she’s working on them for the highlighted buildings in town (all ten of them).
You'll need to find this building if you want a fishing license!
Hopefully sometime around Thanksgiving we’ll pull all of this together into a National Park Service-like brochure that can be printed be mid-December. My sister agreed to lend me her excellent penmanship in order to address all of the mailing envelopes over Christmas Break.
Actually pulling it together into a NPS-worthy brochure required more work. I stumbled across thisblog entry, which essentially breaks down how the brochures are laid out to be informative, efficient and user friendly. Sounds like something our guests would appreciate in a STD :::snicker:::
Now the big question is what size sheet of paper to use; 11” x 17” inches is big, and roomy, but maybe too blank? What about 8.5” x 14”? Ehh… it folds up kind of small…. I think the end result here is that we’ll have to wait and see exactly how much information we want to include on the Pamphlet, how big the text should be, how many photos, and how detailed the map. And I think I want to print it on glossy paper…
Right now the major items included in the pamphlet are:
- The Save the Date information
- Map of the Cd’A region with important or interesting locations pinpointed
- Close up map of Harrison with locations of the hotel, campground, restaurants, bike trail, my parents house, etc.
- Area history
- Things to Do
- Where to Stay
- Where to Eat
- Contact information
- Disclaimer
The Disclaimer is that we both know summer is a super busy time of year. So we’re planning on having a second reception and housewarming party next fall before a football game as a way to give friends and the people we work with a chance to celebrate with us, without having to come to Harrison.
What do you think of the idea in general? Have I missed anything on my list of items to include in the Pamphlet? Do you struggle to keep a straight face when typing the letters STD together?
If you need help let me know. I have all the resources you'll need :-)
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