An engagement is an exciting time filled with planning, choosing wedding bands, showers, registering, and anxiety, but all too often the public declaration of your impending nuptials is overlooked. A properly crafted save the date card and subsequent invitation lets your guest know how special that day will be. It isn't just about where, when, and where you are registered... Take some time to share through words and visuals what that day will mean to you on paper via the good ole postal service. We are bombarded with e-mails, texts, Evites, Facebook posts, Twitter feeds, and mass mailings, so when someone takes the time to write a letter or send an original card people take notice. Snail mail may be going the way of the horse, but who doesn't love a ride in a hansom cab? Think about the last time you got a handwritten letter or card from someone. How did it make you feel? Did it feel more personal? Were you surprised? I bet you read that letter more than once and probably kept it for quite a while. Give your guest that special feeling on the walk back from the mailbox, feel the anticipation of the excited phone calls you will receive, and know that you have set the tone for how special your wedding day will truly be. Remember, your wedding is a very special event that doesn't just start when you walk down the aisle. Make your friends and family feel special, and in-turn they will make YOUR wedding a day a memorable one. And one day while your relatives are solving US foreign policy in the kitchen you'll go through your mothers cluttered old hutch and there will be that invite, not stored on a cloud or on a thumb drive, but there in your hands and it will take you back to better days.

Here are 5 ways to make your invitation or save the date special:

1) Incorporate wedding themes, color schemes, and interests (Customize)

2) Print on a thick linen stock

3) Hand address (excellent penmanship is a must!) or use a calligrapher

4) Use nice envelopes

5) Use unique or customized stamps