Okay, I know I’ve committed a big faux pas by not sending out my wedding thank yous yet. The worst thing is that I’ve already had more than one person call to make sure I got their gifts. I thought I’d never be one of those laggers, but I didn’t expect our pictures to come back so late. And, now that our thank you cards will be getting out there about the same time as our belated honeymoon, I can only wonder if we should have sent our honeymoon pictures with our thank yous.

Then I came up with another idea–sending out a wedding picture with our thank you cards and a honeymoon picture with our marriage announcements.

I picked the Monogram Stripe photo thank you cards in Meadow to match our wedding color theme.

This Bold Bloom Marriage Announcement may be perfect for our honeymoon picture in Greece.

Save the date cards are your first chance to let the world know that you are getting married. They offer a sneak peek of the soon-to-be newlyweds’ style, set the tone for your entire wedding celebration and provide friends and family with important information regarding your big day. They should be joyous, stylish and seemingly effortless. One of the best ways to achieve this blend of sophistication and fun is with a photo save the date card.

To make sure that you pick the picture perfect save the date card to land that all-important spot in the middle of the refrigerator, follow these simple steps:

1. Use a plain background. Backgrounds that are too busy tend to lose focus. Instead of choosing a photo set in front of hundreds of people at a concert, for instance, take one on an empty beach or in front of a grassy lawn.

2. Maximize your lighting. Use your flash even when taking pictures outdoors to minimize shadows and give both of you a healthy glow.

3. Dress the part. Wear coordinating, but not necessarily matching, colors. Often black and white come out the best, as in the examples below. Also, if you plan to make your photo black and white, wear a shade that contrasts with your hair–blondes really shine against brown or black, while brunettes look amazing in white.

4. Get a genuine smile. Some of the most spectacular photo cards come from intimate moments captured on film. For the best Save the Date photo, start talking to your soon-to-be spouse during the shoot, sharing inside jokes and fond memories so you can capture a genuine moment to share with friends and relatives.

What are wedding announcements? Thank goodness for them since they help make those who you weren’t able to invite part of your wedding. There were so many uninvited guests who generously gave my husband and I gifts and I wanted to do something for them (besides sending them a thank you) and everyone else who couldn’t make it to the wedding or who weren’t invited.

Here’s the 411 on wedding announcements. They were traditionally sent by parents and usually up to a year after the wedding. Today couples also send them. Announcements are kind of like the announcements you see in the newspaper except you are sending it to specific family and friends. You shouldn’t expect a gift but of course if you receive one make sure you send a thank you.

They are perfect for us because we had a small wedding and it also works if you had a big wedding but still had a lot of people you couldn’t invite. They’re also great professionally to alert business associates and colleagues to the change in your last name.

Wedding Paper Divas has a wedding announcement I think I might send.

Sweet Matrimony