There seems to be a lot of confusion over save-the-date
cards: are they required or are they overkill? Especially for couples on a
budget, this seems like it might be an unnecessary expense (and more paper
resources being used up - for the eco-friendly couple).
The good news is: The
wedding police are not going to be visiting if you don’t send them. There. I said it.
The goal with these cards is to give people advance notice
of your wedding date, especially if they will need to travel (and make travel
arrangements with work, bookings, etc.), if the wedding takes place over a
holiday or a long weekend for example (cases where people might have other
arrangements, events, etc.). The more
notice they have, the more likely they will come to your wedding.
It is a nice courtesy, certainly, but many brides are
choosing to send people an email with the date, or put something on Facebook,
or even (gasp!) phone friends and family instead. No problem with that!
If you would like to send save-the-date cards, know a few
things:
·
They need to go to everyone who will for sure be
invited to your wedding (even if they already know about the date like your
parents). If you have a guest list of “maybes”
then don’t send save-the-dates (because they will then be expecting an
invitation). Usually written on there
is something like “Invitation to Follow”.
·
They need to be in the mail at least 6 months
before your wedding. That gets extended
to 8-12 months in the case of destination weddings (with greater time given for
particularly expensive or far away weddings).
·
Try not to send anything out until you are
certain of the date and location of the wedding. By six months in advance you really should
have these locked down anyway!
·
They don’t have to match your wedding
invitations (but it’s always a nice touch).
They can be informal and DIY. I do like the idea of a photo save-the-date though because this is a great place to showcase that engagement portrait that you've commissioned!
·
It’s a good idea to set the invitee expectations. If you are planning an adult-only affair,
then now is a great time to let folks know.
If you are allowing “guests” then include them when you do the
addressing. (and as with invitations, they should be addressed by hand).
Here’s one awesome trend that I really love. Save –the-date MAGNETS! People are probably going to put these on
their fridge anyway – why not make the card a magnet right from the
get-go?
(Warning: shameless
plug coming!) We carry a selection of
save-the-date cards & magnets available through our invitation store. If you were thinking of sending these cards
out – with 20% off the listed prices, now you can do so with limited impact to your budget!
